A resume provides an overview of your job qualifications and experience. It is one half of a standard job application package. The other half is a cover letter. Together, the two persuade a prospective employer to give your application serious consideration.
The contents of a resume should be tailored for your purpose. If you are applying for different types of jobs (or coops or internships), you will need to revise your resume to fit each situation.
Characteristics of a resume:
A resume is easy to read at a glance. Therefore, all writing must be brief. Avoid complete sentences and extra words. Use standard abbreviations when possible.
A resume must look attractive and readable. Use bolding, different fonts, bullets, and white space to achieve an attractive look.
Information is organized by category. Frequently used categories include: education, employment experience, skills, honors and achievements.
Within each category, information is presented in reverse chronological order.
A resume is generally confined to one page, until you have substantial job experience to describe.
Getting started:
Take lots of notes about your past jobs, your skills, and your achievements. Include extra-curricular and community activities. (Resumes rarely contain information about a job applicant's high school years.)
Select information from your notes that will be most helpful for a prospective employer to know about you. Tailor your choices to the type of job for which you are applying.
Start to wordprocess your resume. Try different fonts and different ways to lay out your information on the page. Experiment until you can include all your information in a visually attractive manner.
Some writing tips:
Be concise: get rid of articles and all extra words.
Eliminate full sentences: use sentence fragments and single words instead.
Employ action verbs.
When bulletting, use parallel construction.
