JSTK Supplemental: Example of a Good, Basic Resume
Below is a very basic example of a good resume; it's hybrid of functional and chronological. It allows the reader to see the important information about you. I haven't got it exactly formatted like I have it in word, but it's close enough for you to get the idea. Tabs and paragraph formatting is not as I have in my word document, but it will do to help you get the idea. The text used is both illustrating the appearance and contains useful information.
Some additional commentary below the example.
Do however, remember that a resume is supposed to be a summary of the highlights of why someone should talk to you, not the entirety of your professional (and social!) history.
Your Name
Phone Number
Email Address
(Optional: Current, professional website or LinkedIn Profile URL)
Objective
The part of your elevator pitch about what you’re looking for. This is optional.
Summary
The part of your elevator pitch that highlights your selling points. Limit it to 3-4 lines maximum regarding your strengths, followed by bulleted highlights of your strengths. If you have strong technical skills, you may want a separate section for those.
Use action verbs
Do not use pronounces (No "I" statements!!)
Limit the number of lines to 6 or under
If the bullet runs to a second line, then find a way to truncate it, or split into two lines
Use Paragraph Formatting to increase space between bullets (right click, Paragraph > Spacing and Indents > Spacing > After)
Increased white space = easier to read
Technical Skills/Experience
Senior level seekers with extensive experience in hard-skill areas should break out their experience here. Less experienced seekers should only use it if they can justify it. List items in order (stronger skills first)
Use general term, then break it down into specifics
Example: SAP (XL, HR, whatever)
DO list tools/applications stated on a job posting
DO NOT list general office software (unless specifically listed in job posting)
DO mirror terminology used in a job posting
Experience
Company Year-Year
Title. Department, if appropriate. If an obscure company, brief explanation of the company’s focus. Brief explanation of the role and responsibilities. Do not exceed 2-3 lines.
Use bullets to list up to 4-6 accomplishments
Use CARs convention (Challenge, Action, Result).
Lead with numbers; quantify when possible
Example: 35% reduction in errors in one quarter by isolating root cause of XYZ.
Company Year-Year
If you have had multiple jobs at the same company, you can list them together, but do include years of each position within the description of the position. A blurb about the company focus would be useful as well.
Title. Year-Year. Department, if appropriate. Brief description of role.
Again, use CARs convention to highlight accomplishments
Exception to the above; when the experience is very relevant to the position of interest
Remember a resume is a summary not a CV.
Do not list everything and anything you did
It’s intending to make someone want to contact you to learn more, not know your life story
Title. Year-Year. Department, if appropriate. Brief description of role.
The older the position the less bullets
Do NOT use a font smaller than 10 point in size on a resume
Do NOT add extra formatting (Bold, Italic, Color) within the body of
Title. Year-Year. Department, if appropriate. Brief description of role.
The older the position the less bullets
Do NOT use a font smaller than 10 point in size on a resume
Use a maximum of two fonts (one for “headings” another for “body text” if necessary)
Only “Heading” font should be oversized (14-18pt or so)
Company Year-Year
Title. Department, if appropriate. If an obscure company, brief explanation of the company’s focus. Brief explanation of the role and responsibilities. Do not exceed 2-3 lines. Use simple, easy to read fonts, such as Arial, Helvetica, etc.
Use underlining only to highlight specific experience called for in the posting to which you are responding.
If not responding to a particular posting, do not use underline or extra formatting
Education
List degree, school, city, and state. Do not list year
List additional training, even if not degreed, especially if relevant to the posted position
List relevant continuing ed or professional development classes, especially if vendor provided
Example: List training at Sun Systems, or an HP certified training class
Certifications
List any certifications you have relevant to the role
No need to list the date of the certification
If the certification has changed and you’ve been certified with the most recent iteration, indicate that.
Other Things to Avoid Graphics
Tables
Text Boxes
Headers that contain all contact information
Inappropriate use of copyright symbols
“I” statements
Passive statements
Don’t like to outdated or professionally questionable sites
Listing your entire work history (10-15 years is acceptable for most fields and positions)
Large paragraphs of passive text (this isn't a novel, it's a summary)
Things to make it more user-friendly Use the formal name of the company you worked for (not informal, "slang")
Spell out the first use of an acronym (example: "Extract Transfer Load (ETL)")
Large margins (1” left and right, at least .5” top and bottom)
Job Titles should be based on the title used within official company communications
Name the file with your name
Have a word or RTF version (PDF may be acceptable
Use a header that contains your name, phone or email address, and page number (starting on page 2)
Entry level workers with no work history should stay to one page
Experienced workers are expected to have two pages
Do not exceed two pages unless you have extensive, relevant experience
If you have more than four pages, it’s a CV, and too long.
Save the CV until it’s requested.
Justify everything you put in it. And I don't mean flush left and flush right.
Leadership
Challenge
Team building
Influence
Meeting goals
Some additional commentary below the example.
Do however, remember that a resume is supposed to be a summary of the highlights of why someone should talk to you, not the entirety of your professional (and social!) history.
Your Name
Phone Number
Email Address
(Optional: Current, professional website or LinkedIn Profile URL)
Objective
The part of your elevator pitch about what you’re looking for. This is optional.
Summary
The part of your elevator pitch that highlights your selling points. Limit it to 3-4 lines maximum regarding your strengths, followed by bulleted highlights of your strengths. If you have strong technical skills, you may want a separate section for those.
Technical Skills/Experience
Senior level seekers with extensive experience in hard-skill areas should break out their experience here. Less experienced seekers should only use it if they can justify it.
Experience
Company Year-Year
Title. Department, if appropriate. If an obscure company, brief explanation of the company’s focus. Brief explanation of the role and responsibilities. Do not exceed 2-3 lines.
Company Year-Year
If you have had multiple jobs at the same company, you can list them together, but do include years of each position within the description of the position. A blurb about the company focus would be useful as well.
Title. Year-Year. Department, if appropriate. Brief description of role.
Title. Year-Year. Department, if appropriate. Brief description of role.
Title. Year-Year. Department, if appropriate. Brief description of role.
Company Year-Year
Title. Department, if appropriate. If an obscure company, brief explanation of the company’s focus. Brief explanation of the role and responsibilities. Do not exceed 2-3 lines.
Education
Certifications
Other Things to Avoid
Things to make it more user-friendly
Suggestion for a Master-Document Resume
Everyone has a lot more experience than they can fit on their resume, but not everything you’ve done is appropriate on a resume.
Think about creating a master-document that contains everything. You can use this to help with performance evaluations on current jobs, plus jog your memory for customizing a resume for a position you are seeking. Use the same format as the generic, public resume you have, but do NOT limit the information in it. This way, you can keep track of all your past accomplishments, but not overload resume readers.
You can do this by coming up with CAR stories for the following areas:
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