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Writing a Resume
by B. Dear
There are many different
schools of thought on how resumes should be written. People have
different
views on what type of stock resumes should be printed on, what color
the paper
should be, and how the resume should be structured for maximum effect.
I will
leave these decisions up to you because each industry seems to have
it’s own
preferences in these areas. What I will cover in this article are the
standard
sections that all resumes should have.
The following sections
should be included:
The Contact section. The contact section provides who
you are, where you
live, and your phone numbers and email address. It should look
something like
this:
John Doe
123 Street Street
City, State, 12345
555-1212
emailaddress@email.com
Summary. The
summary section details what position you are seeking right now and a
condensed
bit of information about yourself to catch their attention. Focus on
getting
key bits of information into this paragraph that will keep them
considering you
for the position you are applying for. This section should be reviewed
and
updated each time you are applying for a position.
Work Experience, Time frames,
Work
Summary/Experience/Accomplishments. List
each job you have held starting with the most recent. List the job
title, then
the company, the dates through which the position was held, a paragraph
about
your duties in this position and any special accomplishments you made
while in
the position. It should look something like this:
Cashier
Yummy Foods, Inc.
August 1999- Present
As a member of the Yummy
Foods team I scanned grocery items, stocked shelves, and mopped floors.
I was awarded
Employee of
the Month in May 2000 and June 2001.
Education. List
all degrees earned from major universities and colleges. Do not list
your high
school unless you do not hold any higher degrees. It should look
something like
this:
College University, BS, Computer Science, July 2001
Skills and Certifications. List any special skills,
training or qualifications
that you may have been trained for. Do not list anything here that you
cannot
back up with a piece of paper. Make sure that you have a record of all
classes
taken or qualification test results. It should look like this
C++ Certified, June 2000
A+ Certified,
August 2001
Computer
Repair Class, Computer
Tech
University,
2001
After
listing the above items, you should have a fairly complete resume. Be
sure to spell check it and also to check it for grammar before making
copies of it and distributing it to employers.
Some Things
Not to Do:
- Do
not put your Social Security
number on your resume.
- Do not put “References
Available Upon Request” on your resume. It wastes space and
they already understand that.
- Don't make your resume too long
or they won't read it.
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