Some people have special issues to consider when writing a resume. To help address and solve some of these issues, this section pro vides specific advice and sample resumes to assist graduating college students, women returning to the workforce, those over fifty, people who use portfolios, military personnel, computer programmers, sales people, and career changers.
Graduating College Students
Don't be depressed because you don't have ten years' experience. During your job search you'll be competing with other college graduates who are in exactly the same situation-lots of low-paid summer and part-time jobs. Don't look down on those jobs though because they can reveal many of your positive attributes.
Make the most of any related experience you have. Bookkeeping, for example, is valuable experience for an accounting major. It's not the same as accounting, but it is excellent, practical experience and is recognized as such by employers. A forestry major would emphasize any work with a timber company, even if it was only menial summer work.
As a recent or soon-to-be graduate, you have four things to sell: your education, your personality and character, related work experience, and work experience in general. Since you may have little or no related work experience, most of your resume will be devoted to revealing your personality, character, and work ethic. Employers need to sense the type of employee you will be. College graduates typically remain with their first employers for less than two years, so it's fair for employers to seek those who will quickly contribute to the organization.
Make the most out of whatever work experience you have. Internships and jobs where you've had a high level of responsibility are particularly valuable. Someone in his or her resume may actually describe one job only because its value may be so much greater than the other summer jobs. You, on the other hand, may want to de scribe each of your summer jobs. Do your best to identify a result in each one. It doesn't have to be big, after all, it was a part-time or temporary job.
Look for ways to reveal your personal qualities. Citing offices held in high school and college reveals leadership and responsibility. Lettering in sports indicates learning the value of teamwork and cooperation. Excellent grades indicate discipline and intellectual capacity. Participation in debate and theater can reveal speaking ability, quick thinking, and willingness to take risks. Participating in school commit tees and organizations reveals responsibility, willingness to put out a little extra, and loyalty.
The qualifications section of a resume is an excellent place to de scribe and call attention to some of the qualities you want an employer to know about, as the example below demonstrates.
OBJECTIVE: Mathematics/Statistics
QUALIFICATIONS
- Excellent training in math and statistics.
- Maintain excellent relations with supervisors.
- Always a valued employee.
- Loyal, cooperative, and easy to work with.
- Work well under pressure, learn quickly, hard working.
Most graduates should expect to write a one-page resume. Stu dents who earn more than 50% of their total college and living expenses or who are willing to relocate, should consider stating it in the resume. These items may be stated in the following way:
PERSONAL
- Earned 60% of college expenses
- Willing to relocate
Be careful, however, about mentioning fraternity and sorority offices. Before you make a decision to include this information, remember that while most people hold neutral feelings about such organizations, many hold strong feelings against them. Therefore, mentioning them may not be worth the risk. You may, however, want to describe successes you had as a committee chairperson in charge of a special project such as a fundraising program. In that case you would mention the program and its result, without mentioning the organization you were a part of.
Class projects are often worth mentioning in a special projects or education section. Perhaps you were in a group of business students who developed a marketing plan for a small company or in a group of industrial engineering students who solved an actual manufacturing problem. Below is a special projects section by a student who was very active on campus:
Planned and organized the University of Puget Sound 1988 Spring Parents Weekend and set a new record for attendance. Arranged programs and activities, obtained speakers, made hotel arrangements, ordered food, and headed up a four-person committee. Increased attendance 20% over the previous year. Evaluations by parents indicated it was the best organized program since its inception in 1977.
Published the first Parents Association Newsletter, which was sent to 3,500 parents of UPS students. The first two editions were well-received and the newsletter has become an official school publication, published three times each year.
Career changers tend to have longer qualifications sections than those who have years of experience in the same field. Career changers sometimes do better with a functional resume.
You must also join appropriate associations and volunteer to head up committees or special projects. Associations are usually begging for people to spend time on projects and you don't need to have been a member for five years. It is an excellent way to get recognized and to meet the top people in your field. Those projects or committee assignments could then go in a special projects section.
