Building Your Resume

A resume sells you. It is a personal summary of your experiences and qualifications for the position you are seeking. Often the first contact you have with employers is your resume. It informs them of your accomplishments, educational and personal background, work experience, and interests. Your resume tells an employer who you are, what you know, and what you have done.
 

• Resume Template - Word Document
• Four Example Undergraduate Resumes
• Example Graduate Resume
• Resume Worksheet
• Writing a Cover Letter
• Action Verbs
• SFA's Center for Career and Professional Development

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A good resume will include the following:

Education College:
Include: Area of concentration; major and minor; indicate you are a candidate for a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science; expected date of graduation; academic achievements, honors, awards; extra-curricular activities (sports, clubs, committees).
 
Education High School/Secondary School:
Include: Name and location of your high school; year of graduation; major programs studied; academic achievements; honors, science fair awards; all of your extra-curricular activities. Pertinent advanced courses such as drafting, computer technology, physics, calculus, machine shop and/or electronics should also be included.
 
Computer Background:
List all computer languages you know and computer systems you are familiar with. Also, add special computer related experiences, i.e. owning a personal computer, writing programs, etc..
 
Work Experience:
Include all work experiences, full or part-time, paid or volunteer. In reverse chronological order, the most recent being first, list the position you held, specific duties, place of employment and location, and dates of employment. The description of the duties of each job should emphasize the tasks performed, indicating specialties learned, skills developed, scope of responsibility, and results achieved. Of particular importance are experiences illustrating leadership potential, organizational ability, communication skills, ingenuity, and teamwork. Use action verbs.  Answer the question "What did I do?"
 
Interests/Hobbies:
Include all hobbies that you have and are involved in outside of school; Model Building, Chess, Auto Mechanics, Debating, Painting, Kits, Training Aardvarks.
 
Community and Service Activities:
Include all community and service related activities you were involved with in high school or are presently involved.
 
References:
Under the heading "References" the statement, "References will be supplied upon request" will suffice. (It is important, however, that you are prepared to give at least three references when filling out your company application form).
 

Writing the Resume

A good resume is brief and concise, typed neatly in block form with no errors. It must be easy to read. When preparing your resume, cover the following points:

1. Limit yourself to one page only. As a rule, two page resumes are acceptable when you have over ten years of experience. Some employers prefer to read only one page.
2. When printing your resume for an employer, print it on 8" X 11" plain white bond paper in block form. Use 1 inch margins on both sides and 1/2 to 1 inch margins on the top and bottom of the page. Double space between each section of the resume.
3. Spelling must be accurate. Use your dictionary or your spell check.
4. Use clear and concise statements describing your experiences. Use proper grammar and punctuation.
5. Use a heading at the beginning of each section. Set it off by typing it in all caps or underlining the heading.
6. Under the headings "Education" & "Experience," the most recent should be listed first.
7. Have someone review your resume before you type it in final form.
8. When describing your experiences use action verbs that will stand out and tell the employer that you have really done something.

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Action Verbs

 Consider using these action words in your resume and/or cover letter.

Added	Developed	Investigated	Researched
Administered	Devised	Laid-out	Restored
Analyzed	Directed	Leveled	Revised
Applied	Documented	Maintained	Saved
Assembled	Drafted	Measured	Shot
Assisted	Drew	Observed	Sold
Attained	Earned	Operated	Solved
Bought	Edited	Ordered	Sponsored
Built	Established	Organized	Spread
Calculated	Evaluated	Performed	Stapled
Compiled	Explored	Planned	Studied
Conducted	Fabricated	Planted	Supervised
Constructed	Filed	Prepared	Taught
Coordinated	Hammered	Produced	Tested
Created	Implemented	Programmed	Traced
Debugged	Improved	Provided	Trained
Delivered	Increased	Purchased	Transmitted
Demonstrated	Initiated	Remodeled	Verified
Designed	Installed	Repaired	Washed
Developed	Invented	Reported	Wrote

Additional Action Words for Bloom’s Taxonomy
Knowledge	Understand	Apply	Analyze	Evaluate	Create
define	explain	solve	analyze	reframe	design
identify	describe	apply	compare	criticize	compose
describe	interpret	illustrate	classify	evaluate	create
label	paraphrase	modify	contrast	order	plan
list	summarize	use	distinguish	appraise	combine
name	classify	calculate	infer	judge	formulate
state	compare	change	separate	support	invent
match	differentiate	choose	explain	compare	hypothesize
recognize	discuss	demonstrate	select	decide	substitute
select	distinguish	discover	categorize	discriminate	write
examine	extend	experiment	connect	recommend	compile
locate	predict	relate	differentiate	summarize	construct
memorize	associate	show	discriminate	assess	develop
quote	contrast	sketch	divide	choose	generalize
recall	convert	complete	order	convince	integrate
reproduce	demonstrate	construct	point out	defend	modify
tabulate	estimate	dramatize	prioritize	estimate	organize
tell	express	interpret	subdivide	find errors	prepare
copy	identify	manipulate	survey	grade	produce
discover	indicate	paint	advertise	measure	rearrange
duplicate	infer	prepare	appraise	predict	rewrite
enumerate	relate	produce	break down	rank	role-play
listen	restate	report	calculate	score	adapt
observe	select	teach	conclude	select	anticipate
omit	translate	act	correlate	test	arrange
read	ask	administer	criticize	argue	assemble
recite	cite	articulate	deduce	conclude	choose
record	discover	chart	devise	consider	collaborate
repeat	generalize	collect	diagram	critique	collect
retell	give examples	compute	dissect	debate	devise
visualize	group	determine	estimate	distinguish	express
	illustrate	develop	evaluate	editorialize	facilitate
	judge	employ	experiment	justify	imagine
	observe	establish	focus	persuade	infer
	order	examine	illustrate	rate	intervene
	report	explain	organize	weigh	justify
	represent	interview	outline		make
	research	judge	plan		manage
	review	list	question		negotiate
	rewrite	operate	test		originate
	show	practice			propose
	trace	predict			reorganize
	transform	record			report
		schedule			revise
		simulate			schematize
		transfer			simulate
		write			solve
					speculate
					structure
					support
					test
					validate