Résumés: Your Road to the Future

Average Time Spent Reading Resumes

20 seconds

Resumes are scanned, not read.

What to put on a resume?

Jobs and experience since high schoolAll work that involved business, engineering, or “people” skills

Nothing personal, unless a special case

What do employers expect?

Ability to communicateAbility to learnSelf-confidenceWillingness to accept responsibilityInitiativeImaginationFlexibilityInterpersonal skills

Adapted from Career Assistance Center, Cockrell School of Engineering

How to make your resume fit you . . .

Résumés: Two Major Types

Chronological Emphasizes

education Usually best for

young college grads

Works backwards from most recent for jobs, awards, etc.

Functional Emphasizes skills Organizes many

and diverse job experiences

Headings name skills instead of job titles or places of employment.

Types: Chronological Resume

Education Related Courses

Experience dates easily seen including volunteer work if relevant

Skills including languages (computer & other)

Accomplishments (or Honors) including awards and scholarship

Interests (or Activities) especially team sports and activities

Two Common Questions

Do I need an Objective statement? Answer: it depends

Where do I put my GPA? Answer: under Education You may list Overall and Major GPAs. Also consider stating how much of your college

education you financed.

Job Experience

Use keywords to stress specific technical, organizational, or communication skills: “pavement distress mechanisms,” “life-cycle

costs,” “multimedia presentations”Use a past or present tense verb to begin

each job description. Check the list of action words for suggested

verbs.Highlight job title, employer, location, and

dates employed. Cluster repeated jobs held at different times.

Types: Functional resume

Summarizes skills and experience before listing education and specific jobs.

Organizes strengths shown in many jobs, so better for mid-career applicants.

Résumé Formats

Print for interviews and cover letters handsomely designed

Scannable plain and simple design PDF format is safest

E-mail attachment Ms Word or PDF

Web provide PDF version as well as HTML version avoid possible web-page excesses

Scannable Resumes

• These are read by a machine.• Keep the resume design simple and standard. • Use standard typefaces/font styles. • Use a font size from 10 to 14. • Do not condense spacing between letters. • Avoid 'fancy' extras (italics, underline, etc.). • Don’t use lines, graphics, and boxes. • Use boldface for section headings.

More Tips . . . for all resumes

Use white space as a design element. Use common names for section headings

(Education, Experience, etc.). Put your name first; put contact

information on separate lines. Avoid most abbreviations. Be concise and concrete in descriptions. Use format to differentiate between job

title, company name, and place . Use some industry keywords.

For lab this week . . .

Job Letter and Resume WorkshopPlease bring your resume and your job-application letter in both hard copy and electronic form.

You can remove or change your actual GPA for the workshop, if you’d like

Please also bring a copy of the job description.