More Resume Stuff

Basic Information that Should Be On Your Resume

Your resume is a "snapshot" of you, your qualifications, and your knowledge, skills, and abilities. The purpose of a resume is to give a "down and dirty" quick look at your background to see if it relates to the position you are being considered for. Putting too much information on a resume is almost as bad as putting not enough information on a resume. Your resume must be able to promote all of your knowledge, skills, and abilities in a positive, unique and refreshing way that is different from all of the other candidates. MAJOR HEADINGS (SECTIONS) OF A RESUME I believe there should be no more than about five (5) major headings or sections contained in your resume. No more, maybe one or two less - depending on what you have to offer. Some of the major headings I believe in are your objective, experience, education, community service / volunteer work, certificates / licenses, and/or special skills and training. Let me discuss each section in detail:

OBJECTIVE:
A one-line description of what position you're going for and with what agency. Some people say you don't need an objective. I disagree. By listing the exact job title (taken from the job description) and the agency you're testing for, I think it shows a little effort and personalization. Listing no objective is almost as bad as listing something like "to become a firefighter (and nothing else)."

EXPERIENCE:
Some people like to write employment history or job history or work experience. I like experience because it is short and sweet, and because it can be paid or volunteer experience. Start with your present employer and work backwards (chronological order), not leaving any obvious gaps. For each employer, I like the following information: 1. Name of Employer (Company - not the name of your supervisor) 2.City and State of employer (no street address, no zip code, no phone number) 3. Exact Job Title - this is the title the background investigator is going to verify you held when you worked there. 4. Dates Employed - all you need is the month and date. The exact date will go on the application. June 2002 or 06/02 is sufficient. 5. Duties / Responsibilities - - keep the duties / responsibilities. If you need to save space, eliminate them.

EDUCATION:
This section should be no more than a couple of lines. List any degrees you may possess. You only need to list one or two schools (one to two lines per school). Keep it simple. List the name of the college, the city and state of the college, your degree you received or are pursuing, and your date of graduation or expected date of application.

COMMUNITY SERVICE / VOLUNTEER WORK:
List volunteer work like my experience. List the name of the organization, city and state, what exact title you have, maybe some brief duties (if you have room), and most importantly, a running tally of your total amount of volunteer hours you have performed.

CERTIFICATES / LICENSES:
When listing each certificate or license, you only need three things: 1. Exact name / title (as taken from the certificate or license) 2. Who certified you (as taken from the certificate or license)

SPECIAL SKILLS OR TRAINING:
Do you speak, read, and/or write a second language fluently? If so, list it here.

More stuff for high school students:

List any
Sports you play
Musical talents
Clubs and Organizations
Awards