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How to Write Your Resume Looking for a Job? The first step is to know what you're looking for - enter your name and email address to send a blank email for a short series of tips to help you find the perfect job: [N.B. Your personal details will never be sold or shared with any third party. Read Write101's Privacy Policy now.] Hate your current job? Post your resume on HotJobs.com and find a new one today! What is a resume? Your resume is a brief account of your professional or work experience and qualifications, and it's usually submitted with an employment application. The word can be spelled in a number of different ways: resumé, résumé or resume - but not résume. It comes from a French word résumer, which means "to summarise." You'll sometimes see this document referred to as a CV or curriculum vitae - it's basically the same thing. One important point to keep uppermost in your mind is that this is your "foot in the door." Don't send your resume away until you're sure it's as perfect as it can possibly be. Here's a great program that lets you edit your work like a professional - and you can get a free trial. Now you know what it is, let's have a look at what's involved ...
CONTENTS Since you are limited to four pages, what do you put in and what do you leave out? A safe way to organise your resume, is to divide your information into the following categories: Personal Details :your full name :your full address :date of birth (optional these days) :telephone number (and other contact numbers - fax, mobile, e-mail etc) Optional extras include :marital status :health (just a general statement, such as 'excellent' or 'robust' is needed if you choose to include this - this is not the place for a full run-down on the state of your digestive tract!) This would be relevant if you were applying for a position where health and strength were obvious considerations e.g. as a Ranger, Fitness Instructor, Sporting Coach etc. :transport - if this is relevant to the position you are applying for. For example if you may be required to work shifts and if there is no available public transport, you can indicate that you have your own, reliable transport. Or if the position involves working in isolated places, an employer will be interested to know how you plan to get there. Education and Qualifications Simply list :your secondary education (dates and schools and final year's qualifications) :any tertiary or other qualifications (dates, institutions and level of qualifications) :any special awards, prizes you may have received in the course of your study (obviously, you only include recent and relevant awards - we're not interested in your Infants School prize for Tying Your Shoelaces) :any other special skills can be placed here e.g. ability to speak other languages; extensive travel experiences (not your ten-day bus trip - but if you have travelled overseas for considerable periods at a time and have knowledge of different cultures, then mention this if it is relevant to the position). Employment History There are two schools of thought on the most effective way to organise this section of your resume. One view is that you should start with your most recent experiences and then work backwards in time to your first work experience. The difficulty with this is that it is easy to overlook some important event if you are trying to do it all 'back-to-front'. The second view is that, since your resume is meant to be a 'potted history' of your life, then it makes more sense to present events as they happened. This way, your reader can build up a picture of how and why your life has developed along the lines that it has. Your resume should present an overall theme or central idea of the sort of person you are; so, if you present your life experiences in a chronological order - as they happened - you should be able to show why you have become the person you are. This is why you should customise your resume for each particular position. If you've worked in Hospitality in a variety of areas - food and beverage, kitchen hand, front office, bar service, house-keeping - you need to select and highlight the relevant experiences for the particular position you are applying for. If the position is that of receptionist, then you'll emphasise the time you spent with customers (in food and beverage and front office), rather than those jobs which kept you behind the scenes (kitchen-hand and housekeeping). It's important that you cover every year of your working life - if you have spent some time out of paid employment, you should still indicate what you did do during that time. You may have been involved with 'home duties', 'raising a family', 'extended overseas travel' or 'volunteer work with the local hospital (or whatever)'. Abilities and Skills This is where you list all those abilities and skills which are relevant to the position. A selection of suitable terms follows - experiment with these, adapting them to suit your own experiences. Obviously, you would never use all of these in the one resume, but you can mix-and-match to suit the occasion! These are suggestions only and are by no means exhaustive - there are dozens of ways you can describe your specific skills - devise your own headings to suit your needs.
Communication Skills * communicate well with range of staff / clients * communicate well with people of all ages * mediate between people * work as part of a team * excellent written and oral expression * excellent telephone manner * interview staff * good listening skills * able to empathise with people Administration Skills * research and presentation of funding proposals * responsibility for budgets * writing clear reports * organisation of loans for clients * arrange filing system * requisition of orders * filing and updating records * typing (list w.p.m.) * word processing (list systems with which you are familiar) * excellent computer skills (list all systems) * experience with ... (list any special electronic business equipment) Supervision Skills * organising people and tasks for various projects * organising and conducting workshops * managing x number of staff * organise social functions for x number of people * supervising recreational activities * ability to delegate tasks * organisation of volunteers * training new staff * supervising trainees and new staff * classroom supervision of x number of trainees / students. Job Specific Skills List any specific skills you have which relate directly to the job you're applying for e.g. * hospitality - bar service, silver service, foreign language, first aid etc * transport - different licences you hold, different machines you can drive * trades - pipe-laying / general labouring / scaffolding etc. Interests and Hobbies This is where you 'flesh out' the picture of yourself. Again, try to choose those interests and hobbies which relate to the job you're after - and be selective. If you're after a job as a Resort Activity Co-ordinator, this is not the place to list all your solitary interests. Your prospective employer wants a person who likes being with the Resort guests; someone who has an outgoing personality, good organisational skills, an even temperament, a great sense of fun, a vibrant imagination and so on. So don't list your solitary mountain climbing, reading, stamp collecting or round the world solo yachting as interests ... time enough to tell about those once you have the job. Instead, list activities such as your membership of different social groups and sporting clubs; your involvement in organising fun-runs for charity; your participation in volunteer groups - anything which indicates that you are a person who likes to mix with others. Membership of Clubs / Community Groups You can list any organisation in which you play (or have played) an active role. If you've been secretary of your local C.W.A., president of the Basketball club, treasurer of the P.& C. or similar, then mention these. If you've coached or managed a children's sporting team, delivered for Meals on Wheels etc then list these activities too. However, if you were secretary for your local branch of any political party, then it's not recommended that you mention this. It's usually best to leave out any political or religious groups altogether. Referees The final section of your resume always contains a list of people who can be called upon to speak well of you. Between two and four is the usual number to list. Choose people who come from a variety of backgrounds if possible. A good selection could include a family friend who has known you for many years; a teacher, doctor or other professional; a past employer and a fellow employee. Always list the referee's: * full name * position / title * address * contact phone number. So, there you have it ... your resume! LAST STEP - EDIT Edit, edit and edit again! Don't send your resume away until you're sure it's as perfect as it can possibly be. Here's a great program that lets you edit your work like a professional - and you can get a FREE trial. It all sounds so easy, doesn't it? You sit down at your desk to write your resume, and you know exactly what you want to say, but somewhere, on the journey from the brain to the page, the message gets lost ... Don't endure this a moment longer ... help is at hand! Professional Help And if you just don't have the time to write your resume - let a professional write it for you! Click here for details on how you can recoup the cost of a professionally written resume many times over with your first week's salary. More Help Post your resume on HotJobs.com today! Find a Job Need some help to find your perfect job? Send for your free Job Guide or click here for free articles.
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