Résumé or Curriculum Vitae Writing
Having a solid and effective résumé or curriculum vitae（CV)can greatly improve your chances of obtaining a dream job.How does one make sure that his résumé or CV is well-written?There is analysis of the résumé format and writing techniques.Besides,some samples of résumé or CV are analyzed in order to suggest some ways to make better résumé or CV writing.
1.1 Format of a Résumé
Résumé Writing must follow a set pattern.It enumerates the practical skills, experience,and educational qualifications of the candidate.The information under these heads should be presented in a simple manner without any decoration. Résumé should be a clear presentation of achievements and strong points of the candidate's professional achievements.
However,in fact,there is no single standard résumé format,and the résumé format you choose can make a difference in the impression you make.It is important to choose a design and approach that is concise and effective and highlights the skills your prospective employer is looking for.For example,place education before work experience if you're fresh out of school or use a summary of skills instead of a job objective if you want to highlight your skills over your previous jobs.
Writers or candidates should keep themselves updated with the latest ways of writing a résumé and then draft and format theirs accordingly.There are different types of résumés and they are meant for different purposes.To name them,the traditional résumé is one which has your name on the top,like a letter head and then the educational qualifications,work experience,followed by the personal details,etc.Now,this type of résumé is a little outdated.What the writers should do is to first present the most impressive details.Different résumé samples can be found online for different professions and designations.Besides,it is best to keep the résumé font to a formal Times New Roman or Calibri with a size of 12 may be.Your résumé can be adjusted to your need based on the following format.
Résumé
Name:_____________________________
Date of Birth:____________________
Address:__________________________
Phone:____________________________
E-mail:___________________________
Objective:________________________
A position as a general office clerk for a major corporation
Skills Profile
Ability to operate Model 5，000 copy/collating machine
Good customer-relations background
Employment History
Copy-Machine Attendant（1998-Cont)
Contoso,Ltd.Milton,NY
Copy and collate all projects（including confidential papers)for 25-lawyer firm.
Education
Special Training
Research
Special Experiences
1.2 Writing Skills and Techniques
The following four steps can help you write a good résumé or CV that shows your strengths and abilities.By following these steps,you'll be able to write your CV easily and quickly for every job that you apply for.
Reading the job description
You can make a note of everything that the company wants in terms of skills, experience and character traits.This is the starting point.And this step is crucial, because your CV needs to be designed for the job and company you're applying for.A “generic”CV is no longer good enough.
If you're applying to a large company,your CV may first be scanned with software for specific keywords.These are words and terms used in the job description,so make sure that you have included them in your CV.
Listing everything done
You can write a scratch to keep details of all your education,work history, voluntary work,achievements and so on.And then it's much easier to make a list.
①Education being the first
You can take notes on your educational institutions（secondary school and up), and what you achieved,including school names,degree or certificates,major or courses relevant to career objectives.You can add a subsection for“Academic Highlights”（or“Extra-curricular activities”).If your employment history is more important than education for getting the job you are applying for,you can of cause write it first.
②Moving on to your working experience
You can take notes on your work experience—both paid and unpaid,full time and part time.List each company where you have worked,or institution where you have volunteered.Write down your job title and dates,employer name and a brief description of the company,as well as a brief summary of your role and responsibilities.For example:
Marketing Executive:John Adams Press，2008—2011 International publisher of finance and accounting titles.
Hired to drive sales in Europe and the Middle East，and to develop links with universities and business schools.
At this point,you can add two or three achievements to each role.Besides,you can use numbers or statistics to make your achievements solid or trustworthy.For example:
Increased sales by 35%in six months.
Built and maintained a database of over 5，000 names.Reduced order delivery times by 50%.
③Taking notes on other skills and accomplishments
It can include membership in organizations,military service and any other special accomplishments.Besides,it can include other relevant information such as languages spoken,computer programming knowledge etc.
Editing
At this point,your CV might be four to five pages long,containing a mass of useful information.But now you need to shorten it to around two pages.While you edit,there are a few things you need to keep in mind:
①Relevance
You need to either delete the part-time student job you have done many years ago or refocus your present job if it is only half-relevant.Look again at the job description and make sure that you're only including details that prove you can do the job.
②Length and clarity
If you've had a number of part-time jobs or have done a lot of short-term projects,your CV might look a bit of a mess at this point.You can group a number of roles together（under one heading,or by one set of dates)or divide your work history into different sections to make it easier to find useful information.You might also concentrate only on the most recent work,and relegate the rest to a brief paragraph at the end of your work history section.
Since no employer will have the time or patience to read long paragraphs of text.Make sure,therefore,to use bullet points and short sentences to describe your experiences,educational background and professional objectives.
③Positioning
The most important information needs to come first in your CV.For this reason, the education section can probably go right at the end,and take up no more than a few lines.But if you are the graduates who have very little work experience—especially if you are applying for graduate scheme type roles,this information can be put in a profile at the beginning of the CV.
Don't forget:the main goal of your CV is to“sell”you for the role.If you have two or three key achievements,gained during your work experience,you might want to put these in a Key Achievements section—as part of your profile,or just before your work history section.
Checking accuracy and layout
If you don't want to be rejected because of spelling and grammar mistakes,you can use a spell checker,and read carefully for grammar errors.Besides,layout should be clear,with enough space at the top and bottom and in the margins.You have almost unlimited layout choices,but the two most common formats are chronological（where you include work history in reverse chronological order)and “inverted pyramid”format,where you put the most important things at first. Applicants must also focus on the detailed layout of their résumé.Neat and wellpresented résumé strengthens the applicant's proposition.Good résumé layout observes consistency in the use of italics,capital letters,abbreviations,bullets, boldface,and underlining.
1.3 Sample Analysis of Résumés
Résumés should be written according to different purposes.The elements such as education,work experiences or skills are of different importance in different kinds of résumés.In this part,several résumés for different purposes are analyzed to show the different layouts.
Sample Résumé 1 and 2 are the Executive Assistant résumés.Executive assistant is responsible for performing administrative duties for executive management.Responsibilities of executive assistant include screening calls,meeting arrangements and making travel,train or supervising other support staff,preparing reports and financial data and responsible for customer relations.Executive assistant works as administrative support worker and provides high level support to the executives in a business.They must be having complicated skills in office software,excellent knowledge of industry and application programming experience. Executive assistant reviews letters and reports and carries out research.
For this position of executive assistant,the candidate must be having strong computer and Internet skills,flexibility in work,project coordination experience and interposal skills.He or she may be able to work well with all levels of internal management and staff,vendors and outside clients.Besides,he or she is responsible for other duties as assigned and as needed.According to the responsibilities and requirements,the candidate can organize his résumé like this:
Sample 1 Executive Assistant Résumé
Francis Ray
573，Moore Road，
Alabama,AL 37269
USA
Objective:To further hone my organizational skills by obtaining a position as an executive assistant in an organization,which will suit my profile.
Experience Summary
Handled key issues related to senior member's activities,tasks and clients
Efficiently handled and supervised junior staff members
Professional Experience:
Administrative Assistant to CEO,July 2012 to Present
Bell Informatics,New Jersey
Carried out various administrative functions supporting the CEO
Managed tasks for preparing Board of Directors meeting
Recorded Minutes of board meetings and distributed them
Administrative Assistant to the COO,July 2010 to August 2012
Chambers Hardware Systems,New Jersey
Handled various administrative tasks required by the COO
Handled sensitive customer issues and important employee matters
Maintained monthly reports and distributed them on a regular schedule
Education
2006—2010 Marks'Junior College,Camden,NJ
Completed a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
References
Furnished upon request
As for the post,working experience may overweight education,so in Sample 1, experience is mentioned at first.
The foreign language teacher is expected to teach foreign languages to children. To teach an entirely new language to the students,the teacher should be well versed in the language and should be patient.Communication and explanation skills are necessary in the foreign language teacher so as to explain the right things to the students so that they can learn the language efficiently.The sample foreign language teacher résumé given below consists of all the educational qualifications and skills that the teacher should possess.
Sample 2 Foreign Language Teacher Résumé
Cameron K.Jones
1432 Bastin Drive
Philadelphia，
PA 19103
Phone no.:484-720-1845
Email address:CameronKJones@teleworm.com
Academic Background
Obtained Ph.D.Degree from Cambridge University,Cambridge in Russian Literature in the year of 1984.
Obtained MA Degree from University of Irvine,Irvine in Russian Literature in the year of 1982. Obtained Bachelor Degree from Chicago University,Chicago in Russian Literature in the year of 1980.
Teaching Background
1994-Present date:Work as a teacher of Russian Literature and Language in Janis Gars Educational Institute,Northampton.
1996-Present date:Work as a Teacher of Russian Literature and Language in Hood College, Maryland.
1988-1994:Acted as a Professor of Russian Language in different institutions like
University of Illinois,Chicago,Burlington University,Burlington,University of Vermont, Vermont.
1986-1988:Worked as the departmental head of Russian language at the College of Translation under Brooklyn University,Brookline.Offered various teaching and translation from Russian Literature along with extensive research.
1986:Acted as an educational advisor in Technical Committee of the Office of Foreign Language under the New York University,New York.Offered the entire curriculum development during the working period.
1983:Worked as a Teacher of Russian Language and Literature at the Emily Memorial School, Burlington.Conducted the entire course improvement activities and translated various Russian Literatures for the enlarged syllabus.
In Sample 2,education is put in the first part of the résumé,and then the teaching experience is presented clearly,because the two parts are the most important and fundamental things for a qualified teacher.
From the analysis of the two samples,it can be shown that for different purposes or applying for different jobs,the candidates should have different focuses.
1.4 Suggestions on Résumé or CV Writing
Many elements can influence the effect of your résumé or CV writing.
Make clear your objective and readers
Before writing a good résumé,you should be clear about your focus.And the best way to know the focus is to ask yourself this simple question:what do employers look for in a potential employee?By writing a résumé,you are delivering useful information of yourself to human resource managers and your purpose is to attract their eyes and to persuade them to believe you are the right person they are looking for.And your only chance is to write a good résumé to draw a clear picture in their minds.During writing,do remember to write an objective.The objective is a short sentence describing what type of work you hope to obtain,which helps the managers to know clearly your understanding of your own talents and the job.
Summarizing your information
Naturally and conventionally,you should begin the résumé by writing your full name,address,telephone number,fax and email at the top of the résumé.But after that,remember to summarize your information so as to show your special talents or skills.Pay attention to the following points:
①Begin work experience with your most recent job.Include the company specifics and your responsibilities—emphasize the skills that are transferable（skills that are similar to the job you are applying for).
②Summarize your education,including important facts（degree type,specific courses studied)that are applicable to the job you are applying for.
③Include other relevant information such as languages spoken,computer programming knowledge etc.under the heading:Additional Skills.You can highlight some words if they can make you special.
Putting the most important information first
This point is valid both to the overall order of your résumé,as well as to the individual sections.Most of the times your previous work experience will be the most important part of the résumé,so put it at the top.When describing your experiences or skills,list the most important ones first.
One résumé for each employer
One of the most common mistakes that people make is to create a standard résumé and send it to all the job openings that they can find.Sure it will save you time,but it will also greatly decrease the chances of landing an interview.So you should tailor your résumé for each employer.