Write a Resume

WHAT SHOULD YOUR RESUME DO FOR YOU?
It should present what you have demonstrated, achieved, or learned which might benefit your employer. It is not a work history!!

NAME
Email Address and/or Personal Web Address
Campus Address: Trinity College Box # · City, State Zip Code · Phone Number
Permanent Street: City, State Zip Code · Phone Number

OR

EDUCATION:
   Institution: location -- Trinity College: Hartford, CT
    Degree, Major (and concentration if appropriate), date -- Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, Expected May 2003
    Cumulative GPA/GPA in major (optional) - list if 3.0 or higher with academic honors and awards
    Optional: relevant coursework, foreign study programs.

CAREER OBJECTIVE:

If you have a cover letter, you generally do not need an objective. If you decide you want one anyway, it should be a concise and meaningful statement describing your career goals. Be as specific as possible without being too restrictive.

 

EXPERIENCE:

• List experiences as follows: Job title, employer, location (city, state) and the dates. The order of the job title and the employer depends on how you want to present yourself. De-emphasize dates, months may or may not be relevant.

• Tailor this section for the type of position you are applying - Teaching Experience, Research Experience, Financial Experience, etc.

• You may choose to put either the job title or employer name first. You should decide which is more important - where you worked or what you did.

May include full-time, part-time, related volunteer work or relevant campus activities, and internships. Remember, not all paid positions reflect your skills.

Use actions words and adjectives to describe the skills you have developed and applied. Cite your specific responsibilities and accomplishments for each position. Be thorough in your descriptions without exaggerating.

Appropriate divisions for this category may include research experience, teaching experience, technical experience, etc.

SKILLS:

Computer: Even if it is only word processing skills, list familiarity with computer systems, applications and programs. If you don't have it, they assume you don't know it.

Language: State degree of proficiency in reading, writing and speaking.

HONORS & AWARDS:

List academic, leadership and athletic honors. If you only have academic awards you can list them under your GPA in the Education section.

ACTIVITIES/SPECIAL INTERESTS:

Include leadership positions, such as offices held and responsibilities. You do not need to include everything you have done, be selective in your listing.

REFERENCES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST:

You should only use this if you need to fill space. Refer to the Letters of Recommendation CSO guide.

RESUME WRITING TIPS

1. Limit to one page. You do not have to state everything you have done on a resume, but everything you state must be true.

 

2. Determine the type of layout that works best for your experience. You may use bolding to emphasize key skills and accomplishments.

 

3. Tailor your resume to the type of position to which you are applying. Decide what you want your resume to convey about your abilities.

 

4. Maintain a consistent writing style.

a. Do Not use "I" or "my."

b. You may use complete or fragmented sentences as long as the meaning is clear and style is consistent.

c. Start each description with an action word. Use present tense verbs when referring to current activities. Use past tense verbs when referring to past activities.

d. Especially if you are interested in the financial industry use numbers, where appropriate, to quantify the scope of involvement.

e. Include a brief explanation of an organization in your description if its name is obscure. Remember, the reader is not necessarily familiar with Trinity.

5. Emphasize outcome, accomplishments and breadth of responsibility. Examples: Streamlined invoice procedures reducing staff processing time. Organized publicity campaign leading to 25% increase in volunteers.

6. Be concise and clear in your descriptions. Do not try to impress employers with the use of complicated or confusing words.

7. Make sure there are no typing, spelling or grammar errors.

8. Do not use contractions and make sure you define abbreviations or acronyms.

9. Be consistent. For example, if your headings are in bold type, all headings should be in bold. Each entry should follow a uniform format.

10. Spell check, but remember that spell check does not catch everything. Have someone proofread your resume.

11. Choose a font that is easy to read: Palatino or Times, no larger than 14 point and no smaller than 10 point.

12. In most cases a cover letter should be attached to your resume. Refer to the How to Write a Cover Letter CSO Guide.

13. Print final copies of your resume on quality paper. Use the same color and type of paper for resume, cover letter and envelope. Make sure the paper photocopies well.

14. Seek advice from the Career Services Office for suggested improvements in wording, layout and style.

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Scannable Resumes
For students applying to computer related positions, high-tech companies or other large corporations realize that your resume may be scanned into a computer database. In these cases:

a. Do not use italics, underlining or graphics. You may use capitals to make titles stand out.

b. Use a minimal amount of bold.

c. Use Palatino or Times font in 12 point or a minimum of 10 point.

d. In the experiences or activities descriptions, use keywords specific to the career field. If they apply, try to use words listed in the job posting.

e. Do not fold or staple your resume.

f. Print resume on white or ivory paper.

Resumes for Electronic Submittal
Submitting resumes electronically can ensure that your resume is reviewed promptly and also demonstrates your facility in utilizing computer technology. However, increasing numbers of employers are automatically deleting all incomimg e-mail with attachments as a security measure to protect their computer systems from the danger of viruses. Therefore, if you have been asked to submit your resume electronically, confirm whether or not you may send it as an attachment. If you may not submit is as an attachment, following are some useful tips on setting up an ASCII (plain text) formatted resume:

1. Set margins so that the area you are typing within is no more than 6.5 inches (for a standard 8 ½" x 11" page setup that would mean 1" margins on both the left and right).
2. Use a 12 point fixed pitch font style such as courier (fixed pitch means that all the characters, including spaces, use the exact same amount of space on the page).
3. To fancy up your resume, use asterisks (*), o’s (O), plus signs (+), etc. in place of bullets which can convert to question marks or other odd characters on the receiver’s end.
4. You can opt to create a website for your resume and just add a link in the e-mail to your website.  Click here for instructions on creating a website, compliments of the Trinity Computer Science Department . Some tips:

• If you choose to create a website with the intention of placing your resume there for potential employers access, be sure that you do not add any personal information on your website that you would not necessarily want the employer to use in the evaluation process (ie. Gruesome graphics, etc.). If you have questions about the appropriateness of something you want to add to your website, stop by Career Services at 45 Seabury.

• Creating a website allows you to imbed links to former employers websites or to the sites of organizations you have been involved with and can be a very impressive way to communicate more information than would be possible given the restrictions of a single page resume format.

Some Resources in the CSO Library are:

Sample Resumes by Trinity Students (green binder)

Resumes that Knock 'Em Dead by Martin John Yate

Building a Great Resume by Kate Wendleton

Electronic Resumes for the New Job Market by Peter D. Weddle

ACTION WORDS

Use these action words to enhance you resume and to make your descriptions more powerful!

SAMPLE RESUME

Amanda Hugenkis
amanda.hugenkis@mail.trincoll.edu
Trinity College · Box 700000 · 300 Summit Street · Hartford, CT 06106-3100 · (860) 295-5454
77 Oakwood Lane · New Paltz, NY 02126 · (914) 889-8899

EDUCATION
        Trinity College: Hartford, CT
        Bachelor of Arts in History, May 1999
        Minor: Spanish
        GPA in major: 3.23
        Candidate to graduate with honors in History

PUBLIC RELATIONS EXPERIENCE
      Ivory Public Relations: Miami, FL May 1998-August 1998
         Public Relations Intern: Assisted Executive with on-line software account. Researched on-line and print media for news hits and competitor information.              Created and managed over 250 media lists. Organized pitch development program designed to build skills for winning new accounts.

ACTIVITIES & INTERESTS
· Trinity College Spanish Club: Member 1995 to Present
· Kappa Kappa Gamma: Member 1996 to Present; Scholarship Committee 1998
· Hiking, Mountain biking, Refinishing furniture, Reading