Lecture Business and administrative communication: Chapter 12 - Kitty O. Locker, Donna S. Kienzler

Chapter 12
Building Résumés

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Job Hunting

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Personal Branding
Marketing yourself
 Use a variety of tools:
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LinkedIn
Personal web page
Blogs
Facebook
Twitter
Professional forums
Cover letter

Social Networking Cautions
•Remove any unprofessional
material
•Remove negative comments
about current or past
employers and teachers
•Remove political or social
rants
•Remove any personal
information that might
embarrass you
•Remove inappropriate
material posted by friends,
family, relatives
•Check blog for writing aptitude

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Guidelines: Length
 Fill at least one page
 Average résumé these days:
2 pages
 Put most important information
on page 1
 Put at least 10 lines on page 2
 Include Name and Page 2

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Guidelines: Emphasis
 Emphasize your achievements
 That are most relevant to position applied for
 That show superiority to other applicants
 That are recent

 To emphasize information:
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Put it at top or bottom of page
Set it off with white space
Give it in a vertical and/or bulleted list
Include it in an informative heading
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Guidelines: Details
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Give evidence to support your claims
Convince reader

Separate you from other applicants
Use numbers and descriptions
Omit details that add no value

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Guidelines: Writing Style
 Be concise (brief, but complete)
 Use phrases and sentence fragments
 Never use I; use me or my if you must
 Use more action verbs than nouns
 List items in parallel form

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Guidelines: Key Words
Use words or phrases that employers will
have the computer seek
 May include:
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Software programs
Job titles
Types of degrees
Job-specific skills, buzzwords, jargon
Professional organizations
Honor societies
Personality traits
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Guidelines: Layout and Design
 Experiment with layout, fonts, and spacing to
highlight information
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Use no more than three fonts
Use color sparingly
Use at least 10-pt type
Use white space to group items

 Consider creating letterhead to use for your
résumé and application letter
 Use headings for reading ease
 Avoid templates
 Select good quality 8 ½ x 11 paper
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Kinds of Résumés: Chronological
 Summarizes what you did in time line
 Starts with most recent events, uses
reverse chronology
 Includes degrees, job titles, dates
 When to use—
 Your education, experience closely
related to job for which you’re applying
 You have impressive job titles, offices, or
honors
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Kinds of Résumés: Skills
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Emphasizes skills you’ve used, rather than the
job in which you used them or the date
De-emphasizes job titles, employment history,
dates
When to use—
 Your

education and experience not usual route to
applied job
 You’re changing fields

 You want to show broad experience

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Résumé Information: Name and 
Contact Info
Use full name, even if you have a
nickname
 Center one address; type two side by side
 Provide professional e-mail address
 Provide phone number
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Résumé Information: Education
 First main category in these cases—
 Earn new degree
 Need degree for job you’re seeking
 Can present the information briefly

 Put it later in these cases—
 Need page 1 for another category
 Lack degree that other applicants may have

 Cover 4-year and graduate degrees
 Include junior college if it gave you other expertise
 Include study abroad, even non-credit courses

 Give degrees, dates, schools, and cities

 May list short, descriptive course titles
 Include GPA—if it’s good—and what it’s based on: 3.4/4.0
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Résumé Information: Experience
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Include this information for each job held
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Position or job title
Organization
City and state
Dates of employment
Job duties; other details

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Résumé Information: Career 
Objective
Make it sound like employers’ job
descriptions

 Make it brief—2 lines at most
 Tell what you want to do, level of
responsibility you want
 Targeted to a job at a specific company
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Résumé Information: Summary of 
Qualifications
Show knowledge of specialized
technology in your field
 List accomplishments
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Be specific; include numbers and amounts
Include as many keywords as you can

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Résumé Information: Honors and 
Awards
 New college graduates put on page 1
 Include Honors and Awards if listing more than three
items

 Use Honors and Activities if listing fewer than three
items
 Include entries that add to your professional image
 Fellowships and scholarships
 Awards from professional societies
 Major awards from civic groups
 Academic honor societies
 Varsity letters
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Résumé Information: Activities
Critical for new college graduates
 Include this kind of information—
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Volunteer work and student organizations
Professional associations
Activities involving talent or responsibility
Varsity or intramural athletics
Leadership roles

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Résumé Information: References

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Résumé Information: What to Omit
Personal information
 Controversial activities or associations
 High school facts
 Trivial items
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Electronic Résumés
Basic guidelines of email job hunting etiquette:
Don’t use your current employer’s email
Set up a free, Internet-based email account
Avoid using silly or cryptic email addresses
Write a simple subject line
Test how résumé looks before sending
Send only one résumé
When sending résumé in text of email
Start all lines on left margin
Do not use bold, underlining, tabs, or unusual fonts
Put headings in all caps, but use sparingly
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Honesty

ALWAYS BE
HONEST ON
YOUR RÉSUMÉ !!!
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