Your Foot in the Door

Reproduced with permission from ACCESS , July 1992.

The basics of resume preparation

When you're writing yourself a resume, keep one thing firmly in mind: The primary purpose of your resume is to get you an interview. Your resume isn't your autobiography--it's a clear, accurate, concise, and simple document that outlines your education, major skills, work experience and research, and accomplishments. It tells the employer that you are an outstanding candidate who will contribute to the organization and make a positive difference in the performance, product, and profitability of the company.

Generally, there are two kinds of resumes used in industry: chronological and functional. The chronological resume is useful when you

have good career progression,
want to stay in the same line of work,
want to highlight employment at prestigious firms, or
want to highlight level of work activity.

The functional resume is useful when you

want to change career paths,
seek a lower-level job responsibility than held in previous employment,
want to divert attention away from age,
want to avoid focusing on job gaps in employment or period of unemployment, or
want to avoid noting that experience or education doesn't exactly match stated or known requirements of the employer.

There is no one absolute way to write or format a resume. However, there are basic components in both the chronological and functional resumes. What you include in your resume depends on your particular situation, what you're looking for, and what you're trying to sell about yourself.

Build your own

Each type of resume has certain basic components that you really must include, supplemented by a number of discretionary components that you might use to enhance your resume's impact. First, here are the basic building blocks of a chronological resume.

Heading. Name, address and telephone number in capital and bold print.
Objective. Organizational level, function area, specialty, industry, and geographic area that you're seeking are the kind of pieces of information you'll want to include in your objective. Your objective should be well defined but not too narrow.
Education. In reverse chronological order, give degrees awarded, major, school, and date of graduation. If you're a PhD candidate, include the title of your dissertation and the name of your advisor.
Descriptive work history. Give date of employment, title of position, name of employer, quantitative description of position and results. Give your prospective employer the kind of information needed to evaluate your qualifications for the job--experience, knowledge, skills, quantitative outcomes. Use action-oriented words such as improved, solved, directed, analyzed, produced, and implemented. If you're a student, or if your work history has been limited, focus on research accomplishments.
Military service. If a large portion of your work history is in the military, include it in the work history. If the service was some time ago or has little relevance to the position you're seeking, state it briefly under a separate heading for "Military Service."

The basic building blocks of a functional resume are largely similar to those of the chronological resume, but with some important differences:

Heading. Same as for the chronological resume.
Objective. Same as for the chronological resume.
Skills and accomplishments. Identify four to six of your strongest skill areas. List three or four major accomplishments in each skill area. You may want to change or reprioritize your skills and accomplishments on your resume to target a specific job opening.
Listing of employment. Give position title, name of employer, and dates of employment.
Military service. Same as for the chronological resume.
Education. Same as for the chronological resume.

The following discretionary components may be added to either type of resume, for added effect as appropriate:

Professional certification
Professional affiliation
Publications
Patents
Personal information. Include personal items only if they somehow enhance your candidacy. Don't give personal information such as height, weight, health, marital status, age, or race. Don't include pictures.
"References available upon request." This is a standard phrase in resume parlance; there's no need for you to include actual written references in your resume. However, make sure to have your reference information prepared on a separate sheet, should it be requested.
Visa status

Finally, here are some general tips, derived from a variety of sources as well as experience of the ACS career services staff, about how youwrite your resume:

Use good-quality bond paper; white, light gray, or buff.
Be honest! Don't exaggerate your qualifications.
Avoid the use of "I".
Use correct grammar and spelling.
Keep resume to two pages. Include your publications and patents on separate lists--brief, clear,and to the point.
Make document neat, well-organized, easily and quickly readable, and visually attractive, using adequate "white space."
Make key information highly visible. Employers skim resumes for only about 30 seconds each; your key information must immediately capture the eye.
Give brief but complete job function information that depicts key accomplishments.
Always send your resume with a personalized cover letter. You can discuss in your letter the skills you have that are related to the specific position. Always type your cover letter!

More info

Models of the functional (also called "skills") and chronological formats are given below. For more information on writing your resume, including developing your objective and identifying your skills and accomplishments, call the ACS Office of Professional Services toll-free at 800/227-5558, or at 202/872-4431.

Suggested readings

Tips on Resume Preparation and Resources for a Job Search; American Chemical Society.
Beatty, Richard H. The Complete Job Search Book; John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1988.
Bolles, Richard Nelson. What Color is Your Parachute? Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA, 1991.
Irish, Richard K. Go Hire Yourself An Employer; Doubleday, New York, 1987.
Parker, Yana. The Resume Catalog: 200 Damn Good Examples; Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA, 1988.

MODEL CHRONOLOGICAL RESUME FORMAT

NAME

ADDRESS

CITY, STATE, ZIP CODE

PHONE NUMBER (WORK)

PHONE NUMBER (HOME)

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY (OR CAREER OBJECTIVE): Briefly describe your employment history, highlighting key accomplishments, or outline your career objective.

EDUCATION

DATES 		DEGREE - SCHOOL
			(list any appropriate honors)

DATES 		DEGREE - SCHOOL
			(list any appropriate honors)

EXPERIENCE

DATES 		COMPANY NAME, JOB TITLE
			(start with most current job)

Briefly describe the scope and responsibilities of the job you currently hold. Be sure to include any major accomplishments that demonstrate your suitability for the job you are applying for. You may use bullet format or paragraph.

DATES 		COMPANY NAME, JOB TITLE

Again, briefly describe the scope and responsibilities of the position. Emphasize those accomplishments that relate to the job for which you are applying.

DATES 		COMPANY NAME
		(If held more than one job at same company)

TITLE 		Last job held - length of time
		List scope and responsibilities as previously outlined.

TITLE: 		Previous job held - length of time 
		List scope and responsibilities as previously outlined.

OTHER/PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

List honors or awards outside of educational or other achievements. May also want to list memberships in professional organizations. Be brief!

MODEL SKILLS RESUME FORMAT

NAME

ADDRESS

CITY, STATE, ZIP

PHONE NUMBERS: WORK & HOME

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY: Briefly describe your employment history, highlight key accomplishments or areas that you want to sell to a prospective employer.

AREAS OF EFFECTIVENESS

Number 1 skill

LATEST AND BEST EXAMPLE of use of this skill. Can include one assignment or part of your current or last job. (be very specific in this listing)

NEXT BEST EXAMPLE of use of this skill.
Again, can be made up of a job element, an assignment, or major accomplishment.

NEXT BEST EXAMPLE of use of this skill. Can be an older example or less significant accomplishment or achievement.

Number 2 skill

BEST EXAMPLE of use of this skill. Again, can be made up of single events. assignments, or parts of jobs that you enjoyed or did well.

NEXT BEST EXAMPLE of use of this skill. Earlier, older or less significant events.

NEXT BEST EXAMPLE. (Three or four are generally enough.)

Number 3 skill

BEST EXAMPLE of this skill. Sometimes involves hobbies or nonpaid work activities, or may be derived from less important work skills.

NEXT BEST EXAMPLE of the use of this skill.

NEXT BEST EXAMPLE

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Latest/current job 		TITLE, ORGANIZATION, DATES

Previous job 			TITLE, ORGANIZATION, DATES

Previous job 			TITLE, ORGANIZATION, DATES

EDUCATION

Begin with the HIGHEST AND LATEST DEGREE or educational accomplishment, then work backward. List DIPLOMA/DEGREE, SCHOOL, DATE.

OTHER/PROFESSIONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Honors or awards, superior achievement, memberships in professional organizations, and the like. Be brief.