Resume Basics 101
What is a resume?
A résumé is a document that summarizes your education, experiences, and competencies. It is designed to introduce you to an employer and highlight your qualifications for a specific job or type of work.
What are the 3 common resume formats?
Chronological, Functional, and Combination
The first section in your resume includes?
Your contact information: Name, Address, Phone number and professional-sounding email
What is an accomplishment statement?
accomplishment statements describe the competencies you’ve developed and demonstrated throughout your education, related experience, volunteer experience, extracurricular activities and interests.
Who should you use as a reference?
people you know from a work, volunteer or educational setting
What is the purpose of a resume?
To encourage an employer to consider you for a job interview or job.
What resume format is most preferred by employers and is useful when your most recent experience is closely related to your career goal?
Chronological
What order does information go in a resume?
Present all relevant information in reverse chronological order (most recent to oldest)
Where do you put accomplishment statements in a resume?
Accomplishment statements can go under each experience in your work history (if using a chronological format) or organized into groups by thematic areas for a skills section (if using a functional format)
How many references should you provide?
3-4
How many pages is a resume?
Typically, a resume is 1-2 pages.
What resume format is effective when you lack relevant work experience and want to emphasize your skills?
Functional resume format
The first page of your resume should include what?
Put the most relevant information on the first page – employers often spend as little as 6 seconds reviewing a resume!
Accomplishment statements should be started with?
Action verb- Use Action Words (verbs) to begin your bulleted achievement statements in your work experience section—this will help you create a more powerful case for how you’ve developed the key skills the employer is looking fo
What is the purpose of a reference?
References comment on your skills, personal qualities and work ethic to a prospective employer
When applying for a job, how should you prepare your resume?
You should customize and tailor your resume for each job you apply to.
In this type of resume, your competencies are separated from your education and work history and they are organized into groups by themes.
What is a Functional Resume
What goes last in a resume?
References
Accomplishment statements should include SAR, which is what?
Situation- Action- Result
when writing accomplishment statements, aim to identify the action, the situation (to give context) and what the result was of that action..
"ie: performed routine cleaning procedures to ensure guest rooms were sanitized according to health & safety standards, resulting in five star cleanliness ratings for the hotel"
If you want to use someone as a reference, what should you do?
Always ask permission to use someone as a reference. You may also want to ask them what they would say about you if they had to do a reference check.
What information is required on a resume?
Personal Contact Information, Education, Experience and References
How do you know which resume format to use each time you apply for a job?
How you present your information and which format you will use, will depend on the qualifications in the job ad in relation to your education/experience.
What should you leave off of a resume?
Birthdate, SIN, Marital status, Photo, salary expectations
The best accomplishment statements do what:
Give specific examples and give context and draw connections between past experiences and skills required in the role you are applying for to show how how past achievements relate to the position.
What information do you need for each reference
Name, job title, (how you know them), organization, location, phone and email