Black Collegian Career Center

The average recruiter or employment specialist may easily look at 200 resumes in just a week’s time. They receive resumes in the mail and on-line, all from candidates looking for the ideal job. Hundreds of resumes may be reviewed for a single position. From the hundreds of resumes that are submitted, only a fraction will be selected for an interview. It’s a number’s game that can leave you on the outside looking in, if you don’t put together a professional resume that works. Your challenge then is to produce a resume that will be viewed favorably, will stand out, and will result in an interview.

The first thing you should understand is that the resume is more than just a piece of paper with some information on it. You should view the resume as a marketing tool, your personal representative to the recruiter. Think about it for a moment, the resume gets a brief review before the organization’s first line decision-makers. That person will decide in a matter of seconds whether you deserve to advance to the interview. Your resume must be compelling enough to impress both human and electronic eyes in this first stage in order to get you to the vital second stage. In short, your resume must represent you in the most positive light possible if you are to advance to the interview stage.

Getting Started

Most hiring managers and recruiters agree that a resume should have a clean professional look that is easy to read. While content is considered more important than format, the chronological format is clearly favored over others. This is because the chronological format provides a clear record of your work history and allows for inclusion of your extracurricular activities and honors. So, where do you start? Before you decide on format or even content of the resume, you should start with a series of lists. First, you need to make a list of what it is employers generally are seeking in the ideal candidate. That list should look something like the one below.

What Employers Look for in Candidates

• Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Computer Skills
• Work Experience
• Motivation/Initiative
• GPA/Academics
• Leadership Abilities
• Analytical Skills
• Ethics
• Teamwork Skills
• Career Focus
• Writing Skills

Your list could be longer or shorter, but it should be a list that is similar to this one. These are some skills and attributes that were recently identified as essential for employers surveyed by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). Using this list or one of your own, you should determine which of these skills and attributes you possess. Make a check mark next to each skill you think you possess. Place another check mark next to those skills and attributes that you feel are real strong suits for you. These should be skills you can easily demonstrate if called upon to do so. The reason why this little exercise is important is because if you are selected to interview, you can count on being asked to discuss these skills extensively. Now circle the things on the lists that are not particularly strong points for you. Be honest! Okay, you can put this list aside for now. We’ll come back to it later.

The next thing you need to do is put together a list of your work and volunteer experience. Next to each experience list some skill(s) that you used or learned while you worked there. All work experience is valuable whether it is related to a specific career or not, so don’t leave anything out. Now that we have our working lists we can start with the construction of the resume.

Types of Resume Formats

Depending on whom you talk to or what book you read, there are several types of resume formats in use, but in this article, we’ll just discuss two. The two most popular resume formats are the Functional, and the Chronological. The Functional resume emphasizes major skill areas and competencies such as Project Management, Sales, or Training. The functional resume is best suited for persons with extensive work experience and probably should be avoided by students. However, in some rare situations, the Functional format may work. An example of what a Functional resume may look like for a recent college graduate is provided.

The chronological resume organizes work experience in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent work experience and working backward. The advantage of the chronological format is that work history is easy to follow. Most recruiters favor the chronological format for college students and young professionals. In fact, many hiring managers prefer the chronological to all other formats because it is easy to read and easy to get critical information. The following resume is a good example of a chronological resume.

Putting the Pieces Together

The first section of the resume is the contact information or heading. The heading should include your name, address and telephone number. You should also include your email address, since many employers now like to contact students directly about interview schedules and other important information. Make yourself as accessible as you can. If you have a web page and cell phone you may want to include them as well. When printing your name use bold face type between 14 and 16 font size. Often students will use an oversized font in uppercase with boldface type. This is overkill. While your name should stand out, it shouldn’t be too large and ostentatious. When a name is so large, it throws off the balance and cosmetic appeal of the resume. Keep your name reasonably aligned with the rest of the resume. Your address should include both your school address and your permanent home address, complete with phone numbers.

After you have the heading in place, you should consider developing a career objective. Most recruiters like to see a career objective because it suggests some degree of career focus. Rachel Nichols, assistant director of Recruiting for Andersen, says, “An objective is good as long as it is career specific, but if it is too general, you may as well leave it off. The other thing that is problematic is when we get a career objective stating an interest in software engineering and we are looking for a financial analyst. This is a clear indicator that this person is just randomly looking for a job and has little career direction.” Many students use one objective for all the various positions they submit their resumes for, and then wonder why they aren’t selected to interview. If you have multiple interests and plan on pursuing several career areas, you should customize your resume for each area. Most students avoid using an objective because they feel it will limit their chances and work against them. If you’re worried about this, you should make an appointment with a career counselor who can help you develop an objective that will provide the necessary career focus, but won’t eliminate your chances at other positions. If you absolutely aren’t sure of what you want to do, it’s best to leave the career objective off.

The next section of the resume should highlight your education. Included in the education section is the name and location of your school, your degree and your academic major. Most recruiters want you to include your grade point average even if it is low. If you don’t put it on they will assume it is low. You can always minimize the impact of a low grade point average by showing that you were involved in extracurricular activities. For those students with low GPA’s, most recruiters recommend that students include a cover letter with any resumes they submit. They should offer an explanation as to why their grade point average is not as strong as it could be. Involvement in school and community activities, or an encounter with illness or other personal problems could have had an impact on grades. It is always wise to try to explain a low GPA. Another thing you should include in the education section is a listing of relevant course work. This is especially important for liberal arts majors who may have taken business or computer courses. When resumes are scanned, they are attempting to pick up key words and phrases. The more key words and phrases, which are scanned, the greater your chances are of being selected for an interview.

Next on the resume comes the section about your work experience. Most recruiters like to see some industry-related experience, however, according to Nichols, “Any work experience or extensive volunteer work is good. Our expectation is that students will have some work experience, whether it is an internship, a co-op, or a summer job.” When listing your work experience, start with your most recent experience and work backward. Be sure to give complete information including name of company (or organization), location (city and state), and job title. Be sure to use active verbs when describing your work activities and responsibilities. Some active verbs:

Organize
Assist 
Manage
Develop
Implement
Create
Initiate
Supervise
Coordinate

These are just samples of the types of verbs you should include in your resume when describing what you did. Verbs should introduce what you’ve done in a creative and meaningful way. Another thing you should be mindful of, is to quantify your work whenever possible. Here are some examples of how this might look on a resume.

• Managed quality control that resulted in an 85% reduction in returned merchandise over a three-month period.
• Assisted in creating an ad campaign that produced a 105% increase in sales worth $1.2 million.

By quantifying your activities wherever possible, you enhance your chances for an interview. Finally, the most important thing to consider about your work or volunteer experience is that this is an opportunity to provide evidence of the skills you have developed. Remember the list of skills you checked earlier? You should be able to assign the skills you claim to some work activity or some academic exposure. Simply go down the list of your skills and determine where the skill is represented on your resume. This little exercise will help prepare you for the interview. The other thing you did in the exercise was to place a circle around those things that are not particular strengths for you. If any of these skills are critical to success, you should develop a plan of action that will help you improve in these areas. Be realistic by setting reasonable goals. You may even use this in the interview when asked about weaknesses or challenges you have. Always put a positive spin on areas you need to improve on. An example would be, “ I have trouble staying motivated when the work is too routine. I realize that I’m not always going to have exciting work to do, so I’m working on staying motivated by creating excitement with routine tasks.” It will impress the recruiter that you are able to recognize a weakness and have a plan to remedy it.

Honors and Activities, a Critical Part of the Resume

There are two places where information about honors and activities can be placed. Many experts say it is more appropriate to place honors and activities as a sub-category of education, while others prefer to separate them under their own headings at the end of the resume. Wherever you decide to place them is purely optional. The key to resume construction is consistency and a clean professional look. When listing your honors and activities, be sure to only include those you were involved in while in college. Unless you are a first or second year student, it is inappropriate to include high school honors and activities. Recruiters want to know what you were involved in during your college years, not that you were president of the Beta Honor Society in high school.

Your honors and activities are examples of your academic ability and social maturity. Recruiters like to see students involved in on-campus and community activities. “A student involved in activities is an indication to us of social maturity and leadership,” says Nichols. “Students learn so many things that can be applied to the workplace in the service of others and involvement in extracurricular activities. We pay close attention to a student’s involvement in activities outside the classroom. A student with a 4.0 grade point average, but no evidence of being involved in activities or the community, would inspire little interest for us.”

Cover Letter

Let’s talk a little bit about the cover letter. When should a cover letter be used and what should the content of the cover letter be? Some experts will tell you that you should never submit a resume without an accompanying cover letter. Cover letters are a very important part of your challenge to communicate with employers and market yourself in an effective manner. My advice is this: if you are really interested in the job, you should take the time to include a well-crafted cover letter. Most employers will be impressed that you have included a cover letter. It will make a statement that this is important to you.

The key to writing a good cover letter is to write it with the needs of the employer in mind. Think about what the job entails and what the employer considers important and take your cues from there. Some tips for writing a cover letter include:

• Develop cover letters that are centered on the needs of the employer and the position.

• Use the same high quality paper you use for your resume.

• Address your letter to a specific person with his/her correct title whenever possible.

• Get to the point early in the letter. Identify where you heard about the position.

• Don’t ramble.

• Keep the letter to one page.

• Letters should be tailored to each individual situation. Do not use generic letters that are mass mailed. Employers are aware of generic letters and are not impressed.

• Produce a letter that is error-free and grammatically correct.

• The cover letter should be an embellishment of your resume, not a replication of it.

Take some time to examine the cover letter sample included in this article. Don’t attempt to copy the letter. Use the example to practice writing your own letter using a similar format for your content. Remember, a cover letter is an important marketing tool and it should be included whenever you are applying for a career position.

Now that you have all the pieces of the puzzle assembled, your challenge is to put them together in a compelling way. The key to obtaining an interview is to create a professional resume and cover letter that paint a clear picture of your skills, abilities, experience and career focus. If these elements are part of your resume and marketing letters, the job interview should be right around the corner. Good Luck!

A. Tariq Shakoor is the director of the Career Center at Emory University.