Résumé Tips

• Résumé Definition
• Résumé Purpose
• Résumé Preparation
• Résumé Section Sequence
• Writing an Impact Statement (Employment History)
• Impact Statement Samples
• Action and Skill Verbs
• Finalizing the Résumé
• Editing the Résumé
• References
• References Page Format

Formatted Résumé Sample

Résumé Definition
Your résumé summarizes your qualifications and professional experience and should include:

Skills that can value-add to your performance.
Experience relevant to employability.
Achievements in similar positions in the past.
Education in general and relevant to applied-for position in particular.
Training obtained either prior to or during previous employment tenures.

Personal information such as marital status, date of birth, etc should NOT figure in your résumé.

Résumé Purpose
A résumé should be oriented towards giving a potential employer an overview of the applicant’s work and education. It precedes and represents the candidate in a potential employment setting and will decide whether he/she will be granted a personal interview. Clarity and succinctness are therefore of the essence.

Résumés also serve the potential employer as a post-interview reference resource of an applicant’s assets, and a means to screen out under-qualified applicants in a highly competitive marketplace.

Most companies today juggle an avalanche of résumés every month. If drafted with care, yours will highlight you amongst the others and vastly increase your chances. Your résumé should showcase your most prominent skills and achievements for a potential employer. Unrelated skills and achievements should not be featured, unless these can be suitably developed for the benefit to the potential employer.

In other words, it is essential that your résumé convinces the employer that you are worthy of further scrutiny.

Résumé Preparation
Below is the ideal breakup of an appropriately drafted résumé, along with clarifying guidelines.

Header
The Header appears on the first page and should consist of the applicant’s name, address, telephone number, e-mail ID and/or cell telephone number.
Use your full name, avoid nicknames.
The entire Header is in bold typeface and is always centered in the middle of the page.

Experience Summary
This is the area that a potential employer will focus on the most and should serve to generate further interest in you. Basically, it should showcase significant professional experience and areas of expertise.

Technical Summary
This section summarizes the technical aspects (such as tools used) of your previous employments in which you have gained reasonable proficiency, and which will prove to be assets in future employment.

Employment History
• Potential employers will be mainly interested in the most recent projects you have been involved in, and technical skills you have successfully employed on them.
• Bear in mind that work experience dating back further than 15 years would generally be considered obsolete and therefore not relevant.
• Restrict Company Descriptions, Project Objectives and your Job Profile to 2 or 3 sentences each.
• Reasons for leaving a position should not figure on your résumé. Such issues are brought up on the job application or during the interview.
• Declarations pertaining to past and expected salaries should also be excluded from your résumé, since you cannot anticipate what figure would be considered too high, too low or appropriate to the applied for job.

Academic Qualifications
All obtained honors or special achievements should be listed, in addition to the college, course titles and grade point averages/ranks obtained.

Résumé Section Sequence
Résumé sections are listed below in the order that they should appear. Each area lists the information that should be included and the order in which it should be listed. Areas shown in bold type should be correspondingly displayed on your résumé. All areas should be aligned to the left side of the screen, except your name, which should be centered at the top of the page.

First Name, Middle Name, Last Name
Address
City, State/Province, Country, Zip Code
Area Code and Telephone Number (Home)
Area Code and Telephone Number (Office - optional)
E-Mail Address (Optional)
Cell Telephone Number (Optional)

Experience Summary: Listed below are the areas to include during résumé drafting:

Number of years of experience or expertise
Field(s) of expertise or skill sets (Designing, Evaluating, Installing, Troubleshooting, etc.)
Type of industries worked in or preferred
Your preference of team or individual work
Proficiency in languages spoken - optional

Technical Summary: Listed below are some sub-headers you may wish to use to list your various areas of expertise. List only those tools that you are proficient in and you wish to continue working with on your next assignment.

Hardware:
Software:
Languages:
Databases:
Operating Systems
Web Tools

Employment History: Begin with your most recent job and continue in a descending order.

Dates of Employment (from mo/yr - to mo/yr)
Your Title (Designate Full-time Employee or Consultant status)
Company Name
City, State/Province
Brief description of Company Business and client names (optional)
Brief description of Project and overall objective
Brief description of Your Role and then bullet the following statements starting with an action verb
List one "impact statement." (See separate hint page)
List two to four additional responsibilities.
Environment: List those items (Operating Systems, Languages, etc.) from your Technical Summary that you used during your tenure with this company.
Education: List all schools attended, irrespective of whether certification was obtained.
Colleges or Universities attended
Degree and Major Field or Study Course
School Name, City and State/Province
Grade Point/Rank in school (Your Rank and Number amongst program’s student body)
Technical Institutions attended (Same information as above)
Training Courses, Seminars or Workshops completed
Name of Course, Company Sponsoring Course, if appropriate, Date, and Certificate

Writing an Impact Statement (Employment History)

Your résumé’s Employment History Section will enumerate and describe the jobs you have worked on for the past fifteen years. For each job you have held, briefly describe Company Business, the Project and your Role. The text that follows should emphasize your responsibilities, what you did, for your employer.

The first sentence is called the ‘impact statement’ because it aims to influence a potential employer’s perspective of your résumé. The impact statement highlights your most memorable result or accomplishment. When an employer speed-reads your résumé, it is the opening statement will leave a lasting impression.

Impact Statements can pertain to solo or teamwork achievements, but should emphasize your contribution. These and other responsibility-related sentences should begin with an Action or Skill verb. (Refer to the Action or Skill Verbs page to select the best action word(s).

Use the following questions to guide you in writing the impact statement:

What did you do? Over what period of time?

What short/long term impact did your accomplishment have on the department, company, city, state, etc?

How did you or your efforts -
• Optimize performance?
• Optimize profits?
• Optimize time?
• Optimize knowledge?
• Minimize errors?
• Save money?

Action and Skill Verbs
Here is a list of action and skill verbs that can be use to effectively describe job functions in the Employment History Section.

Editing the Resume

Always scan your resume for incorrect grammar, spelling and punctuation. Read it aloud slowly. Don't rely on spell check to catch all the errors.

Ask several friends, family, and trusted co-workers to review it, not only for both grammar and content. It is possible that they recall some of your accomplishments or skills that you have overlooked.

Remember to use action verbs and avoid "I, my duties/or responsible for"

Do not abbreviate words or use acronyms that might not be understood by everyone reading the resume? For example: If you use the abbreviation RPC state that it means Remote Procedures Call.

References
References should be listed on a separate page.

Mention three managers who will support you with strong recommendations. These references should be from the companies you have listed on your resume.

Prior to putting Reference Names on this Page

Call these managers and obtain permission to quote them as job reference contacts.

Ask about what feedback they would provide a potential employer on your strengths and weaknesses, and their overall assessment of you. (This is only for your knowledge and not to be included in your resume)

Presentation
The Heading of the page needs to be: References for *your full name*
List the following information:
Manager's Name
Manager's Title
(Area Code) Telephone Number
E-mail ID
Project
Company Name
City, State/Province
Country

The grade and shade of bond paper for the reference page should be consistent with that of your resume.

Reference Page Format
References for *First, Middle, Last Name*
Manager's Name
Manager's Title
(Area Code) Telephone Number
E-mail ID
Project
Company Name
City, State/Province
Country

Formatted Resume Sample