Résumés
Introduction
These resources will help you write your résumé. These pages will also help you design your résumé so it looks professional. To use these pages, you may select links in the navigation bar on the left, you may select links from the list below, or you may advance through the pages using the links at the bottom of each page. Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters.
The résumé pages are organized into the following sections:
- Résumé overview part 1
- What is a résumé?
- Why do I need to do a résumé?
- What should I do if I'm a veteran entering civilian life?
- Résumé overview part 2
- What should I do if I am transitioning from the automotive industry?
- What should I do about time I was not working?
- What should I do if I have been incarcerated?
- What should my résumé look like?
- What should my résumé include?
- Résumé sections part 1
- Contact information
- Objective
- Work experience
- Résumé sections part 2
- Education
- Summary of skills
- References
- Résumé sections part 3
- Optional section - professional affiliations
- Optional section - other experiences
- Résumé design part 1
- Designing your résumé
- Four-section Method (balancing your résumé)
- Résumé design part 2
- Using columns in your résumé
- Résumé fonts
- Other types of emphasis
- Checking your résumé
- The twenty-second test for checking your résumé's effectiveness
Résumé Overview Part 1
What is a résumé?
A résumé is a document that shows your education and job history. A résumé may also include life experiences related to the job you want to get.
Why do I need to do a résumé?
Many employers want workers to write a résumé. Employers use résumés to see who can do a job. Employers also use résumés to read about your past jobs. Your résumé is important because it shows employers what you have done and what you can do. Your résumé should convince an employer to give you an interview.
Even if you do not need a résumé for a certain job, it is good to keep one up to date because it is easier to fill out job applications if you have a résumé to reference.
What should I do if I’m a veteran entering civilian life?
It is important to create your résumé in a way that employers will understand. Creating an effective résumé for your civilian life means you will have to use language people outside the military can understand. For example, in the experience section of your résumé you will need to do some “translating” between military terms and civilian terms:
Military terms: Received and stored bulk and package petroleum, oils, and lubricants products. Issued and dispensed bulk fuels and water from storage and distribution facilities to using units. Selected and submitted samples of petroleum, oils, and lubricants to laboratory for testing. Performed petroleum and water accounting duties (from Army Pamphlet 611-21).
Civilian terms: Coordinated and distributed petroleum products and monitored quality control systems.
If you remember specific details and achievements related to your responsibilities in the military, you should include them:
Coordinated and distributed $1 million in petroleum products per month and monitored quality control systems to ensure a 99.3% average delivery rate.
Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters.
Résumé Overview Part 2
What should I do if I am transitioning from the automotive industry?
It is important to create your résumé in a way that employers will understand. Creating an effective résumé for your new job outside the auto industry means you will have to use language people outside the industry can understand. For example, in the experience section of your résumé you will need to “translate” your auto industry terms:
Auto industry terms: Finished, prepared, and applied various materials, sub-finishes and final top coat paints to components, parts and complete vehicles in accordance with engineering drawings and manufacturer’s recommendations.
“Translated” terms: Worked in a team to apply paint to parts and complete vehicles following detailed engineering drawings and manufacturer’s recommendations.
If you remember specific details and achievements related to your responsibilities, you should include them:
Supervised and coordinated ten employees in automotive assembly and reviewed manufacturing processes and products for quality control. Maintained a 96% average delivery rate while focusing on lean manufacturing and continuous improvement.
What should I do about any times I was not working?
Short times in between jobs or work experience should not hurt your chances of getting an interview. But you should be prepared to talk about those breaks when you meet with the employer. If you were not working for pay but volunteered doing something in the community, talk about that experience to show you were busy doing something.
What should I do if I have been incarcerated?
If you were incarcerated, be honest with the employer and talk about what you did while you were serving your sentence that may contribute to your job skills. For example, many prison systems offer General Education Development (GED) programs so inmates can receive the equivalent of a high school diploma. Prison systems also offer vocational training in carpentry, plumbing, electronics, auto mechanics, etc. If you have received vocational training in prison, talk about this in your interview.
Also, people reentering the work force from prison may want to write a skills-based (also called a functional) résumé. Skills-based résumés focus on what you can do now rather than showing a specific work history.
What should my résumé look like?
You may design your résumé in a chronological format or a skills-based format. You may also use a combination of both. You should choose the format that best represents your situation. As mentioned above, if you have been incarcerated, you may want to choose the skills-based format. The example résumés available with this resource show all of these formats. Regardless of which format you choose, your résumé should follow some general guidelines.
Your résumé should be one page, and it should look professional. Your résumé should be easy to read and have no errors. Your résumé should not contain full sentences, but instead it should contain statements in bullet lists. Lastly, your résumé should include white space and a balanced format so it is easy to skim. For more information about résumé formatting, visit the Résumé Design pages.
What should my résumé include?
Depending on which résumé format you choose (chronological, skills-based, combination), your résumé could include these sections:
- Contact information – phone number (home, cell), mailing address, email address
- Objective – the name of the company and the job you want
- Work history – jobs you have held (the order of the work history and education sections can be reversed depending on your situation)
- Education – elementary, high school, college, technical school, certifications, vocational or trade schools
- Summary of qualifications – list of skills that apply to the job you want
Optional sections include:
- Professional or union affiliations – trade groups or labor relation organizations
- Other experiences – volunteer work or hobbies that relate to the job you want
You may also do a separate page for your references. References are past employers or people you know who employers can contact to get more information about your job history.
Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters.
The following pages explain each résumé section in detail.
Résumé Sections Part 1
Contact Information
The contact information section is at the top of your résumé and includes your name, mailing address, and phone number(s). If you have an email account, provide that address here. Note that your email address should be professional. In other words, an email address that reads hotchick @ yahoo.com is not acceptable. Here is a sample contact information section:
Karl M. Jones
900 N. 7th St. Apt. 6
Lafayette, IN 47904
765-123-4567
kmjones123 @ gmail.com
Objective
The objective should be short and tailored to the company and the job you want. The objective should include the company name and the job title. The objective should also include any job number in the ad. Here is a sample objective:
Objective: To obtain the welder apprentice position (#46) at A & D Industries
Work Experience
Note: You can reverse the work experience and education sections depending on your situation. The work experience section lists your past jobs beginning with the most recent position. The section also includes:
- Name and address of company or organization
- Employment dates
- Position title
- Responsibilities (remember to list the number of employees you supervised if you have management experience)
- Awards and promotions (employers are very interested in your achievements and success. Awards and promotions show an employer that you have been recognized for your hard work)
Here is a sample work experience section:
Russell’s Collision Service, Lafayette, IN: July 2007-Present
Part Time Auto Body Technician, Welder/Fabricator
- Diagnose, weld, and repair automotive body damage
- Weld metal parts, components using brazing, gas, or arc equipment
- Weld in flat, horizontal, vertical, or overhead positions
- Prepare accurate cost estimates
- Match body parts
- Mix and apply paint from spray primer to final finish work
Village Pantry, Lafayette, IN: June 2006-Present
Full and Part Time Retail Clerk
- Run point of sales register
- Maintain customer relations
- Build merchandise displays
- Track inventory
- Stock shelves
- Won “Employee of the Month” May 2006, April 2008
Village Pantry, Indianapolis, IN: April 2002-June 2006
Full Time Retail Clerk
- Ran point of sales register
- Maintained customer relations
- Built merchandise displays
- Tracked inventory
- Stocked shelves
The verbs you use in your bullet lists should be active and should be specific. The Purdue OWL maintains a list of action verbs you can use to help pick words to describe what you have done. Click here to read the Purdue OWL’s list of action words for résumés.
Also, the tense of verbs in your bullet lists should be past tense for previous jobs: Ran point of sales register. Verbs should be present tense for jobs you currently hold: Run point of sales register. An exception to this is using a verb for something that happened in the past at your current job (from the example above: Won “Employee of the Month” May 2006, April 2008).
Lastly, make sure you use consistent construction in your bullet lists:
Not consistent
- Ran point of sales register
- Customer relations management
- Merchandise displays development
- Tracked inventory
- Shelf stock
Consistent
- Ran point of sales register
- Maintained customer relations
- Built merchandise displays
- Tracked inventory
- Stocked shelves
Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters.
Résumé Sections Part 2
Education
Note: You can reverse the education and work experience sections depending on your situation. The education section lists your highest degree, training, or certificate. The section also includes:
- School or training program name and location
- Graduation or certification date
- Level of degree and grade point average if it is 3.0 or above
If you did not finish a degree or program, list the dates you went to the school and any credits you earned. Here is a sample education section:
Ivy Tech Community College, Lafayette, IN, August 24, 2006 - May 9, 2008, 18 credits in Industrial Technology – Welding
Emmerich Manual High School, Indianapolis, IN, May 23, 2003, General Studies and Welding
Summary of Skills and Qualifications
The summary of skills and qualifications lists experience and skills you have. This section could follow your objective section, or it could follow your education section. You may also want to include any languages besides English you speak. Here is a sample summary of qualifications:
- Seven years of experience working with customers (two years in welding)
- Skills in:
- welding steel, aluminum, and stainless steel
- hand and power tools
- physical dexterity and ability to lift over 100 pounds
- Ability to:
- diagnose problems and determine appropriate action
- work successfully in high-stress situations
- perform mathematics
- read technical manuals and work orders, interpret and apply blueprints and schematic diagrams
- write materials requests and accurately follow oral, written, and graphical instructions
- maintain accurate records
- Knowledge of:
- mechanical systems, fabrication, and welding
- welding theory and principles
- welding tools and welding codes
- safety practices
Willingness to learn as evidenced by continuing education in welding at Ivy Tech Community College
References
Some employers may not ask for references with your résumé. But it is good to have a references list ready if an employer requires it. Include at least three references. Also, remember to contact your references to double-check their contact information and to ask permission to use them as references. Here is a sample references list:
Russell Clark, Owner of Russell’s Collision Services
1404 State Route 26, Lafayette, IN
765-789-1011
Rebecca Singh, Manager Village Pantry
3630 Greenbush St., Lafayette, IN
765-121-3141
Anthony Taylor, Manager Village Pantry
4004 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis, IN
317-516-1718
Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters.
Résumé Sections Part 3
These two sections are not required for résumés, but you may want to include them if you think it may help you get a job.
Professional Affiliations
The optional professional affiliations section could include your trade groups or labor organizations. This section could be located under objective. Here is a sample professional affiliation section:
United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipe Fitting Industry of the United States and Canada, Local 440, May 2009
American Welding Society, August 2006
Other Experiences
The other experiences section lists experiences other than work and school that relate to the job you want. The section should only be included in your résumé if you have room or if you think it will help you get a job. We have omitted this section in one of the sample résumés. The other experiences section can include volunteer work and hobbies related to your job. Here is a sample other experiences section:
Welded steel art and classic car restoration
Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters.
Résumé Design Part 1
Résumé Design
You might be asking, why is the design of my résumé so important? Or, if I have a lot of experience, why does my résumé have to look so good? The answer to these questions is simple: employers may rate your ability to do a job based on the content of you résumé and the appearance of your résumé.
Your résumé represents you, and if it looks unprofessional, then an employer might think you are unprofessional. In order to have the best chance to get a job, you want to seem as professional as possible. A professional looking résumé will help you do this.
Employers may only take a few seconds to look at your résumé before deciding to give you an interview or not. To make it past that initial review, you should design your résumé so that employers can read it quickly and easily.
One way to do this is to use the most common design for résumés so employers will know where to look for the information they need. Even though you may want to be different from everyone else applying for the job, you should allow the content of your résumé and your interview to set you apart. A good strategy to use to design a résumé is the four-section (or quadrant) method.
The Four-Section (or Quadrant) Method
Most readers of English begin in the top left side of a page and work their way down in a Z pattern. So, you should design your résumé so that the most important information is at the top or top left of the page. Also, you should balance the text and the white space (empty space where there is no text). To ensure this balance, split up your résumé into four-sections, as seen below.
Each of your page sections should have an equal amount of text and white space. Readers typically begin in section 1 first, so you should put your most important information there. You may also center your name and contact information at the top of your résumé and safely assume that employers will begin there.
Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters.
Résumé Design Part 2
Using Columns in Your Résumé
Another way to create a balanced résumé is to use columns to format your text. Since you have a limited amount of space on your résumé page, do not use more than three columns. Here is an example of how to use columns to save space in your résumé for the summary of qualifications:
| Skills in | Ability to | Knowledge of |
| Welding steel, aluminum, stainless steel Hand and power tools Physical dexterity and ability to lift over 100 pounds |
Diagnose problems and determine appropriate action Work in high-stress situations Perform basic mathematics Read blueprints and work orders Write materials requests, records |
Mechanical systems, fabrications, and welding Welding theory and principles Welding tools and welding codes Safety procedures |
To create columns of text, use the Insert Table function in Microsoft Word.
Résumé Fonts
In order to make your résumé easy to read, you should use fonts to separate information. However, you do not want to make your résumé messy or too “busy” by using more than two kinds of fonts and font sizes. Also, you do not want to use fonts that are not professional. A good way to mix fonts is to use serif (which means feet in French) and sans-serif (which means no feet in French) fonts. Serifs are the short stems on the ends of the letters. Times New Roman is a serif font, while Arial is a sans-serif font. You can see the difference between some fonts in the image below:
| Sans Serif Fonts | Serif Fonts |
 |
 |
An effective mix of Times New Roman and Arial is to use Arial in the contact information section of your résumé and as the headings: Objective, Education, etc. Then you can use Times New Roman as the body text. Remember to be consistent, however, with your fonts. The sample résumés included with this resource shows examples of using Arial and Times New Roman together.
Other Types of Emphasis
In addition to using a good balance of text and white space and a good mix of fonts, you can use other types of emphasis in your résumé. You may also bold or italicize your text. Be careful not to mix too many types of emphasis, however. If you bold, and italicize, and ALL CAP, and UNDERLINE WORDS, you make them more difficult to read rather than making them clearer: Work Experience.
Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters.
Checking Your Résumé
The 20-Second Test
As mentioned on the previous page, employers may only spend a few seconds looking at your résumé before deciding whether or not to interview you. You should anticipate this and use the 20-second test to see if your résumé passes.
The 20-second test calls for you to have someone else read your résumé for twenty seconds. Then ask her how much she learned about you. If your reader noticed within twenty seconds what you want employers to learn about you, then most likely you will have designed an effective résumé.
You may also want to look at your résumé from a distance of a 12 inches or so. Turn it upside down or sideways. What do you notice? Are there large blocks of hard-to-read text? Does the résumé seem balanced, or is it “weighted” to one side or another? Is there too much white space in one area? Revise as necessary.
Lastly, always have a few different people read through your résumé in detail. Community centers, state, county, and city employment agencies can help you with this. Remember your résumé needs to be free of errors and designed with a professional appearance. Your résumé speaks for you when you cannot. You want your résumé to say good things to your potential employer so you can get the job you need.
Click here to download the PDF file containing sample résumés and employment letters.
References:
Job Search Tools: Resumes, Applications, and Cover Letters by Ronald C. Mendlin and Marc Polonsky with J. Michael Farr. The Putting the Bars Behind You Series. Indianapolis: JIST, 2000.
Some of this information is also adapted from Jobbankuse.com: http://www.jobbankusa.com.
Copyright ©1995-2013 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.
