Your resume
is a SALES TOOL. The purpose of a resume is to help sell yourself,
relate your skills and achievements to the job, and convince
the potential employer to contact you for an interview. The
major focus of a resume is your education, work experiences,
skills, and extracurricular activities.
Your resume should be tailored to the type of internship/co-op
position for which you are applying. It should provide the
internship/co-op coordinator(s) with specific information
about your background to assess your qualifications and skills.
The coordinators will SKIM, not read, your resume. Your resume
needs to be concise and contain only pertinent information,
which will get the coordinator’s attention.
The
main components of a resume include:
•
Contact
Information
Your name, address (present and/or permanent), phone
number(s), and email address.
•
Career
Objective
Use a single phase expressing your career goals
•
Work
Experiences
List your work experiences. Volunteer, research projects,
internships, and cooperative education programs that
you experienced should also be listed as work experiences.
Start with your most recent employer and give the dates
of employment, the employer’s name, job title,
and job responsibilities.
•
Skills
List your skills such as: analytical, interpersonal,
administration or management, leadership, research,
writing, computer, and other skills.
•
Education
List the schools you have attended and (expected) graduation
date, major, and G.P.A. Start with your most school
enrollment.
•
Extracurricular
Activities (if space permits)
List your extracurricular activities inside and outside
of school such as: leadership positions, school involvement,
community involvement, etc. Start with your most recent
activities.
DO
NOT INCLUDE
•
Personal
Data
Do not list personal data such as height, weight, sex,
and marital status on your resume. This information
is irrelevant.
•
References
Do not list your references on the resume. Instead,
use the phrase "References on Request," if
you have enough room at the bottom of the resume.
Resume
Formatting Tips
•
Be
clear, concise, well organized, easy to read, and one
page in length
•
Do
not use more than 2 different fonts and use size 12
for main text.
•
Use
bullets or bold fonts to highlight significant information
•
Be
sure there is enough white space throughout.
•
SPELL
CHECK and PROOF READ more than once!
•
Have
someone else proof read your resume
•
Use
good quality, white or neutral colored paper.
•
Eliminate
data that falls into the “padding” or “exaggeration”
category
•
Do
not include any negative information or weaknesses
Need Help
There are various resources available to help you write an
effective resume such as: the Internet that offers an array
of tools and guides, numerous books at the library and bookstore,
and your teachers, counselors, and parents. If you have access
to a computer, most word processing programs have a resume
template that you can use to create your resume.
