Resume Assistance

Your resume is the first thing an employer sees from you. You will not get a chance to interview for a job if your resume does not make a good impression. Areas of importance include structure, wording and formatting. We offer assistance with all of these and more. A professional, well-written resume is a positive reflection of the person it represents. Below is an outline of an effective resume as well as some tips and helpful hints so you can prepare your own resume.   You can also click on “View A Sample Resume” to view an actual sample resume which incorporates the points below.

Resume Header:
At the top include your contact information: name, address, phone number, and e-mail address.

Experience, Skills, Wording, Dates:
Include your work experience, most recent employer first.  (Note: If you are coming right out of school as a new graduate, put your education first).  Before you do this it is best to think of what your responsibilities are/were at each position you held. List the most important ones first below the company and dates.  A bullet point format is recommended, and you should include at least five solid points under each position.  Also, there should be more bullet points under your current position than under any previously held position. All items under your current position should be in the present tense (i. e.  “Prepare” NOT “Prepared”.) Past tense should be used for former positions held.

One of the most common mistakes on a resume is that people often make position changes within the same company look like actual job moves, and thus look like “job-hoppers” when in fact they are not. Do NOT include the dates (i. e. 5/96 to 4/99) in the left column unless you have actually left the company. Listing the dates to the right of the position is much more effective and prevents against the “job-hopper” looking resume.

Make sure to use action verbs and words to describe your experience (i. e. create, prepare, analyze, manage, etc.) Also, using the same words over and over is not recommended (for example: Prepared SEC reports, Prepared general ledger analysis, Prepared bank reconciliation.) Use different words! Your goal is to identify your personal strengths and skills through your words and presentation.

At the bottom of the resume include your education, computer skills (including all reporting packages), and any other important information (speaking a foreign language, for example).

Tips and Helpful Hints:

	Limit the resume to one page, if possible. You do not want to lose the interest of the reader of your resume. However, do not omit important information just to get it to one page. Be as clear as possible when describing your responsibilities.
	Be consistent with your tenses, with your use of punctuation, formats and fonts (such as underline, bold, italics, etc.).
	Use a thesaurus if you need to.  Remember, “Prepared, Prepared, Prepared... ” will not do.
	Do not include personal information such as salary, bonus, age, status of your health, etc.
	Proofread and check your resume at least twice.  You must eliminate spelling errors, inconsistencies in dates and other information, as well as improper names and titles (for example: ABC Manufacturing Co., Inc. which is accurate versus ABC Co., which is not your employer's name.)

Avoid These Resume Mistakes:

	Resume lacks focus.
	Resume is duty driven versus accomplishment driven.
	Resume items are listed in an order that doesn't consider the readers interest.
	Resume is not bulleted.
	Resume uses a cookie cutter design based on an overused resume template.
	Resume lacks keywords.
	References are listed directly on your resume.
	Resumes appearance becomes skewed when sent as an e-mail attachment.

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