Building Your Resume from the Ground Up

1. Building Your Resume from the Ground UpDavid McMahon ’69Associate DirectorExperiential Education Building Your Resume from the Ground Up

2. The 10 Worst Mistakes of First-Time Job Hunters Kelly Eggers, Career Advice, Oct 11, 2011 • "I would have started looking for jobs earlier.“ • "I would have actually networked.” • "I would have taken on a job or an internship in addition to my course load." • "I would have gotten more involved in career-relevant extracurricular activities." • "I would have applied to more jobs."

3. The 10 Worst Mistakes of First-Time Job Hunters Kelly Eggers, Career Advice, Oct 11, 2011 • "I would have focused more on becoming 'professional.'" • "I would have done more to figure out what my career goals were." • "I would have gone to the career center." • "I would have kept better track of my achievements." • "I would have focused more on developing relevant skills."

4. The First Question “Why Should I walk away from my Customer to Interview You?”

5. Purpose of a Resume A Marketing Tool: To convince an employer To call you For an interview You’ve got 10 seconds!!!

6. Steps toBuildinga Resume • Laying the foundation. • Building the resume. • Polishing the resume.

7. How Employers “Grade” TAMU Students

8. Laying the Foundation Assess Yourself on Paper/Computer • What are your Objectives? • Kind of job you are looking for and when you are available • What have you accomplished? • Skills, Abilities, Work Experience, and Extracurricular Activities/Leadership

9. Laying the Foundation What Makes a Good Employee?? 1. Integrity • Ability to work with people • Responsibility • Judgment • Motivation to succeed • Work ethic • Intelligence • Creativity/enthusiasm • Communications skills 10. Technical competence

10. Laying the Foundation • What Resume Format is most appropriate? • Chronological • Organized by date in reverse date order • Most commonly used type and more acceptable by employers • Functional • Grouped by status areas • Useful for employment gaps • Less acceptable by employers • Combination • Chronological/functional types combined

11. Building the Resume Tell the Employer…… The Mostest, The Fastest

12. Building the Resume • Personal Data Section • Objective • Education Section • Work Experience • Activities and Honors • DoNot List References

13. Building the Resume Personal Data Section Examples Example #1 Ima T. Aggie 1234 High St. 4321 West Way College Station, TX 77840 Kingsland, TX 78639 (979) xxx-xxxx ita@tamu.edu (325) xxx-xxxx Example #2 Ima T. Aggie 1234 High St. College Station, TX 77840 Home: (979) xxx-xxxx Cell : (979) xxx-xxxx ita@tamu.edu

14. Building the Resume Personal Data Section Examples Example #3 Ima T. Aggie 1234 High St. (979) xxx-xxxx College Station, TX 77840 ita@tamu.edu Example #4 Ima T. Aggie 1234 High St., College Station, TX 77840  ita@tamu.edu  (979) xxx-xxxx

15. Building the Resume • Objective • Type of Job - CO-OP, Intern, Full-time? • Specific Ideas, Not Vague and Fluffy • Operations, Business, Sales, Design, R&D, Consulting? • CO-OPs and Interns – start date • Education • University, Location, Graduation Date, • Degree in Major, Minors, Certificates, • Major GPR, Overall GPR • Senior Design project, Study Abroad, Graduate Research, Related Coursework • % Paid by Work

16. Building the Resume • Work Experience • Job Title, Company Name, Location, Dates of employment • Job Description – Statements (not sentences) • Using action words and showing results • Be Positive, Be Concise, Be Persuasive • Activities • Student/Professional organizations • Leadership positions • Skills • Computer software/systems, foreign languages • Security clearance

17. Building the Resume • Honors • Scholarships,Dean’s List, etc. • Work Authorization • References • Do not list on resume • Bring separate page to interview

18. Building the Resume • Present most marketable information first • Use brief, descriptive phrases • No personal pronouns • Use action verbs to describe experiences and accomplishments • Be Positive • Be Truthful • You Have the Right to Remain Silent

19. Polishing the Resume • Be Concise • Show results • Top Heavy • Reader Friendly

20. Polishing the Resume • Avoiding common mistakes • Broad generalization statements • Spelling and grammatical errors • Formatting, fonts, length, paper quality • Translate “Aggie speak” to business English • Don’t overdue it • Can’t explain every statement • Too long • No picture • Don’t include references

21. Polishing the Resume • Use white or off-white paper (checkout resume paper at area copy centers, i.e. Kinkos, Copy Corner, or Graphics Center on campus) • Use 8 ½ x11-inch paper • Use a font size of 10 to 14 points • Black ink only • Do not fold or staple your resume • If you must mail your resume, put it in a large envelope

22. Polishing the Resume • Applicant Tracking Systems • Use keywords or phrases directly from the job description • Include full keywords and abbreviated formats • Use non-decorative typefaces • Choose one typeface and stick to it • Avoid italics, script, and underlined words • No horizontal or vertical lines, graphics, or shading • Most scan text and Word formats • Some cannot read Word 2007, PDFs, or PowerPoints

23. Polishing the Resume • Resume Critique and Advice • Career Center Advisor • Academic Advisor • Mentor • Roommate • Employer

24. Employer Comments When I evaluate a candidate, there are a couple of key questions I'd like to get answers to as much as possible: 1. The degree of relevancy between candidate's overall profile (candidate's GPA, class projects, external project experience, major/minor, curriculum, extra curriculum) and the job position 2. The candidate's short term and long term career goal 3. The candidate's personality, capability, potential and willingness to accomplish his/her career goal (past experience can demonstrate that) Spring 2011

25. Employer Comments 1. Stick to 1 page. We had several students give us 2 (and in one case 3) page resumes. After 8 years in the industry, I can still highlight all necessary and pertinent information on my resume in a single page. 2. Clearly state GPR. Several students played games with the GPR by giving us only their in-major GPR because the overall was significantly lower. Another presented only the last 2 years because the first two years were very bad. Some gave no GPR. It does not reflect well on students to manipulate their resumes in this fashion before we even interview them. Employers who went to A&M can very easily review an A&M transcript and see who is playing games. Spring 2011

26. Employer Comments • Several of the students had not updated their "Job Objective" knowing that the interview that our company conducted was for a sales position.   Examples were: A manufacturing career; Plant flow organization. • One person did not spell check their resume.   • Another, the formatting was off and not consistent. Fall 2011

27. Employer Comments • Most of the problems related to a lack of preparation shown by students.  Most had little knowledge of our company and the opportunity they were interviewing for.   • I also had several who had not shaved or were not dressed professionally.  • Two students did not show up for the interview. Fall 2011

28. Polishing the Resume Did You Tell the Employer The Mostest, The Fastest ??????

29. In Conclusion…. • Laying the foundation… • Building the resume… • Polishing your resume… • Congratulations! • You Did It!