Career Services
Résumé Guide
Download our complete resume packet here.
Your résumé is a record of your education and experience for potential employers. It should allow the employer to see how you and the organization fit together, but isn't a life history-- many of the activities you have been involved in are irrelevant to a prospective employer.
The primary function of your résumé is persuade the employer to grant you an interview. Since the average employer spends 20-30 seconds looking over a résumé, the most important and relevant information needs to stand out. Brevity, organization, and aesthetics are important to keep in mind for the final draft.
In order to be able to sell yourself to prospective employers, you've got to know what you have to offer. Liberal arts students are notorious for the "I don't have any skills, I'm just a __________ major" attitude, which makes not only résumé writing but job hunting more difficult. As a liberal arts graduate, you have competencies in oral and written communication, critical thinking, research, and a knowledge base from your major. These are in addition to your natural ability and all of the skills you developed through internship experiences, past employment, volunteer work, and student activities. It takes some time and effort on your part, but knowing what you have to offer is half the battle.
The rest of the battle is, of course, presenting yourself to the employer; the résumé is just part of that process.
There are two basic types of résumé--chronological and functional. The chronological format is the most traditional. It provides a reverse chronological listing of previous employment, beginning with the position you currently have. In contrast, the functional résumé; emphasizes skills and personal qualities important for the job you are seeking, and is useful if you don't have any directly related experience.
Any combination of the functional and chronological résumé; formats is appropriate if it presents your qualifications in the best light for the job. The functional and combination résumé; formats are most effective for graduating students and persons who's work experience may not show an obvious connection between your history and the job you are applying for. In addition to the samples provided on our web site, Career Services has a library of resources to help you, including:
- The Smart Womans Guide to Résumé and Job Hunting, King, Sheldon
- Conquer Résumé Objections, Wilson and Rambusch
- The Overnight Résumé, Asher
- Résumé Writing Made Easy, Coxford
- From College to Career, Don Asher
- Developing a Professional Vita or Résumé, McDaniels
Remember! In the world of résumés, appearances are everything. Keep it neat and clean, use white space to create a nice flow, emphasize what's important, indent text masses, and PROOFREAD! Edit carefully, and have others read it to avoid any grammatical problems, spelling mistakes, or factual errors.
Résumé Tips
First things first: put your name, address, phone, and even your e-mail (if you use it regularly) at the top of the résumé consider including both permanent address and school address if they are different.
After your name, the order in which you cover other information about yourself is decided by what's most important about you, most applicable to the position you are applying for, and what you feel represents you best.
Education is often very important-- not only the degree itself, but sometimes where you got it. Even if you don't have a degree yet, let potential employers know you're working on it:
"Reed College, B.A. Biology expected December 2004"
"Reed College, B.A. History to be conferred May 2005"
If you've got a thesis that is in any way relevant, remember to include it! Even if the topic is not related, the fact you can complete a long-term research project with minimal supervision may be important.
Experience can include part-time jobs, internships, volunteer work, and summer jobs as well as full-time employment and maybe even some academic experiences. Depending on the type of position you are after, these can be broken up in a variety of ways, and labeled accordingly:
experience
work experience
employment
related experience
history
experience highlights
research
independent projects
other experience
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