Resume & Coverletter Help

Your First Resume

• Use the Career Services "Resume Worksheet" to help you get started.
• Use the WinWay Resume Deluxe program which can be found on all Ancilla College computers.
• Ask yourself who will your audience be? What do you have to offer that employer? Write your resume to address their needs.
• Yes! You may need more than one resume. They may be very similar, but the items you highlight may be different in some situations.
• If you are still in college or just out of school, you want to shoot for a one-page resume. That is a general rule and sometimes you have more information you want to bring to an employer's attention. But this is not a term paper that you pad and pad some more with additional information to reach a five-page length requirement.
• Edit, edit, edit and edit some more. Have a couple of other people go over it as well. Sometimes when reading your own writing you tend to read what you think is there, instead of what you actually wrote.
• Have your resume critiqued in the Advising Center.
• Create your final draft. Print your resume on quality paper.

What Do I Include In My Resume
This area will help explain the different areas on the "Resume Worksheet."

Personal Data:
Do Include: Name, permanent address, phone number, temporary address and phone number and let them know the date of the change over. Note: This information is needed so employers know who you are and how they may contact you.

Do Not Include: Marital status, age, weight, photographs. It is illegal for employers to ask for this information.

Job Objective
The information you provide should be focused on meeting the employer's needs and solving their problems and not telling them what they can do for you.

The job objective should identify at least two of the following three items: the type of job, the employer, and or skills/responsibilities you want to perform in the position. Be brief and to the point.

Stay away from 'me' statements and keep your wording geared towards what you can do for the employer. Employers do not like to see "opportunities for professional development", ".allows me to become a ." statements.

Education
Include:
Institutional name, City and State, Degree(s) received, Date degree received, Major(s) & Minor(s),GPA (Cumulative and/or Major if at or above 3.0/4.0)

Optional information might include:
Honors/Awards, Intercultural Experiences, Special Training

Add this information only if it provides a possible employer with additional information that might help them look favorably upon you. Does it show community involvement or you going above and beyond to do additional studies or gain additional experience?

Remember the order of items listed in your resume needs to start with your last activity. But, also consider this: If you just graduated from college and are looking for your first job, you will probably want to follow your job objective with your school information. If you had a very successful internship in your last semester of college, and it is in the field you are now applying for, then you might consider listing it first. It may supplement your education accomplishment in the employer's eye and make you more appealing.

1. Label this area 'experience', if you label it 'work experience' then you are limited to listing paid experiences only. However, if you label it 'experience' you can include paid and volunteer experiences in the same category .
   
2. Use action verbs. A list is provided by clicking here.
3. Include the employer, job, city and state, dates of employment, and a description of skills utilized or accomplishments from the job.
   
4. Try to place the experiences in order so that those experiences that most closely support your ability to do the job are listed first and those that are of lesser support to your proving you have skills are listed last.
5. It is important for your descriptions to come off the page and show you as an action-oriented contributor.
6. In each description include up to 3-5 skill statements; organize the statements by listing first the skill statement which best supports your ability to fulfill the job objective, then listing the statement which supports your job objective the next best, and so on. If you have held jobs with very similar duties, then try to bring out different aspects rather than repeating the same things for each description.

Activities
The purpose to this section is to provide an overview or the professional, extracurricular, community, and/or church activities that you have been involved in that complement your ability to perform the job.

• This section can be a main section or a subsection within the education section.
• Put the activities in the order of those leadership roles and activities that best support your job objective.
• Emphasize what (i.e. name of activity or leadership role) you did, not where or when you did it. There is no need to include dates or locations in this section although you may want to include the number of years involved in order to demonstrate longevity or commitment.

Other headings for this section could be "Interests" or Community Involvement" depending on the type of activities listed.

Reference Statement
The purpose of the reference statement is to identify for the employer how they can obtain references for you.

"References Available Upon Request" - this tells the employer that they can obtain a list of references from you. If you go this route have available in the interview a typed sheet entitled "References for (Your Name)." For each reference, list their name, title address, and phone number.

Optional sections
Qualifications
The purpose of this section is to summarize for the employer why you are qualified to do the job you say you want to do. It allows you to specify the reasons why the employer should hire you.

Accomplishments
The purpose of this is to summarize the achievements and contributions of the candidate; this can include successes on the job or in personal life, awards, prizes, and honors.

Professional Development
The purpose of this section is to provide a summary of the professional association memberships, seminars attended, professional presentations, and any other related activities that helped you to develop professionally in your field.

Leadership Section
The purpose of this section is to emphasis leadership roles and experiences. It is not as important to list dates in this area, as it is to indicate the numbers of years/semesters you were involved.

Skills
The purpose of this section is to provide a summary of the skills you have to offer the employer. Skills that relate to the kind of job you want to do for them can also be used in the job objective section.

Analytical

Organizational