Resume Workshop

• The ultimate goal of a resume is to gain you an interview!
• Help you prepare for an interview as you assess your strengths, skills, abilities and experience that are required or preferred for the job
• Act as a reminder of you to the employer/interviewer after you're done interviewing
• Be a basis for the interviewer to justify your hiring

Resume development is an ongoing process. It is important that you keep this document up-to-date. Remember that employers will be basing their interview decision (that is, shall we interview you or not) on your resume. They will look at content (both what is and isn't included) and format/style. 

Therefore, it is important that you catch a prospective employer’s attention within the first few seconds of reading your resume. Recruiters and hiring managers today are busy and often don’t spend more than a minute reviewing applicant resumes, so you have to sell yourself quickly and concisely.

Spend some time up front to determine what you have to offer and what you are worth to an employer. As you write, answer the question, "Why am I more qualified than the next applicant?" Then develop your resume to reflect that. DON'T use a MS Word resume template or copy the samples from this workshop! This needs to be uniquely you - you don't want to look (or sound) like anyone else. Finally, don't try to distinguish yourself by fancy fonts, images, or non-traditional papers. That is not the interest you want to capture!

There aren't many hard-and-fast rules of resume writing. But here are a few to take seriously:

• No spelling or word-choice errors
• No lying or overt overstatements
• No negative information should be included
• Include only relevant information
• Resume should never be more than two pages long

These are essential elements of all resumes:

• Name (Use the name that people call you. If you go by initials, list those, if you go by your middle name, use that.)
• Contact information (Phone number and Email address)
• Educational Background (After high school, so include junior college if applicable. Otherwise begin with WTAMU. Include your exact degree name and your projected graduation date.)
• Profile, Skills, or Summary of Qualifications section (more on this later)
• Experience or Work History (more on this later)

A few things to consider including:

• Objective Statement (If included, keep the focus on what you offer, not what you hope to gain.)
• Professional credentials if they are relevant to the job sought
• Licenses/Certifications (If relevant to the job you are applying for.)
• GPA (If it is 3.0 or higher)
• Social media links (LinkedIn is good. Others if the focus of the page is professional.) 
• Related Coursework (Always on an intern resume, not often found on a resume for a part-time job or post-graduation position.)
• Accomplishments/Achievements
• Affiliations/Memberships (more on this later)
• Activities/Honors/Scholarships (more on this later)

What should NEVER be included:

• Height, weight, age, date of birth, place of birth, marital status, sex, race, health (some of these items may be necessary on an International Resume) or social security number (NEVER!)
• Any statement that begins with "I" or "My"
• Reasons for leaving previous job(s)
• A photograph or image of yourself
• Salary Information for previous positions or salary expectations
• Reference names - these are on a separate 'References' page
• Religion, church affiliations, political affiliations

See Examples & Downloads section below.

This section may be the hardest to write when developing your resume. Doing the work to write a truly effective summary section is well worth the effort though, so you are encouraged to slow down and take your time to do this step by step! If you prefer to watch a video how-to view our Quality Qualifications video on our YouTube channel. 

Begin by determining what an employer seeks or needs.

Start by researching the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) you have that the reader, i.e., your potential employer seeks in a new hire. This can typically be done by going line-by-line through the job description if available. Look at job duties, position requirements and preferences, desired traits, along with knowledge/skills/abilities.

If you are developing your resume for a database or a class, not for a specific job, this step can be accomplished by gathering job descriptions from various websites. Get 3-4 different job descriptions and note the common traits and experiences sought. Don't worry about where these jobs are located. You're not really applying for them - you're just trying to get a feel for what employers are looking for in a successful candidate in your field or industry. 

One resource to find potential opportunities is Handshake. The postings in this database are from around the country and across a wide variety of industries but are targeting WTAMU students and alumni. Other resources for occupational information are the O*NET (use the Occupation Quick Search at the top right of the screen) offered by the US Department of Labor and featuring an exhaustive list of KSAs for a large number of US occupations, the Occupational Outlook Handbook from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or what we call marketable skills or career competencies as defined by our professional association the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE.) These are the top eight skills sought by American employers. 

Finally, a valuable research tool that is often overlooked is to network (both in-person and electronically) with individuals who work in your target profession and/or at your target employers. You can gain more useful information from a ‘live’ connection than you’d ever imagine! Take time NOW to do this research.

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Next - match up your skills & experience with those sought by the employer.

Remember that you want your resume to showcase the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) you possess that your potential employer seeks in a new hire. You've done your research into what these KSAs are ... now you need to see how it is that you match up!

We’ve developed an easy to follow chart to help you work through the process of what to include on each resume you write. Here is a snapshot (download the pdf here): 

 Take each of the individual knowledge, skills, and abilities you identified in step one as needed for your target position and list one per line in column A.

Remember that these might be personal attributes such as organizational skills or customer service ability ... OR technical skills like knowing a specific computer language or being able to read and interpret social media analytics ... OR skills like public speaking ability or knowledge of GAAP and so on. Whatever it is that the job you seek requires … each KSA goes on a separate line in column A.

What we want you to do next is to think about the WHERE ... where have you demonstrated this particular KSA. So, step two is to match yourself up and list your where in Column B. This could be at a particular job, as part of a class, a club or organization to which you belong, or even a volunteer experience or hobby you enjoy. Oftentimes, students think they can only use work related experiences on their resume, but this is not true. Remember too, that if you don’t possess a particular skill, your Column B on that line will be empty.

The final step for this process is to come up with an actual, real-life example of you demonstrating each KSA that you’ve identified in column B. So, if your column A skill is public speaking – your column B may be a class or club … and column C would be an example, i.e., “As a member of Gamma Gamma Gamma, I am often called upon to present workshops in turtle musicianship to community groups.” OR “During my internship at Elias Enterprises, I researched industry leaders’ use of social media and made a presentation to upper level management about ways we could improve our Instagram account.” And so on. Each Column B response must have a tangible real-life example in Column C.

As you can see, this is going to change (maybe just a little, but maybe dramatically) each time you apply for another job.

Now you are ready to write your statements.

Final step! Look at your completed worksheet and see which of the lines (the KSAs) you have a column B and a column C for ... these are all potential knowledge, skills, and abilities for you to use in this section.

Take your cue from the job description and from your research, the more often a KSA appears (and the higher it appears in the description) the more important it likely is to the job and the employer and thus the more important it is for you to include if you are able. If you do not have a column B AND column C entry for a KSA - do not include it on the resume!

You will now draft statements of what it is you CAN DO to assist this employer, based on what it is you know the employer is seeking.

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A few KEY notes 

They will not be complete sentences NOR will you use any personal pronouns (i.e., no "I" or "my")

They are NOT a list of things you've done, but rather are things you CAN DO ... knowing what it is the job you seek requires.

Begin each qualification statement with an action verb and each one with a different word. Some examples of 'beginning words' might be Skilled ... Capable ... Knowledgeable ... Able ... Proficient ... Proven ability to ... etc.

Use the language of the employer. Remember to use industry-specific language and keywords you've learned from your research to demonstrate your knowledge and skills in terms the employer can easily understand.

Final comments on this section... take your time and do it right!

This is not something that should or can be rushed. Do the research, match up your experience, skills, and knowledge, and then craft concise statements of your ability to contribute to your potential employer. We, in Career Services, are happy to help you with this, however, we are not able to write them for you. Only you know where you've been, what you've done, and where you are headed ... but we are here to ask you questions and work with you to be sure you are presenting yourself in the best possible way.

What order and what information is included?

Jobs should be listed in reverse chronological order (that is, your most recent job is listed first.)

Listing must include name of company, city and state. Do not list street addresses, supervisors, telephone numbers or reason for leaving.

Include your job title so the employer has an idea of the work you performed. If you didn't have an official title, choose one that best describes what you actually did at this job.

Dates of employment are required. Be sure to include month (or term) and year, i.e., Fall 2019 or June 2020-present.

Typically job duties are not included here unless they are highly relevant to your objective. Even then do not include duties which are implied by your job title or already covered in the Summary of Qualifications or Profile section. However, job accomplishments SHOULD be listed as bullet statements under each position as applicable. These likely came to light when you were developing your summary of qualifications section.

What jobs should I include?

There is no rule about which jobs you must include. Use your discretion and include everything needed for the employer to make the decision to contact you for an interview. You might list every job you've ever held or you might just list your last 3 positions. Note that on a job application you must include your entire work history (or as requested on the application.)

Another approach might be to only include the relevant positions you've had and name the section Related Experience or Relevant Work History or something similar.

If your most relevant experience, say an internship or other employment is not your most current position, you might consider creating a separate section titled something like "Related Experience" or "Internships" where you will be able to isolate and highlight this experience. You'd then follow with the unrelated (but still valuable) experience in a Work History section.

We recommend that you put this section after your Employment History unless it is the main source of your KSAs (that is your campus or community activities/involvement are the place you have developed your marketable skills) in which case you should consider putting it before employment history.

Include scholarships, honors, organizations, and memberships as well as community work, or volunteer work.

You don't have to include everything you've been involved with if it is overwhelming. Keep your goal in mind (getting that interview) and give enough information to allow the reader (i.e., potential employer) what s/he needs to make that decision.

Be sure to include the name of the organization and any leadership role you may have held. Most of the time, it is not necessary to list dates, but that is up to you. If you were named the Accounting Student of the Year, it probably makes sense to include the year. But if you were on the Dean's List four semesters and the President's List twice, adding that many dates/semesters would just be visual clutter. Make sure that the section is easy to read and that each line included adds new information and value to you as a candidate for the job to which you are applying.

Remember, don’t include anything from before college unless it is truly an exceptional feat.

Rank these items from 'most impressive' or 'most relevant' to 'least impressive' or 'least relevant' as it relates to your job target.

Name this section what it is. If it is all community work – Community Involvement – would be a good name; if it is all clubs and organizations – call it Activities; if it is all honors – call it Honors.

Are There Activities That I Shouldn’t List?

Some activities we are involved in may be controversial. For example: politically-affiliated clubs/volunteer work or church activities. We call these "hot buttons" and our advice is:

IF that activity or membership is SO important to you that you would not want to work somewhere that it wasn’t ‘ok’ then    include it on the resume, but...

IF you are more interested in the opportunity and would just as soon wait to let them know that you are a Democrat or a Baptist, leave it off or list it generically, for example: Sunday School Teacher

What About Hobbies and Interests?

As a general rule, we don’t recommend that you list hobbies or interests unless they are both (a) organized, i.e., you belong to a club and (b) relevant to the type of position you are seeking.

Make use of style elements, use bold, italics, different font sizes, upper-case and small capitals lettering for emphasis and to direct the reader's eye.

Type should be between 10 & 12 pt. We suggest using a professional, readily-available font such as Georgia, Times New Roman, Arial, Bookman, Trebuchet, Lucida Sans, Garamond,  or Verdana. You can use a different font for the headers of your resume as well as your contact information but don't use more than two font types. As noted above, however, you can vary the size, style, etc.

Make sure your resume presents well visually ... does it look good on the page? Don’t have all the text on the left side of the page and lots of blank space on the right. Use white space, but also spread out your information in an visually pleasing way.

Use bullets to draw the reader’s eye. But don’t bullet everything! Use them to highlight the strong points of your resume such as the Qualifications or Profile statements.

Be consistent with headings (size, boldness, etc.) and body text (indented, not indented, tabs right-justified, tabs left-justified, etc.)

DO NOT USE A RESUME TEMPLATE. While it may seem easier and appear to save you time today - trust us, it will be more work and a big headache later on if you need to update or change your resume in any way. Take a little more time now and save a lot of time later!

Download a pdf with these recommendations

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When printing, use resume paper.

This can be purchased at any office supply or discount store like Target or WalMart. Career Services has a limited supply of resume paper. If you come to our office, we can print 5 copies of your resume for you per visit.

Don’t get fancy – plain white or off-white (cream, ivory, etc.) is your best bet, don't go for bordered or themed paper. You want the attention on your resume content not on how it looks!

Who should I ask to be a reference?

They should all be individuals who have direct knowledge of your job abilities (supervisor, etc.), a professor who teaches a major-related class, a coach or sponsor of your extracurricular activity.

Follow the employers directions to the letter. If they ask for 3 references and you have asked 5 people - choose the 3 references from your 5 who are best suited to discuss your suitability for this particular position. NEVER send more or less names than requested. If the employer doesn't specify a number, it is up to you how many to include.

Ask the references permission before you use them. Also ask them if they will give you a good reference. You don’t want to list folks who won’t sing your praises!

Once they consent to being a reference for you, ask where they would like to be contacted, i.e., home or work and get the correct contact information for each person. Afterward, follow up with your references by sending them a copy of your completed resume. This will help them if/when they get a call on you.

How to List/Format?

Reference names don’t go on the resume itself. They are a separate document, using the same header you did on your resume. Then list the reference names and contact information in block (envelope) style.

Include as much contact information as you are able to provide. Reference name, their job title, company, mailing address, phone number and email are all appropriate. We also recommend including a brief "how do they know me" phrase if that is not evident. Samples of this phrase might be "Professor" or "Advisor" or "Supervisor at McDonald's," etc.

When to Send?

Opinion is split on this question. Some believe you should always send references when you initially send your job search documents. Others recommend you only send if requested by the employer. Research your particular field to see if there is a 'norm' within your industry/job field and if so, follow it. If not, utilize any contacts you have within (or associated with) the organization to whom you are applying. If neither of these avenues yield any results - go with your 'gut' feeling.

Be sure to take copies of your references to all interviews. Most employers will request them at that time.

Any time you send your resume to an employer it should be accompanied by a cover letter.

A cover letter acts as an introduction for your interest in the organization/position and provides the potential employer with a sample of your writing skills, so be sure to make it the best possible sample you can. Use your cover letter to differentiate yourself from the crowd of applicants!

If you are sending your resume via email - the cover letter is the email message itself.

The following is a cover letter format for you to consider: Cover Letter Outline

Download this document with two sample cover letters illustrating different approaches.

Do not copy - yours should be unique. However, these examples should give you some ideas on formatting and style. Be creative, professional and individual!

Resume formats & examples:

• Graduating student format
• Intern format
• Teacher format
• Graduating nurse format
• Part time job format
• Sample resumes

Cover letter format & examples

References format

Job descriptions to qualifications made easy

General guidelines for resumes

Marketable skills

Workshop packet

Link to Pace University Theatre/Entertainment Industry Resume advice