Can you give me tips for a resume?

Question

I am going to apply to various internships. Can you give me advice on how to write it? No need to mention grammar or spelling, thats a given.. but what format is best? When listing dates for job experience do I put the exact starting month to final month?
Do I list dean's list/president's list?

Answer 1

1. Use brief sentences, but use proper English to do so. Make sure they are clear and concise.

2. Avoid fluff and buzzwords. Everybody knows them when they see them, and it will actually be counterproductive.

3. You could mention the deans list, but I'd guess that your GPA would imply the same thing. I'd mention it anyway. Technical awards or major projects might be good to mention too.

4. Nobody cares about your clubs and your hobbies, unless you were president/vp of the A.I.A.A, or S.A.E, or A.I.A. or another of the major professional organization student chapters. Fraternity or sorority affiliation might help if someone interviewing was also in the group, but it's just as likely to irritate someone that got rejected by them.

5. Mention that references are available on request in the cover letter. They are not appropriate on a resume.

6. Try to keep it to one page.

7. If you had senior level courses that were electives, that not all seniors might have taken, then you might want to mention your area of focus. Ditto if you had a minor area of study.

8. Keep your goal a hair on the general side. If you just got out of school or are close to it, everyone knows that you probably don't want to miss out on any opportunities. It won't hurt anything to not be overly specific at the intern level.

9. Weird paper is a distraction and known to be a gimmick. Use high quality white cotton bond.

10. Be 100% totally honest. I was told by my first boss that hired me out of college, that I was hired not because of my grades, which sucked, but because after talking to me about the circumstances surrounding the fact that I even got out, that they had respect for my persistence.

11. Make the whole thing easy to read. Trying to fit more stuff by using smaller fonts is about as irritating as gnats in your ear to someone trying to review a stack of resumes, probably in a hurry.

12. When using chronological order, go from most recent to less recent. Go from month/year to month/year.

13. If you've worked your way through school, you might have a brief section mentioning that, and the jobs you held. It shows a willingness to work and character.

Good luck!
Kevin

Answer 2

There are two forms of resumes: chronological and functional. Chronological resumes include the dates/months of employment, the duties of each job during that time period, and other affiliations and organizations. Jobs are typically listed from current to previous. This type of resume is the most common used.

A functional resume is ideal for those who have little work experience but would like to illustrate the skills that one possesses. Dates are usually not listed as those would be on a chronological resume.

I am assuming that you are going to create a chronological resume so make sure that you have these important components:
1) Your heading centered at top of page-name-in bold, larger print, address, phone number, email address (particularly, your name---ex. [e-mail])
2) Objective--this one sentence statement tells the employer what you would like to accomplish while working for their company.
3) Education--list your education background starting with college (include high school if you're still in college). State your major and GPA.
4) Work Experience--this is where you will list the places where you've worked, when you worked (ex. June 2005-Present), and what were your duties. Don't forget to use bullets.
5) The next section can be where you list your organizations, extracurricular activities, conferences, academic achievements (like the Dean's list) etc. You can name this section anywhere from Extracurricular Opportunities, Organizations and Achievements, or Affiliations....
6) References-- Put Available upon request, unless the employer has asked for them.

I really hope that this helps you.

Answer 3

I'm not too sure about the format, but as a business owner the thing that stands out for me the most is an awesome, genuine cover leter. I've employed solely on the basis of genuine entheusiasm and passion that comes across in that first page in the past, and because it puts a more personal tone to the application. good luck!