WRITING AN
EFFECTIVE RESUME
A resume is
your chief marketing tool. It’s three main functions are to:
advertise your
abilities, accomplishments and marketable qualities,
clearly and
factually communicate your value to potential employers and
help obtain
interviews.
A resume cannot tell
your complete life story, replace the interview, or obtain job offers. A
quality resume will blend content and cosmetics to capture attention and
stimulate interest. It will present your qualifications and
accomplishments as indicators of your potential. Make your resume
attractive, positive and easy to read.
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RESUME GUIDANCE
(8½" x 11")
Your Name:
Centered in the
middle, in bold print. Use first name, middle initial and last
name.
Address:
Include the address where you plan to receive correspondence
during your job search and also your e-mail address.
Phone Numbers:
List home and work numbers or an alternate
number where you can be reached. Remember, listing a work number
gives the reader permission to use it.
Education:
This section should include your formal academic education and
contain extracurricular activities, but not military training. Use
reverse chronological order. Show GPA if undergraduate is 3.0+ and
if graduate is 3.4+.
Experience:
This section should list present and past job titles,
responsibilities and accomplishments. Be very specific and
quantitative when documenting accomplishments. Use numbers,
percentages and outcomes. Explain how you successfully did the job
and/or how you did something differently and the associated
results. Project success, initiative and potential.
Title Line:
Include current rank, Branch of Service, and years of commissioned
service.
Personal:
Optional, but recommended. Include: computer skills, language
proficiency, security clearance and areas of interest.
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HELPFUL HINTS
 | Write your own. No one knows your
capabilities better than you do. |
| Try to keep it to one page, and
never use more than two. |
| Use reverse chronological format
to show increasing responsibilities with progression of jobs. |
| Make sure it is completely error
free. |
| Record each work assignment
separately. Try to narrow it to three main jobs/time frames. |
| Take advantage of appearance
enhancers (bold, italics, indentations, etc.), but do not overdo
it. |
| Use bullets for accomplishments to
separate them from the text and make them stand out. |
| Pay attention to brevity, style,
grammar, punctuation, spelling and format. |
| Be concise. Do not worry about
formal sentence structure. Short, snappy phrases are fine. |
| Consider each word and phrase
individually. If it does not have meaning or stand on its own,
eliminate it. |
| Use present tense verbs for current
job and past tense verbs for previous jobs. Avoid tense shifts
within paragraphs. |
| Use action verbs (supervised,
initiated, etc.) |
| Use print sizes that are easy to
read. Do not reduce the size to accommodate length. |
| Use one inch margins, and the
appropriate amount of white space. |
| Avoid use of personal pronouns (I,
mine, etc.) |
| Do not include salary history,
expected salary or availability date. |
| Eliminate military jargon and
"inside terminology." |
| Stay away from functional resumes.
They send the signal that you are hiding something. |
| Do not use summaries. They tend to
be subjective and often are overlooked. |
| Avoid bulky paragraphs. They do not
lend themselves to the "quick read" of most hiring professionals. |
| Eliminate abbreviations and
acronyms, except for common use, (BS, MS, TQM, etc.)
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Your Resume 