Getting to the next level: the Résumé

Résumé! Is there a more common word when the topic of job-hunting comes up? Probably not. This week we will look at the ubiquitous résumé.

The components of an effective résumé include:

1. Contact Information: This should include your name, address, phone number, and email address. Let’s stop and emphasize that work and social life are two different worlds. Your email address needs to reflect this understanding. Names like “nap-king” or “xboxwarrior” might be great with your friends, but neither would help you generate interest or credibility as a potential employee. A similar truth exists for your voice mailbox message. An employer may not only be unimpressed with a long musical lead or the fake answer, but they might stop pursuing you right there without leaving a message. Your message will either tell them you are an articulate, intelligent prospective employee that would represent the company well, or an immature slacker who does not seem to care now and probably will not if they hired you.
2. Summary of skills and/or strengths: This should include things you have mastered like equipment, software programs, and processes or procedures you have learned.
3. Experience: At some point you will probably need to include a chronological order of work experience. Don’t forget to include medium to long-term volunteer positions (lasting at least a summer or a semester) and the skill sets you were developing in those roles. In addition to specific jobs you may have had, employers are also looking for transferable skills—things that were a part of one job that would be important in another setting. For example, an employer might say, “Being a lifeguard is a very responsible position and we are looking for someone with demonstrated maturity that we can depend on.” Teamwork is another big plus in today’s work world. Have you worked as a member of some kind of team? Even if it was only for a class project, that counts as experience that can help separate you from the others that are competing for the job you want.
4. Education: For most of you, this will include your high school as well as college whether you are finished here at Corban or not.
5. Accomplishments: This would include any recognition you have received from the college or from the community, like graduating with honors, scholarships that were awarded on a competitive basis, holding an office in any organization, a promotion, employee or volunteer of the month.
6. You may want to add an additional category for things like “Interests” or “Community Involvements” but this should be done only if what you are listing has direct connection to the job you are interested in or the mission of the company.