Resume Sections

Bricks In A Wall

A resume is separated into different sections – each of which should be formatted for maximum readability. Understand that your section choices may not be the same as mine, or anyone else’s – only you know the best way to describe yourself. Here are my suggested sections and the order you should place them in:

• Name/Contact Info
  • This one should not come as a surprise to you: name (no bigger than 72 pt font) on its own line, followed by your contact info, however you want to format it. Preferred method of contact should be bold (or all of them should be bold).

• Education
  • I always include this as the first real section. In general, this is because I am young. I would imagine that as you gain more experience, you would put education second after relevant skills or possibly achievements, but this may not be the best idea. The reason behind it is this: there’s a certain perception behind placing education at the top of your resume. One is beneficial, one is not. The first is that you are committed to continually improving yourself (something that you reinforce in your cover letter). The not-so-beneficial perception is that you lack the relevant skills or experience to place those sections first. This may cost you as you apply for higher-ranking jobs – especially if you haven’t made a commitment to continual education.
• Achievements
  • Did you hit a home run at your last job? Top hula-hooper of all the Hooters girls? Best bow-tie of all the Chip-N-Dales? Put it on your resume. This is a really simple way of cheating, basically. Most people save this stuff for a cover letter, so by putting your “elevator pitch” (selling yourself in 20 seconds) on your resume – and especially if you do it using active phrasing (action verbs: sold, performed, managed, harpooned) you will beat out your competition for sure.
• Relevant Skills
  • Skills are separate from achievements in that skills are tasks and achievements are results. So skills are generally one to two words of things you know how to do. Web designers usually put on the computer languages they know. Dominatrices put on the fetishes they cater to. Relevant skills are a quick summary of the things you know how to do. The only thing you can do to screw it up is to lie about what you’re able to do.
• Relevant Experience
  • Simply put, you should format this section for whatever job you are applying for. If you don’t have relevant job experience (that is – work in the same field as the one you’re applying for), then list jobs where you gained some sort of life-lesson sort of experience: leadership, patience, organizational skills.

Additional sections might also include (these are ones I do not use):

• Objective
  • See, this is a tough one. Most institutions tell you to put an objective in your resume because it basically tells the hiring manager what you want. I think this is what a cover letter is for, and so I never use the objective. Besides, if you can sum up what you want in a career in one sentence without sounding like an idiot, you’re a better person than me.
• Involvement (Professional or Volunteer)
  • Involvement is a huge thing which can make or break your resume. Consider carefully what things you choose to place here – internships are always a good idea to list, because they show you’re willing to work your butt off for no money.
  • A Special Note About Greek Life: Sorority and fraternity membership can be a very important part of your college experience. Most people think of sororities and fraternities in terms of Animal House, Old School, National Lampoon’s Pledge This! or any other near-pornographic college movie. This is especially true if you mention nothing about the community service projects you participated in, leadership positions held, etc. Remember – there is no law that says a hiring manager can’t discriminate against you on the basis of being “Greek”. If you find yourself with very few responses after three months, take it off your resume.
• Professional Profile
  • This is a paragraph-style explanation of your experience and how it relates to the job you are applying for. Generally, this belongs in a cover-letter. Unless this section is specifically asked for, do not include it – instead, put your energy into your cover letter. I don’t go into how to write one of these, because I’ve never had to do it and frankly, I don’t know how. I will include a link in the Resume Resources section in case you need to.
• References
  • I never include References as a part of a resume. I include it as a separate file or document. The simple reason is that the space references take up can be put to better use – especially since you are (using my method) limiting yourself to one page. Don’t include any lines that say, “References Available On Request” because this is considered irritating to a hiring manager. Although, it DOES let you know if your resume was received and that they are interested in you – but generally, so does the request for an interview. In any case, don’t put References straight-out on your resume; it says something about you that goes like this: “I don’t have enough to put on my resume to make it a whole page, so here’s some people who will say something nice about me. I probably slipped them $50 to do so.”
• Course Work
  • Course work is for those who do not have job experience or internships to display on their resume before they apply for a career-level job. It doesn’t speak badly of you – especially if you earned a hard degree (engineering or witch doctoring), but believe me when I say that an internship will make it much easier for you to get a job. Here’s the other downside of listing “Course Work” instead of an internship. In general, the hiring manager usually has the same degree you do. This means that if you took 5 years to get the degree, just the degree, and nothing else – but they were able to do it in 4 and get two internships and a Gold Medal in Gymnastics, you’re going to look pretty silly. So, get out there and start shrinking heads for real!
• Interests
  • Interests do not have a place on a resume. They barely have a place in a cover letter. They only really have a place in the interview (before or after) when you need to make a connection with your interviewer. Though, I doubt your interviewer counts cross-dressing among their interests. Remember, kissing a little tail never hurt your case – people generally hire people they like, simple as that.

Knowing Is Half The Battle

Depending on what your needs are, what kind of job you are applying for, you will have to pick and choose what sections you want to use. The right combination in the right order can land you a job, but the wrong combination can make for a difficult read! Have people in the field you want to work in give you feedback on your resume and its sections to help you decide the right mix.

Keep in mind that a resume, like your witty and satirical, yet-under-appreciated blog, is a living document. It continually changes as you grow and your needs change. You’ll never get it all quite right, but you can get close enough, and close enough usually gets you the job!