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Résumé Writing Birmingham City Career Development Conference

Birmingham Education Foundation and Birmingham Rotary Club

+Purpose of a Résumé

Your résumé is the first chance you have to make an impression on a future employer. It should convey to the reader your education, commitment, skills and interests.

While résumés should be formal, they should also be eye-catching and unique and convey your personality through subtle manipulations of font and style.

+Résumé Components

n  Your résumé should include the following information, when applicable:

n  Identification and contact info n  Education n  Volunteer experience n  Work experience n  Computer skills n  Honors or affiliations

n  Optional: n  Objective statement n  References n  Special Skills and abilities, such as mastery of foreign

languages

+Characteristics of Successful Résumés

n  Focus on skills. Uses action words to define the responsibilities of your job-related experience.

n  Managed staff n  Counted money n  Oversaw accounts n  Translated documents n  Planted trees

n  Make your résumé easy to read and understand: n  Minimize use of abbreviations n  Use headings, italics and bolding effectively and appropriately n  Bullet points n  Use color sparingly

+More Characteristics of Successful Résumés

n  List items in chronological order

n  Tailor the résumé to the specific job for which you are applying

n  Commit to a design that is visually powerful and free of gimmicks

n  Fit information into one page, or at most 2 pages

n  Check to ensure language is grammatically correct and free of spelling errors

n  Use a formal/traditional style

+What Not To Do On Your Résumés

n  Do not include a picture of yourself; this puts employers in an awkward position of being unintentionally non-objective and many will just toss them out immediately

n  Do not use non-traditional fonts; stick to the basics: n  Serif fonts: Times New Roman, Cambria  n  Non-Serif fonts: Arial, Calibri  

n  Do not use images, especially clip art: n  Images may be appropriate for certain jobs, especially those in

design-oriented fields

n  Do not be overly wordy

+How to Make Your Résumé Stand-out

n  Use an unusual but readable layout

n  Maximize use of headings, through bold, italics and controlled use of color

n  Vary use of fonts – but no more than two

n  Include a personalized branding logo

n  Tailor the résumé to fit the job that you are applying for, both in content and style

Remember, you only have about 10-20 seconds to make an impression on your reader. You must grab his/her attention in a positive way to get his/her to read your full résumé.

Please email your completed résumés to

info@edbirmingham.org