A well-designed resume should be a clear and concise summary of your experiences, skills, achievements and qualifications. Your resume will serve the following purposes:
- Self-inventory: You will be better prepared to discuss your capabilities and career goals once you've analyzed your present and past experiences.
- Interview agenda: An employer will use your resume as a guide during an interview.
- Reminder: Your resume will be useful to the employer during consideration after an interview.
An effective resume, above all else, accurately reflects who you are. Make it work for you. Let your own creativity and the image you wish to present be your ultimate guide. A targeted and well-written resume is an essential component of a directed and effective job search.
Evaluate Your Experiences
The best place to start in preparing your resume is to do an inventory of your past experiences. If you haven't already done so, you should complete the self-assessment exercises that are presented in the Career Search Guide. These exercises will help you determine how you want to market yourself, including what areas to emphasize and your transferable skills. Consider all of your past experiences, including jobs, internships, extracurricular activities, academic accomplishments and other volunteer work. Under each of the areas, list what your experience entailed, including:
- Level of involvement, leadership or responsibilities
- Tasks or duties performed
- Accomplishments and outcomes
- Specific skills and abilities used (analytical, research, creative)
Critique what you have recorded as if you were the employer and remember to tailor your resume to highlight those items that reflect your career objective. You may even elect to write more than one resume if you plan to apply for positions in different fields and will be focusing on different skills (e.g., research vs. sales).
Types of Resumes
The chronological and functional resumes, or some combination of these two formats, are the standard types of resumes used by job seekers in today's employment market. To select the type which best supports your needs, review the following information.
Chronological
In this type of resume, you organize your job history chronologically with the most recent information first. This type of resume emphasizes job titles and organizations and describes in detail the accomplishments and responsibilities associated with each position. A chronological resume is easy to read, since it highlights names of employers and job titles and emphasizes career growth. It is best suited to those whose career goals are clear and whose job objectives are aligned with their work history.
Functional
In a functional resume, you highlight skills and accomplishments developed through work, academic and community experiences. This type of resume benefits candidates looking to enter a field not directly related to their major or those who are changing careers. As a job seeker, you can focus on your skills and minimize your lack of experience or gaps in work history. It is important to note that employers often view functional resumes more critically for just those reasons.
When writing a functional resume, be sure to talk about those skills you possess that will transfer over into the profession you are looking to enter.
Blended
For some candidates, a blended resume provides the best of both formats. By blending the two formats, you can highlight your important skills and fully explain your work experiences. This format works well for candidates with more than three years of experience.
Appearance
Although you may have a strong background, if your resume doesn't appear polished, you may not get invited to an interview. Make sure that you have several people review your resume for errors and omissions. When submitting your resume electronically, save your file as a PDF to preserve the formatting of your document.