Writing An Effective Resume

Part I

Your resume is the tool that you will use to show employers that you are a good fit for their needs. Your resume must clearly relate your education, activities, and work experiences to specific job qualifications.

Step 1: identify your job target and write job target statements

Before you can create a resume that is effective, you must know what kind fo job you want. keep in mind, companies aren’t in business to help you figure out your career path. It’s not enough to present yourself and your spanking-new degree to a company and expect the employer to determine where (or if) you fit in. Businesses have specific hiring needs. If your resume shows skill and attributes that fit those needs, you’re likely to get an interview.When writing your job target statement write the specific job you are interested in. You might be definite about one particular job (”design engineering position with a robotics manufacturer” or “med-surg nursing position in a teaching hospital”), or you might want to list three or four jobs that use similar skills.

Step 2: Identify your core job qualifications

The next step in the resume writing process is to identify the core qualifications for your specific job target, he combination of hard and soft skill that make up the ideal candidate.

Hard and soft skillsHard skills are abilities needed to do the job. Your resume must show that you have the core knowledge and skills needed to do the job.

Soft skills are personal attributes such as teamwork, drive, leadership, positive attitude, good work ethics or customer first attitude. To be believable, your resume must prove your soft skills, not just list them.

Finding job qualifications

One of the easiest ways to unearth job qualifications is to look at want ads or online postings. Most ads specify a variety of required hard and soft skills. Other sources you can use to identify the hard and soft skills your target positions require are

Occupational outlook handbook (OOH) http://www.bls.gov/oco/This guide produced by the U.S Department of Labor describes job duties, working conditions, required training and education, job prospects, and typical earnings for a wide range of occupations. The OOH is revised every two years.

Company job descriptions. More complete than a want-ad posting, job descriptions are a comprehensive account of the actives and expectations for a specific job within a particular company.

Interveiws with people who do that kind of jobResume sample books“How to get a job in ….” BooksCollege career center resources

Step 3: Compile Evidence of your Hard and Soft skills

You’ve clarified your job target and defined the hard and soft skills needed to be considered a great candidate for that job. Now your resume needs to prove that you have those skill. Consider all sources for evidence of your abilities.

Education
DegreeMajor studiesClass/team projectsThesesCase studiesAreas of concentration

Other honors and awards
Leadership
Contribution
Peer recognition

Extracurricular actives
Clubs and organizations
Varsity, fraternities and sororities

Internships and co-op experience

Employment
Prior professional experience
During the school year
Summer jobs

Volunteer actives
High school
College
Community

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Part II resueme samples coming soon…

sample resume

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