Creating Your Resume

When searching for a job, it is important that you have the right tools in hand to get the job done. One of the most important tools is to have a great resume. It is imperative that you have a resume that is free from errors...whether it be spelling or grammatical. A potential employer gets their first glimpse of you when they look at your resume. Employers only spend about 10-15 seconds glancing at your resume. If they even spot one error or anything else that they may not like, this may be the end of your possible job opportunity with this particular company. With the added tool of being able to go online to find jobs, employers have had to become even stricter when it comes to resumes. This has become a necessity because of the huge amount of interest that their job advertisements accumulate. In this short discussion on resume writing we will be discussing the many aspects of a resume. This discussion will require us to look at all possible angles of resume writing. The first that will be discussed is the parts of a resume.

There are many parts to a resume so to begin with we will start at the very top of the resume and work our way down the page. The very first thing that you should see on a resume is the heading. The heading is what draws employers in. With this being the case, you need to have a heading which is bold and stands out and grabs a person's attention. The heading consists of your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address and fax number. As we continue to discuss resumes, you will learn that there are many ways to create a resume and also that there are certain parts of a resume that must be a resume. One such part is the heading. The heading lets an employer know who you are and where they can reach. Your name needs to be in a bigger size font than the rest of the text on the resume. Though, it shouldn't be more than a size 18 because it would then take up valuable space on your page. You can be creative with your name. You can choose a different font for your name then what you will be using for the remainder of your resume. Don't get too creative!! You don't want employers to be turned off by your "creativeness". As mentioned above your heading also consists of your address and other forms of contact that an employer would need to have. These remaining header information needs to be in the font style that you plan on using for the rest of your resume. Most people usually use Times New Roman or Arial when creating documents for a business setting. The standard size for the remainder of your resume is size 12.

The second portion of your resume is called the "objective". The objective is the trickiest part of your resume. With the objective you want to answer the following questions:

• What position are you applying for?
• What kind of job are you looking for?
• What skills do you have that are relevant to that position?

Although you need to answer these questions in your objective, it is important to mention that you should have an objective that is short and to the point. No more than two sentences should be included in the objective. If you are applying for more than one job then you will want to tailor a different objective to each job. In some cases in which jobs are similar, you may not have to do this. Here is one example of an objective in the clerical field:

Objective: To obtain a position as an accountant in a growing company.

Also worthy to be mentioned is if the job has a list of requirements, then you will want to mention a few in your objective. If one of your job requirements is to have extensive computer knowledge, by all means mention it in your objective...if it is true!!

The next section on your resume will contain any education that you have. There is differing opinions on whether or not you should include high school education. My thoughts on this is to not include high school education if you college education. My reasoning behind this is pretty evident. If you have any college at all, it is safe to assume that you have attended high school or at the very list have a GED. There are some people who feel that you should skip this portion of your resume if you don't have any secondary education. My opinion on this is for you to use your best judgment. Some positions require that you list your high school education and some don't.

When listing your secondary education you need to list the college name, the dates attended, city, state, and what degree you have obtained. If you have not graduated, simply list the number of credits you have completed toward a degree. It is better to let the employer know that you have attended some college courses towards a degree then not to list it at all. If you have more than one degree, list the highest degree first followed by the second highest. Also if you have a GPA over 3.0 then you will want to list it.

Depending on whether or not you have any secondary education the work experience section will be the most important section on your resume. If you are a recent graduate with little to no work experience then your most important section will be the education section. There are differing opinions on what resume format to use. With some resume format you list your jobs in chronological order. This format is good for people who have advanced in their job. It is poor for those who have major gaps in employment. There is another type of resume format that combines both the previous types into one.

With your work experience you will want to list the company name, dates employed, location and your position. You will also want to add some job duties and one or two accomplishments.

There are two final sections that you may or may not want to include on your resume. First, there is the Honors, Extracurricular Activities and Skills section. This section can be very important to recent college graduates. By listing any honors or extracurricular activities it shows the potential employer that you are able to handle other things besides school and work. People who have been out in the workforce for awhile may just want to list any skills that they have developed over their working years. This can include any computer skills that they may have.

The last section on your resume should be designated for your references or a statement that tells the employer that you have references. Never list references directly upon the resume. Always make a separate page for your references.

Some final tips and suggestions:

• Use action verbs in your job description.
• Don't write in complete sentences.
• Resumes, for the most part should be only 1 page long
• Turn in resumes on nice bonded paper
• Proofread