Resume Writing

The Career Development How-To Workbook Series

Resume Writing

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CAREER DEVELOPMENT WORKBOOK SERIES INFORMATION

Resume Writing Guide This Resume Writing Guide is part of several informational and resourceful guides for students and alumni known as the Career Development Workbook Series.

Other workbooks in this series are the Interview Preparation Guide, the Job Search Guide and an After Transfer Major Guide, available on our website: www.davidsondavie.edu/career-development Workbook Goals Creating a resume is a combination of writing, editing, designing, and curating information in such a way that your skills and abilities are fully highlighted. Problems arise when you’re attempting to learn a new skill, like resume writing, while also trying to use that same skill. It can also be a challenge to discover more information when you don’t have the right words or vocabulary to begin your research.

The Career Development Center expects that after using this workbook you should have a basic understanding of the following topics: The Resume Types Document Layout and Design Active and Passive Voice Action Verbs Applicant Tracking Systems Common Resume Sections Portfolios vs. Resumes vs. CVs (Curriculum Vita) Cover Letter Basics This workbook also contains examples of the most common resume types and worksheets for you to begin writing out your resume content.

WORKBOOK CONTENTS There Is No Perfect Resume

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Gathering Information

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Resume Types

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Resume Sections

7- 9

Common Formatting Tips + Notes

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HOW TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT WITH US Appointments with the Career Development Office are available in person, by telephone and virtually via Zoom.

Current Students: To schedule an appointment with our office, please visit https://bit.ly/DavidsonDavieCareer Problems logging into Starfish? Dial the Help Desk at (336) 249-8186 extension 6232.

Non-Students: Email us at careers@davidsondavie.edu or call (336) 249-8186 extension 6245.

Issued: 10/2023

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THERE IS NO PERFECT RESUME If this is your first time learning how to write a resume, or it’s been some time since you last updated your resume, you may be surprised to hear that our Career Development team believes that there is no perfect way to construct, outline, write, format, or structure a resume. Our students will sometimes become frustrated that we won’t “tell them what to do” or give them “a list of things to say”.

There is no “right” way, because your resume is a reflection of YOU. It’s a reflection of your knowledge, skills, education, experiences and all the elements that you want to show a potential employer. It’s also a personal list of accomplishments and abilities that you choose to highlight.

Even spelling the word “resume” is up for debate! Traditionally, you’ll see “résumé” with its accent marks, and over the last 20+ years “resume” has become more common with both versions now considered correct. Moving forward, we’ll use “resume”.

When we say there is no perfect resume, we mean:  

Your career goals are unique You know your skills and experiences better than anyone else

Similar job postings at different companies can have wildly different application processes. Job searching is not immune to trends and fads. Things don’t change overnight, but they do change over time. No template nor example will perfectly match your story.

Keep in mind that resumes shift as the world of work changes. Resumes and Cover Letters go through trends and fads just like entertainment, fashion, and pop culture. It may move significantly slower, but because you may go years between writing resumes you should always review resume writing whenever you’re looking for a new position.

WHY ARE YOU WRITING A RESUME? Before getting started, it’s important to reflect on why you’ve decided to write a resume. Maybe you’re seeking a job; applying for an internship or scholarship; it may be a class assignment or just an interest in writing out your experience for record-keeping.

If you’re writing a resume as part of a class assignment, review the assignment instructions to make sure you’re meeting your instructor’s goals which can conflict with the information provided in this workbook. When in doubt, ask your instructor.

For job seekers, it’s helpful to think of your resume as your first job assignment. Pretend that your new supervisor has asked you to prepare a short document summarizing your skills, education, and abilities. They want to see your communication and organizational skills in action.

When writing for internships, scholarships, or other educational experiences, your resume will be more focused on your education and classwork and less on your previous work experience (unless it’s directly related). In the majority of those, you will be provided with instructions on what information to include on the resume.

If you’re just writing a resume to record your information, focus on creating a portfolio more than a resume. Portfolios generally have examples of your work which can vary in different careers. One element within a portfolio can be a master resume which includes detailed information that you would rarely include on a resume. For example, you may be asked to provide the address or phone number of a previous employer on an application. Your master resume would have that information available.

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GATHERING INFORMATION When beginning a resume, students should have a strong understanding of their skills, education and abilities as well as an understanding of their work field. If you’re unsure, talk to others in your field to learn more about what makes a strong applicant and what information they would want to see listed in your resume.

At the end of this workbook, we provide you with several resume writing worksheets with various questions to get you thinking about what information to include.

Trust and Know Yourself Many students struggle with resume writing because they are embarrassed to “brag on themselves” or they think they’ve “not done much”. We’re not often asked to randomly list off our skills and experiences so it is something we have to practice when we’re job searching.

Students are often concerned about overselling their skills, or that promoting their abilities will somehow be seen as lying. While we never want to exaggerate or lie on our resume, if you are highly-skilled, it’s important that the employer knows that! Most of the time, students that are concerned about overselling themselves are nowhere close to doing so and need practice marketing their skills and abilities effectively.

Don’t let self-doubt sneak into your resume (or interview)!

Conducting a Thorough Job Search An easy way to narrow down what needs to be on your resume is to start job searching. As you read through various job ads you’ll see similar skills and experience asked for. This is also a good opportunity for you to make sure you are not missing any additional certifications or licenses beyond your education.

In general, we recommend starting your job search 3-6 months before graduation. When the job market is strong, you can shorten that timespan. Starting your job search early helps you learn how to job search, create and tweak your resume, and better understand the job market.

Understand that writing a generalized resume that covers multiple positons in several fields is exceptionally difficult.

Generally, you’ll want to focus your resume to one field and its related jobs. If you are open to multiple options, you’ll need to adapt your resume to better match those additional opportunities.

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RESUME TYPES:

CHRONOLOGICAL, COMBINATION/FUNCTIONAL/SKILLS-BASED, CURRICULUM VITAE Chronological Resume Focused on time, a chronologically formatted resume is the traditional resume format. It lists your work history in reverse time order from your most recent job to your earliest. This format emphasizes a strong, consistent work history and highlights the companies you’ve worked for and your titles.

Who should use this format? The Chronological format is best if you:    

Have a consistent work history with no significant gaps Stayed at a position at least 1-2 years Are applying for a position in the same field Have continuous movement upwards in responsibility and job title

Who should NOT use this format? The Chronological format is not ideal if you:   

Have significant gaps in your work history Have a short work history or are changing careers Changed jobs multiple times in a short time period

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RESUME TYPES (cont.)

Skills-Based Resume A Skills-Based (sometimes noted as a Functional or Combination) resume is simply a list of the skills that you currently have and by definition a skills-based resume does not include any job history. Traditionally, these resumes are used by people with no, very little, or completely unrelated job histories. Almost universally employers do not like purely skills-based resumes because the lack of job history is a red flag.

An adaptation of the Skills-Based resume is the Combination style (which most resume resources will just list as Skills-Based). This provides the same focus on skills talked about before, but does add a short work-history.

Who should use this format? The Skills-Based resume is best if you:  Are changing careers and your previous work is unrelated  Have significant gaps in your work history  Have taken jobs with significant differences in responsibility levels (appears as a demotion) Who should NOT use this format? The Skills-Based resume is not ideal if you:  

Have a strong work history that is related to the position you’re applying for Education and work experiences are aligned

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RESUME SECTIONS (See numbered photo of resume in previous page for reference) 1. Name/Contact Information Heading 2. You will want to have your name and contact information listed at the top of the resume. This can take many forms, but make sure that you have a sense of what’s appropriate for your field. There is no wrong way to structure this category. However, think like the employer—if you were hiring someone, how would you like to see the information presented? Focus on clarity and readability. Choose a professional email address and list one phone number where you can easily be reached. Avoid listing multiple phone numbers and multiple email addresses. Also, listing your physical address is not a requirement.

2. Professional Statement Professional Statements have all but replaced the traditional Objective or Highlights section. As the opening to your resume, this should highlight your best strengths, experiences, and skills. You can also briefly discuss your professional goals or values. These can be formatted in various ways, either as a standalone paragraph, a bulleted list, or a combination of the two. Researching how to write an “elevator pitch” or “one-minute career summary” can help you to write a stronger Professional Statement. It will also help prepare you for the “tell us about yourself” interview question.

You may find that it’s easier to write your professional statement after you have written the other resume sections.

3. Relevant Experience/Work History Detailing how your skills and experiences align with the job posting is the central goal of writing a resume. The key here is making sure that the information you are listing is relevant to the job description. Often, students will struggle with this section because their skills have all been from the classroom, not their actual work history. Regardless of the resume format, you should always list your work history—especially if you have a strong, consistent work history.

When we talk about taking classroom experiences and listing them as part of your skills it’s important that we do more than just list a course description. Think about the courses you took that taught you the underlying processes of your fields and the tools, techniques, and technology you consistently use. For example, if you are in Business Admin. and have learned about a particular piece of software that you continuously use and you know that software, or something similar, is commonly used in the workplace it should be listed as a skill.

It’s also common for career changers to assume that nothing from their previous work can apply to new positions.

This is untrue. While some specific job skills may not be relevant now, your ability to work with people, work in a team, work independently, work with data, problem solve, etc. are all considered Transferrable Skills. A transferrable skill is anything you’ve learned in one field/job that can be applied to a new field of job. For example, a clerk in a grocery store may feel that none of their skills are useful. However, when we break down the things they are responsible for (balancing their cash drawer, customer service, compliant management, etc.) there are numerous skills that will be important moving forward—even if they are never in a similar position again.

4. Education In general, you’ll want to list all of your educational credentials. The only exception is your high school information.

If you have just graduated from high school, or other adult high school program, then list your high school. However, once you have started a college program and especially after you have a college level credential, remove your high school information.

Most often we’ll recommend that you list your highest college credential first, but sometimes you may want to list a lower credential instead because it is more applicable to the job you’re applying for. Some students may be returning to the community college to earn a hands-on degree but already have a bachelor’s degree (or higher) so depending on your goals this section can be arranged in multiple ways.

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RESUME SECTIONS (cont.)

If you are a recent graduate and have not worked heavily, or at all, in your field you may consider adding some course information under your education entry. However, be sure to list courses that are higher than “Introduction to…” so search committees can see what in-depth skills you’ve learned.

One common resume writing disagreement between Career Counselors is whether your education section should go immediately after your Objective/Professional Statement or towards the end of your resume. Our advice is to go with which ever makes your resume stronger, or the order that you prefer. Some argue that listing the education early makes the employer aware that you likely don’t have a lot of professional experience, but if that’s the case then you’ll want to start with your strongest elements anyway instead of leading with an unrelated job history. This is a concern regardless of which resume style you choose.

Internships, Apprenticeships, Clinicals or other Work-Based Learning Experiences If you have participated in any work-based learning experience, whether paid or unpaid, generally you should treat it like a job experience. Your job title will likely be something like ‘Intern’ or ‘Apprentice’ but as long as you make it clear that it was a learning experience it’s otherwise treated like part of your job history. You can have a section just for those experiences if you have two or more. Keep in mind that they should be related. If you started a program that had a clinical or work-based learning, or previously had an internship in an area of a different field, you likely don’t want to highlight it as it’s probably not related.

Volunteer Work Generally, you can leave off volunteer work unless it’s directly related to the job you’re applying for. As an example, students in our Zoo and Aquarium Science programs often have volunteered at animal or veterinary organizations prior to starting their program, as long as the volunteer work was applicable adding it to the resume would be advisable. Also, remember the information about transferrable skills on PAGE 7, there may be times where what you actually did at a volunteer experience is helpful even if the title or location seem unrelated.

In general, if your volunteer work adds to your experience and helps the employer better understand why you are a strong candidate go ahead and list it. If not, don’t waste the space. If you’ve never worked, volunteering can be an excellent way to build related “work” history if you can’t find an entry-level position with your current skills and experience.

DDCC Program Specific Points HIT: While there are program specifics, they can vary from student to student just like with the early childhood resume, we recommend students list their schooling first if they do not have any experience, BUT if they are currently working in HIM or have any experience it is best to do a traditional resume.

We also encourage to list "Clinical Education" (under that heading), so facilities know where students have been and what they have experience in. That section typically comes right after the degrees obtained section.

Because this program has a variety of career path opportunities, sometimes it’s best to pick ONE TYPE of job, like inpatient coding, for example, and build a resume from there highlighting specifics from the job postings that the student is applying for. It's not uncommon for HIT graduates to have a few different resumes depending on the type of position they are applying for.

Pharmacy Technology: For pharmacy technician resumes, credentials should always be included. Education and experience should be included. The objective statement must include words stated in the job description.

Medical Assisting: For Medical Assisting, listing CPR certification, and any other medical certifications, are very important to potential employers.

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Dental Assisting: Like early childhood education, it’s recommended to list education at the top part of the resume because it differentiates our DAII students from DAI's in North Carolina.

We also encourage students to include any other certifications they hold, including CPR, Nitrous Oxide Sedation, Radiography and Coronal Polishing (rad and polishing they receive in the program). Additionally, any volunteer work/ events should be listed.

Aquarium Science: Some facilities have reported problems with inaccuracies in the title of the degree students are attaining, not listing lab experience/gained skills, or leaving out experience the student sees as non-relevant. Our facilities are specifically looking for features associated with attention to detail and other robust soft skills. Employers value one's ability to work with humans over animals. At the last advisory board meeting some folks specifically mentioned that they like to see a candidate who offers a helping hand, is proactive, and takes initiative. Pay special attention to any time management lapses and always strive to get material in on time.

Cosmetology: State Licensure is very important for our fields. Also, if students have taken additional con-ed courses or are certified in specific skill sets through outside companies (ex. lash extensions, micro-blading, Brazilian Blowout, etc.) make sure those are listed as well. Students may want to have a portfolio of their work as well. Some salons want to see evidence of acquired knowledge and work.

Massage Therapy: List NC License Esthetics: List NC License

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COMMON FORMATTING TIPS Fonts: Typical fonts to use are Arial for a sans-serif font and Times New Roman for a serif font (serif fonts have those decorative feet or tails and sans-serif means without the tails) in either 10pt or 12pt. Below is a font size chart for your review:

| Times New Roman — 8pt, 10pt, 12pt, 14pt, 16pt, 18pt, 20pt | | Arial — 8pt, 10pt, 12pt, 14pt, 16pt, 18pt, 20pt | Alignment: Students should understand how to align text, change font size, add italics, bolding, and underlining.

Students may also benefit from understanding tables, table shading, and adding bullets. The body of your resume and the sections within can be either “left aligned”, “center aligned”, or “right aligned”.

Examples:

This text is written in Arial font at 10pt and it is left aligned. It is lined up to the left side of this textbox.

This text is written in Arial font at 12pt and it is center aligned.

It is centered in this textbox.

This text is written in Times New Roman font at 12pt and it is right aligned. It is lined up to the right side of this textbox.

Colors: Using colors in your resume is acceptable, but try to stay away from very light colors that might not show well if the document is printed in grayscale (Employers will most likely not print your resume in color!) and try staying with a two-color scheme if using color. Too many font colors in your resume can be distracting and unprofessional.

If you do not currently have these skills, visit the Learning Commons (Library) or consider taking a computer skills class. Continuing Education courses on MSWord are also available.

Be sure to check out some of our other helpful Career Development resources available on our website like: 

Career Exploration



Interview Preparation Assistance



Job Search Assistance



After Transfer Major Choice Assistance

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NOTES Name: ________________________________________

Email Address: __________________________________

Professional Statement (Objective): _________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Skills: _________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Experience: ____________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Education: _____________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________

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