How to Write an Effective Resume

Spotlight yourself in your Objective section and/or the Summary of Qualifications section. These sections of your resume assert that you are the best choice for the job opportunity. They are the first section(s) in your resume. Your Objective may be all an employer has time to read and must sell YOU as the perfect person for the position.

The Work Experience, Education, Certifications, and/or Achievements sections provide the specifics that support the earlier Spotlight sections of your resume. Strive to present these sections in a clean, concise manner. Use action verbs and key words when listing the facts about your experience.

Your name is the title of the document. Don't include "Resume" in the title as in "John Doe's Resume." Your contact information should include your mailing address, phone number, and email address. Avoid unprofessional usernames in your email address.

Make sure the greeting message on your phone is professional. Call back as soon as you can during the employer's business hours. Keep in mind that cell phones routinely drop calls or have poor reception. You may or may not want to include your cell phone number.

If you will be moving soon, you may want to include a school/current/local address as well as a permanent address. It may not be wise to include your current work address. Employers may not like calling you at your current place of employment, and your current employer might not like it either.

The Objective section of a resume is where you clearly state the position you are seeking. You'll want to customize your Objective for each resume you write. Use the exact job title, job posting number, and key words that were used in the job posting. Employers who review many resumes for various positions, appreciate a clear objective statement.

Examples:

1. A position as a barista supervisor at the Atlanta, Georgia store on Peachtree Rd.
2. Summer navigational internship with Fly Faster Inc. at a location of the company's discretion.
3. ... more sample resume objectives

The examples above are specific to the opportunity and clearly stated. However, they lack any description of your talents and abilities. This may be fine if a Summary of Qualifications section immediately follows the Objective.

The Summary of Qualifications section of your resume is where you list/summarize your most sterling qualities. State your most impressive positions, your most applicable accomplishments, and/or your professional characteristics that will capture the attention of your future employer. Consider using focused sentences with key words followed by a bulleted list giving specifics such as percentage of increased sales, awards and promotions received, and special assignments handled.

Be brief but aggressive. Say not what you hope to obtain in landing this job but what it is you can do for them. Consider listing specific qualifications you bring to the table in filling that position. Be as engaging as possible.

Examples:

You may consider combining the Summary of Qualifications section with the Objective section.

Examples:

The examples above include brief skill summaries using key words. The employer may have specified these key words in the job description, such as: permanent position, customer follow-up, teaching certificate, organize, oral communication, etc...

List your work experience in reverse chronological order (most recent first). Allocate more space to the jobs you've held most recently. Create subheadings within the work experience section containing the company name, dates, locations, and job titles. You may choose to either put your job title in bold or the company name in bold, depending on which you'd like to emphasize most. You may choose to list the months you started and ended a job if you worked there less than a year.

The Education section may dominate the content of your resume if you are a student or a recent graduate. If such is the case, you may choose to place this section before the Work Experience section. If you have considerable work experience, the Education section might be dramatically reduced. List your most recent, advanced degrees first.

If you have not yet graduated, list your expected date of graduation. If you attended college but did not graduate, list the field you studied, the name of the school and the dates attended. Consider listing your GPA if you are a recent graduate, or if it was significantly higher than average.

Consider adding this section if you are in an industry with many and varied skills, or you have a long list of licenses earned, certifications, and/or professional awards received. You can title this section in a variety of ways; "Computer Skills," "Selected Accomplishments," "Areas of Expertise," "Professional Skills," etc.

In this section you can add to and increase the list of specific skills you may have mentioned in the Objective and/or Summary sections. It is recommended that you strive to list your skills and/or accomplishments cleanly and clearly. Careful use of white space on your resume page can dramatically affect the organizational appearance of your lists.

Honors and Awards

This is a common section in student resumes for listing scholarships, fellowships, awards, and honors. You may want to include a brief description if a scholarship is prestigious but not well known (like a top university scholarship named after a specific person). This section is often combined with Activities (see below).

Coursework

An entry-level resume for someone still in school or recently graduated might include a list of specific courses that apply to the job the student is seeking. Do not list every course you have taken. Just list those courses that help identify your qualifications for the position you are seeking. You may want to include related courses in your Education section instead of as a separate section.

Interests and Activities

If you've done something that's particularly impressive such as climbed Mt. Everest or earned a Purple Heart, this would be a good place to put it.

This category is often used to list club and professional memberships, awards, honors, hobbies, interests, volunteer experience, and community service, especially when there is not enough information to create a separate category for each.

Including interests and hobbies is optional and somewhat risky. Personal hobbies or endeavors that require significant effort and passion may help a potential employer recognize your work ethic, personality, community contributions, and other positive personal attributes that can carry over to the work place. If you share a unique interest with the hiring manager, that might be a bonus. However, if the hiring manager has a bias against a particular activity, that could lead to a negative affect.

Publications

If you can be given credit for two or more publications that would raise an eyebrow, include them here. Be brief if there are many. You may choose to include educational publications in the Education section.

Languages

A company may highly value an employee who can speak more than one language. If it will win you some points, consider highlighting it as its own section here. If it is a valued skill, but unessential to the job application, consider listing it with your Personal Achievements or Interests section instead.

Professional Affiliations

This is where you would list community leadership positions, clubs or associations that you are a part of that will add to your appeal. You may want to highlight achievements accomplished in your community such as fund-raising, managing an organization or event, etc. with additional detail. Consider a separate section titled "Community Leadership," "Community Service," or "Community Activities."

Availability

If you are not available until a specific date (such as after graduation) you can indicate your availability in a separate section, in your cover letter, or perhaps even in your objective.

References

If you've got the space, it is common to put "References Available Upon Request" at the bottom of your resume. Omitting this phrase is fine because it is assumed. Be prepared, most employers will request references if they are seriously considering you.