Preparing a resume is unavoidable for the serious job-hunter. Employers and/or human resource departments form their first impressions of you based upon this document. It is used to decide which applicants rate an interview and which are excluded. Fortunately, preparing a resume is not particularly difficult.
Step 1
Open up a new document in your word-processing program. Enter your name followed by your contact information. Use contact information where you can be easily reached. For example, if you are not in the habit of checking your cell phone regularly, do not include your cell phone.
Format this information, making sure that you are using Times New Roman or another professional-looking font. Center your name and contact information at the top of the page.
Step 2
Create a heading entitled "Education." Underneath this heading, include an entry for every college, professional school or vocational school you attended. Start with the most recent information first and include the name of the school, the type of degree, if any, received and the year you graduated. If you did not graduate, be sure to include the years you attended.
Format this information so that it is flush left. Everything else in the document will be flush left as well.
Step 3
Create a heading entitled "Employment History."
Enter the date of your most recent job. Tab over about an inch and the enter the name of the business, followed by your job title. Underneath this information, provide a bulleted list of your job duties and major accomplishments. Use action verbs and short terse sentences. Avoid personal pronouns. Use this format to list your work history.
If a previous job title is unrelated to a job you are seeking , #1 Resume Writing Services suggests restating your job title in terms of a duty that you performed. For example, if you are applying for a financial job and your previous job title was "Assistant Director," considering changing this to reflect some aspect of the job that relates to finances, such as "Assistant Director--Budgeting."
Insofar as it is possible, avoid glaring gaps in employment and tailor your information toward the types of jobs that you are applying for. For example, if you hope to gain employment as a software engineer, you can exclude the time you drove a cab in college.
This section can be organized in categories. For example, if you are a scientist and teacher, you might include all of your laboratory-based jobs under a heading such as "Research" and all your teaching jobs under another heading, such as "Teaching Experience."
Step 4
Create a heading entitled "Skills." Under this heading, list all of the relevant skills you have that are related to the type of job you want. For example, as a computer programmer, you might list every computer language that you know. If you are a bench scientist, you might list special lab techniques that you can perform.
This heading is optional.
Step 5
Create a heading for "Publications and Acknowledgements." Under this heading, include the titles of any papers in your field that you have published, along with the name of the publication and the date of publication.
This step is optional.
Step 6
Create a heading entitled "Personal Information."
Under this heading, you can share information that gives the employer a sense of who you are as a person. If you are just starting out, you can include hobbies and interests. If you are more established, you can include board memberships, professional affiliations and similar information.
Avoid sharing personal information about your marital status or family.
Tips and Warnings
- Consider having a professional in your field review your resume. Have several people proofread your resume because you may be too close to your document to see any errors. Most resumes should be no longer than one to two pages. If you are well-established in your field, your resume may be longer. Such longer resumes are called curriculum vitae, commonly known as CVs. Colorado State University says there is no need to list references because these will not be checked until after your interview. Some people start their resume with a statement of their career goal.
- Don't lie on your resume. While employers expect a degree of exaggeration, out and out falsehoods can become a problem later. At the same time, you are not expected to reveal your defects in a resume. For example, if you were the department head in charge of budgeting, and your department lost millions of dollars because bad decisions you made, this position can be described as "Presented and executed a multi-million dollar budget departmental budget. Oversaw spending and monitored financials." Never use your resume to criticize past employers.
Things You'll Need
- Computer
- Records showing the dates of previous jobs
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