Hello, my name is Alana Hefner and I'm the Director of Career Services for
Tarleton State University.
It is my pleasure to talk to you today about a few tips on making your resume
perform for you.
Not all tips and tricks will be listed on the slides.
Many items will be verbally communicated through this presentation.
Please contact Career Services for
a deeper dive into making your resume competitive.
The feedback that is shared with you today,
has been collected from employers and recruiters in the field over the years,
as well as through the National Association of Colleges and Employers.
We encourage you to have your resume critiqued before sending it to
an employer.
No matter who gives you the feedback, whether it's faculty, staff,
career services professionals employers, family, or friends.
At the end of the day your resume is your personal document.
You should make the final decision on which advice you choose to follow.
Most of the tips discussed today can be found in our Big Book of Resumes located
on our website and that's at www.tarleton.edu/careers.
You can also pick up a hard copy from your career services office on your respective
Tarleton State campus.
The purpose of the resume is to move you towards the interview.
Once the interview has been obtained the resume decreases in importance.
Creating one resume to send to 20 different employers
will decrease your chances of getting to the next step.
Tailoring your resume is key.
To tailor your resume you need to research the company to which you are applying.
Always dig into their website to gain a better understanding of their culture and
services that are being offered.
Tayloring your resume allows you, the applicant,
the connect with the position that you're applying for.
Think of how you stand out.
Skills you possess, experiences that you have had.
How are you different than your classmates obtaining the same degree?
Before we dive into tailoring, let's first review briefly,
the three basic styles of resumes.
This style lumps all experiences together
in reverse chronological order.
This style should be used for an applicant who has many years
of experience directly related to the position.
The functional style of resume is for
applicants who have less related experience in the field.
It allows you to put your experiences under themed groups such as communication,
leadership, etcetera.
And the last is the combination style resume.
It's a happy medium between the previous styles.
It blends the experiences and skills together.
Typically by including a summary of qualifications or
a summary of skills section in the upper portion of the document.
For visual examples of these styles,
please refer to the big book of resumes found on the career services website.
Now let's start looking at the constructs of the resume document.
The heading.
This is the one place of the document where you have
a little more freedom to be slightly creative.
Especially with your name.
Use bulky or
bold text anywhere from 18 to 28 font depending on the length of your name.
The rest of the text, including your address, email, and phone number
throughout the rest of the document needs to be at least a ten, 11, or 12 font.
No smaller than a ten, and no bigger than a 12.
Pay attention that your contact information is correct.
Your email address and outgoing voicemail needs to be appropriate.
The email address is especially important.
You wanna make sure that it includes your first and your last names so
that the reader.
And the receiver can understand who the email is from,
especially if you're going to inquire about a position that you have applied to.
Anything with arh76401@hotmail.com, while that
is an innocuous type of email address, it doesn't tell the reader who it is from.
Also sexyhotkitten@hotmail.com.
While cute and funny in seventh grade may not be appropriate for
a professional position.
The objective, there are two schools of thought regarding this section.
Should I or shouldn't I include an objective.
Well, most employers read the objective if it is a one liner.
This section is only used to tell the reader which position you
are applying for.
It is not a philosophical statement about the type of employee you wish to be, or
the type of employer you are seeking.
You can use the title,
area of interest, when you do not have a specific job posting.
Summary of skills.
it can be worded differently depending on your preference.
This section is close to the top of the document,
to signal to the reader to a quick overview of you, the applicant.
It's a preview of how you connect to their position in a Read Further for
More Information type of cue.
Here's an example of a solid Summary of Skills section.
Stay away from one or two word statements, such as self motivated or team player.
Include more detail explaining that you are self-motivated to accomplish goals and
meet deadlines.
Remember, the resume is built to move you into the next
phase of the application process.
The interview.
Make certain that you are able to provide solid examples of statements
that you have included on your resume.
For instance, if you do not have strong examples of times where you were self
motivated to accomplish goals and
meet deadlines, then do not include it on your resume because it sounds good.
The education section for most traditional college
This is the section that is driving the bus, if you will, and
therefore placed closer to the top of the resume.
For those of you who have worked for some time in the field and
came back to obtain your degree it may not be the leading section and
can often be put on the lower part of the document.
Typically high school is not listed.
It is assumed that you already have completed a GED or higher Diploma,
such as a high school diploma by virtue of attending a community college or
a university.
The highest degree should be listed first.
Be sure to spell out bachelor and avoid acronyms like BS for
obvious reasons, BBA, BSS, etc.
Employers are looking for attention to detail.
And this an area where you can demonstrate that skill.
as your GPA if it is a 3.0 or higher overall.
The degree is what connects you to the position that you are applying for
more than the school that you have attended.
Therefore always list your degree before the school.
Here is an example of how to display your education section.
The next section is the most important portion of your document and
it is the most difficult piece to develop.
This is where you should connect your experiences
to that which the employer is seeking.
It is important to include details, percentages, numbers, and
transferable skills that connect.
This is also the most difficult portion of the document as I stated before,
because an effective resume utilizes strong action verb statements to
articulate their abilities.
Spending time to conduct a little bit of brainstorming about strong action verbs
and your skills will help you make the most of this section.
We suggest that you take each position or role that you've held and
review strong action verbs associated with that function.
A list of strong action verbs has been provided for
you in the Big Book of Resumes found on our website.
You can also use any internet search engine to look at various lists of strong
action verbs associated with customer service, nursing, sales, communication.
Once you have the beginnings of your statements in writing,
such as helped with marketing, then you can dig in and reword
the statements into increased awareness or implemented marking strategies.
Can you see the difference in the statements?
Here is an example of how to lay out this section.
Components to include would be the job title, the company, city and
state of the experience.
And the month and year you began and ended the experiences.
Bullets are used to mark strong action verb statements.
Notice the use of the actual number 12 instead of spelling 12,
makes the eye focus on that statement quickly.
Also notice that we used past tense verbs since the experiences happened in the past
according to the dates listed.
If you are describing an experience that is currently ongoing
then you would use present tense to start your statements.
Types of experiences to include in your resume need to be related in some way to
Types of experiences to include in this section need to
be related in some way to the position that you are applying for.
Always look at experiences both paid and unpaid.
Do not fall for the myth that volunteer experiences are not resume worthy.
For instance, if you were involved in Big Brothers,
Big Sisters as a big and you are applying to be a volunteer coordinator
matching children with volunteers, then you have related experience.
You would articulate your experience as a big
on your resume in a related experience section.
If you are applying to be a sales associate at Fascinol,
your experiences with Big Brothers and Big Sisters would not be as significant and
therefore would drop to a volunteer, or an activity section without any description.
This is another example of how to tailor a resume specific for a position.
More examples can be found in The Big Book of Resumes located on the website.
Other categories to consider, either for the experiences section or
a completely new sections on your document,
would be related courses, scholarships, awards, certificates, licensures.
There's plenty of things to consider.
Quick note, scuba diving certification may be relevant if you are applying for
an offshore drilling company or position.
It would be less relevant and therefore not listed on your resume if you
are applying for the previously mentioned Big Brothers Big Sisters position.
It's all about perspective and relativity to the position.
Now that we have moved through the document at a pretty high level,
let's drill down to a few basics and overall aspects of the resume.
More traditional students will need to stick to a one page resume, but
there are a couple of exceptions.
If you are an interdisciplinary studies major through Tarleton State's Curriculum
and Instruction Department,
you have the ability to go onto two pages from your degree work alone.
Most other majors are encouraged to stick to one page.
Again there is a lot debate between faculty, employers, family and
friends on the ideal number of pages for a resume.
Ultimately, you have the final decision.
Let's talk about bullets for a minute.
Bullets on a resume.
Bullets should be used sparingly.
The resume is not intended to be developed in an outline format,
where every line is marked.
Bullets are strategic markers for strong action, verb statements.
The most strategic use of bullets are in the related experience section,
and the summary of qualifications sections only.
With that, refrain from using full sentences anywhere on the document.
Therefore you will avoid using I and you statements.
Be consistent with formatting.
If you abbreviate Texas with capital T,
capital X, then do that with states throughout the rest of the document.
Another instance is if you spell out your graduation month, May, and
you use a four digit number to convey the year, such as 2017,
then use this format for dates throughout.
Formatting is key.
Now, if you get nothing else from this workshop, please above all things and
for all the love of career services, do not use a template.
importantly can be easily identified by an employer who views hundreds of resumes.
You may think it's so much easier to let technology do it's eyeing,
but maybe you are communicating unintended message,
such as the lack of effort or low attention to detail.
Treat your resume as though it is the one and only grade that you are receiving for
an entire semester.
Proof read it more than once.
Ask others to review it, and
when I say that, I mean people with an interest in helping you succeed.
Such as faculty, career services professionals, staff on campus,
family and classmates.
However, steer clear of that buddy who is just stunned that the fact that you
wrote a resume and immediately asked to copy yours.
They may not use a critical eye for
feedback at the level at which you may need.
Let's transition to references portion of the resume.
Now that is not to say that this is page two, it is not.
Let me repeat, references are not page two to the resume.
It is a complete and separate document.
You will need to copy and
paste your header from your resume onto the references page.
To maintain consistency and formatting, because remember, formatting is key.
You should use the same font size and style as well throughout that document.
make sure that you first ask permission to use them as a reference.
The last thing you want, is to slap someone's name down,
as a reference without asking.
Then either one, they are not prepared to talk about you and
your abilities or two, they give you a bad reference.
For more information on how to select references,
please contact career services.
When listing your references in the document,
make sure that you have a few pieces of vital information.
Their name, current position, place of employment, phone and email.
There is no need to include their physical or their mailing address, typically,
as most reference checks come through email or by phone.
So let's take a moment to pull it all together and
look at a couple of resume samples.
Can you identify some of the pitfalls that we have already discussed?
Let's dissect it.
There are I statements if you're able to see that.
Poor grammar and typos.
There's an abbreviation for the degree.
They're getting a bus degree.
The GPA is below a 3.0 which is perfectly acceptable as an average student
cuz average students get jobs too.
However it's standard if it's above a 3.0.
That's the only time that you would list it on your resume.
There's inconsistencies with format.
For instance, if you look at Willa Lodge
it does not have skills associated with it, yet Tomco does.
Font sizes are different.
This applicant clearly used a template that forced them to enter text.
Into each section, therefore drawing attention to the fact that they are not
a word winning as indicated by the NA, meaning not applicable.
Not something you wanna advertise.
Chances are strong that if you are the employer you will not move this applicant
to the next phase.
Now this sample is a little bit more put together if you will,
bullets are used strategically to pull the eye through the document.
The document has balance it's a good use of bolding
not everything is bolded only certain aspects but it's consistent.
All information can be consumed by the reader in about four to five seconds,
which is the goal upon the first read from a recruiter's standpoint.
That concludes our training over resumes.
You can visit our website, access the big book of resumes,
as well as other professional development resources.
We are located on the Stephenville, Waco, Fort Worth and Midlothian campuses.
If you have further questions about tailoring or formatting your document,
please do not hesitate to reach out to us whether face to face or
for an appointment.
Thank you and good luck.
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