Resumes (Print & Electronic) and Web Portfolios

1. Resumes (Print & Electronic) and Web Portfolios Electronic Writing & Publishing By Dr. Jennifer L. Bowie

2. How many resumes do I need? • Master resume: put everything you could ever use on this. Update frequently. From this you will develop your other resumes as needed. Can/Should be very long • Print resume: a short job-centric listing of your skills, experience, and education. Keep to one page unless an expert. Print on nice light, high quality paper with lots of white space • Email/ASCII resume: also job-centric listing of your skills, experience, and education. Keep short if only humans are reading & go longer as necessary if machines are reading it. Use only plain text and save as a text file (.txt). Okay to use all caps for headings (only time!) • Scannable resume: may use your email/ASCII resume. Print it on white paper. Do not use bold, italics, or underlining. Keep simple and clean. • Web resume: a more detailed job-centric discussion of your skills, experience, and education, divided into detailed sections (chunks) on various pages (1 chunk per page, maybe 2-3 if chunks are small). This resume allows you to go into the detail other resumes, especially the print, don’t. Do include a print-friendly (and possibly shorter) unchunked version of your resume available to print. Include navigation to all sections of the resume on each page

3. What type of Resume should I use? Two main types: • Chronological: most common. Information grouped (education, work experiences,…) and items in each group are in reverse chronological order (most recent first). Good for the general candidate. Sample: http://www.quintcareers.com/resume_sample_4.html • Functional: less common (10%). Information also grouped, but with a focus on skills and qualifications. Items often listed in order of importance for the job. Good for candidates with limited clear job experience, gaps in time working, career changes. Sample: http://www.quintcareers.com/resume_sample_2.html

4. What information should I include? • Objective: 1st. Make it simple, clear, and directed to the job. Example: “The web designer and usability tester position at Starre Solutions” • Summary of Qualifications: Optional (2nd), include if using a functional resume where the employer may not easily see connections between your experience and their needs • Skills: 2nd/3rd for functional. List skills by category (like “writing,” “editing,” “managing,”) and then discuss 3-5 successes/examples of each skill. Example: Writing –Composed a 50 page recommendation report for Business Writing class

5. What information should I include?Con. • Experience: 3rd/4th for functional, 2nd/3rd for chronological (place education before if education is more relevant). List and briefly discuss (2-5 bullets for chronological) work and related experience. Use action verbs (collaborated, managed, directed…). If limited work experience, consider including relevant class experience

6. What information should I include?Con. • Education: Near end of funcitonal, 2nd/3rd for chronological (before experience if more relevant). Include: • College work for the last 10 years. May skip or do more briefly if in industry for more than 10 years. • Do not include high school if college junior or higher or if more than 10 years ago (probably shouldn’t include when in college anyway). Only include if clearly qualifies you • Place of school, degree, major, minor, in major or regular GPA (if over 3.0), date of graduation (or expected date of grad.), and list relevant coursework (optional), related honors and awards • Example: Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia Bachelor of Arts in English, Minor: Psychology GPA: 3.4, Dean’s list: Fall 2004, Spring 2004, Summer 2005 Expected Date of Graduation: May 2007

7. What information should I include?Con. • Tools/Skills: Near end and optional. May include computer skills and other skills and tools that qualify you. Only include software or other skills beyond the normal (for example most people can use word and check email, so don’t include these). Include any software required by the job • Achievements/Honors: Near end and optional. May be included in education as relevant. List awards, achievements, and other honors. Provide dates. • References: Don’t include unless directly requested.

8. Web Portfolios

9. Web Portfolios: What are they? • Collection of your work • Reflective discussion of your work • Designed to get you a job • Texts with defined readers • Illustration of your concrete abilities: what you have done and what you can do

10. Web Portfolios: What do they include? • Homepage/Main page: • Introduce site • Includes a series of links to rest of site, links may be descriptive on the main page • Samples/Artifacts of your work with reflections on the work • Web Resume

11. Web Portfolios: What about design? • Consistent & professional • Clear and easy to use navigation • Subtle non-distracting design • Straightforward • Legible and easy to read

12. Web Portfolios: What should my reflections do? • Convince the reader of your qualifications • Explain context of work: what, where, when, and why • Explain process of creating and developing work • Provide honest and convincing self-assessment

13. Good luck and have fun! Web resumes & portfolios prevent this!