Resumes: What Employers Look For

Your resume is your marketing tool to get an interview for a position. It should show employers exactly why they should interview you vs. someone else.

What Employers Look For 

  • 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 functionally formatted, one-page resume that can be skimmed quickly, with good use of white space

Resume Standards

General Tips

  • Never use resume templates or wizards.  They are easy to spot and some employers may perceive you as being lazy or having a lack of creativity
  • Never use I, me, my.  The resume is all about you so you do not need to use these words
  • Do not use periods at the end of bullet statements
  • Your resume should be 1 page unless you have at least 5-10 years of relevant experience
  • Write dates consistently.  Use either 8/2008 or August 2008 or Aug 2008 consistently throughout your resume
  • List the city, state/country for each of your schools and experiences.  NYIT's city, state should be either New York, NY or Old Westbury, NY
  • List education and experience in reverse chronological order.  Start with the latest experience and work back in time
  • Do not include "references available upon request" 
  • Do not include references on your resume.  They should be a separate document provided to employers only when they ask for it

Objective

  • Your objective is a clear statement about the job you want or industry you wish to work in.  Examples: To obtain an internship in software development.  To obtain a position in information technology

Education

  • Unless you are a freshman or went to a high school related to your field, remove high school.  Limit high school activities unless you are still participating in those activities
  • Write out the full name of your degrees: Bachelor of Professional Studies in Hospitality Management, Associate of Applied Science in Computer Science
  • Simply put the date you expect to graduate.  Example: Bachelor of Science in Advertising, May 2010

Experience

  • Be specific about your accomplishments.  Instead of "managed staff" write "managed staff of 5"
  • Use a verb (action word) to start each bullet.  Never use "responsible for."  Example: "Developed software using C++ to manage payroll for 1000 employees"
  • Instead of using paragraphs to describe what you did on a job, use a list of bullets.  This is easier to read and will increase the chances of employers reading your accomplishments

Skills

  • Include a skills section (or technical skills section for technical majors) to highlight your skills.  Categorize them if you have many skills.  Example:
    • Software:
    • Database management:
    • Hardware:
    • Programming Languages:
    • Editing software:  
    • Design software:
    • Spoken Languages:

What Not to Include

  • Your photograph
  • Names of references. They should be a separate document provided to employers only when they ask for it  
  • Marital status
  • Salary requirements
  • References to political or religious affiliations; although organizations that demonstrate diversity outreach can be listed
  • Exaggerations or mentioning skills with no explanation of how skills were attained

To view sample resumes, check out the resume section of the Career Resource Guide (pdf).