Resume

Related Experience

These entries can be paid or unpaid experiences or both, but should be of significant duration (summer, semester, etc.). Internships/Co-ops should be clearly indicated as such. Statements prepared describing duties and responsibilities must be written to focus on extent of specific skills developed. These entries are useful in establishing your "experience" in the field. These can be important entries and may in fact be the largest section of your document. For details regarding content of these entries, see the complete explanation of Work Experience.

• Community Service or volunteer experiences are an excellent source of "related entries".

• RELATED EXPERIENCE:   Communications Majors

  Experiences with the printed word may also be included here. Time spent on the Alvernian staff or producing special projects on and off campus can also be described or listed here even though they are not employment situations they do offer examples of your experience and skills.
  See also, Technical Skills Section.

• Be sure to include any experience that includes working with the age group, subject, special needs or education related activities: camping, coaching, tutoring, teacher aide for anything or anywhere! Look to your community service for this entry.

• RELATED EXPERIENCE:   Nursing, OT, AT Majors

  Be sure to include any experience that includes working with the age group, subject, special needs or health related activities: nurse aide, handicapped, anything in a health care facility. Perhaps your community service hours offer an entry.

• RELATED WORK EXPERIENCE: Science Majors

  Extensive work on a senior project can also be included in this section. Be sure to include equipment, testing and laboratory procedures you are familiar with that may be of interest to the reader in a technical field.

Work Experience

List work experience in reverse chronological order, that is, the most recent appear first. Indicate position held, employer's company name and city address and starting and leaving dates. Month and Year or Summer and Year is sufficient. If you held lots of short term or overlapping positions choose those that give the most stable picture or demonstrate the most useful skills. Beware of major time lapses, though full-time students receive a great deal of leeway regarding steady employment. It is not necessary to indicate salary, supervisor's name, or reason for leaving any position. Most traditional college students do not include jobs held in high school unless they continued into their college years. If a job has been described in related experience, do not repeat it again in work history.

A brief entry is also made describing duties and responsibilities at each job held. In this description attempt should be made to break down general statements into component parts to give a more thorough picture of experience, skills and responsibility. Remember that while the content of a particular position may not qualify as "related" experience, it can be effective in demonstrating leadership, reliability, levels of responsibility and other characteristics important to the potential employer.

The use of Action Words (list available) will also lend a sense of movement and accomplishment to the section. Rules of punctuation need not be followed and statements can be separated by semi-colons. Spelling, however, must be impeccable. Military assignments may be included in this section or given a heading all their own.

Sample Action Words

These words are used in writing the "duties" section of your employment history or internship experience. It may be helpful to review the list of sample action words and mark those words that may be applicable to the type of experience you have had. The past tense of these words may also be appropriate. Avoid the "-ing" forms as they can be cumbersome.

Techincal Skills

If you have been unable to establish your technical competencies, experience, exposure through your Related Experience or Work History, you may wish to establish a separate section that summarizes the hardware and software background you have accumulated. It will not matter where or when or how you developed this expertise, just that you have it and want the potential employer to know this. Separate lists or one-line entries are effective layouts for presenting this information.

Computer Science Majors

This information can also be described in the Education section by listing course work done. However, beware of "sprinkling" this information all over your document and thus make it difficult for the reader to get a handle on the extent and variety of your technical skill set.

Science Majors

A listing of computer hardware and software or specialized instrumentation and testing would be appropriate if necessary to establish your background and skill set.

OTHER EXPERIENCES; Honors, Awards, Activities, Associations

Designing these sections will really make use of your brainstorming techniques. It is most useful to list all entries you can think of and then group and title logical sections.

Entries can include:

Campus activities
Clubs and memberships
Committees
Community involvement
Community service activities
Continuing education
Honors awarded
Musical productions
Professional associations or activities
Publications
Special skills or experiences

Beware of inadvertently volunteering information regarding race, religious affiliation or ethnic background through participation in specific community activities. If deemed too important to omit, try to phrase those entries in a generic sense to avoid revealing specific information, eg. "taught Sunday school" vs "taught CCD class".

It may help to keep in mind that employers are looking for skills in leadership, communication, cooperation, team play, commitment and dependability. They are also looking for employees who have a sense of community responsibility, who have interests outside of their studies and who manage their time well enough to allow for participation. Be certain to indicate leadership roles you may have taken or special acknowledgement you may have received in these activities.

Note to Education Majors: School districts are looking for new teachers who can serve as moderators for activities/clubs, supervise field day, play the piano, etc.

Continue with Part 3 of The Resume Starter Kit