Resumes: What Employers Look For
Your resume should help you build self-confidence and give you focus and direction, and it should show employers exactly why they should hire you vs. someone else.
What Employers Look For
- Your ability to present ideas in an organized manner
- A clear, not overly specific objective that indicates how you can contribute to the organization
- Information that ties your experience, skills, and education to the needs of the organization
- Education: in reverse chronological order, stating name of school, location (city, state), and degree. Note GPA if above 3.0, as well as special coursework, honors
- Experience: in reverse chronological order, stating name of employer, location (city, state), job title, and job description. List both related and non-related jobs to show continuity. Use "strong" verbs: analyzed, wrote, created, developed
- Skills: include software, industry-related equipment
- Activities: include on- and off-campus activities and sports that demonstrate teamwork, leadership
- Professional memberships and certifications
- A balance of work/activities with coursework
- Strong communications skills and leadership qualities
- Description of accomplishments and demonstrations of problem-solving, project organization/management
- A functionally formatted, one-page resume that can be skimmed quickly, with good use of white space
What Not to Include
- Your photograph
- Names of references
- Marital status
- Salary requirements
- References to political or religious affiliations; although organizations that demonstrate diversity outreach can be listed
- Spelling mistakes. language usage errors, style inconsistencies and typos
- Exaggerations or mentioning skills with no explanation of how skills were attained