If you don’t have a resumé then it’s time to create one. We’ve done several sessions on resumés at PRSSA meetings and you can have your’s checked by professionals at our April 12 conference. (http://prssa.org.ohio-state.edu/special_events.html)
Students often don’t think about how their resumés look. Whether you email it or send it snail mail, it has to look attractive. Professionals don’t have time to read large chunks of text nowadays so your resumé should be easily scanned. Consistency is crucial and there must be no grammatical errors and typos.
Your resumé should include the following sections:
1. Your name and contact information;
2. Your university, major, expected graduation date, and any honors you’ve earned. If your grade point average is good then include it;
3. Your employment and internship information including your job title and responsibilities;
4. Your activities and other honors earned.
Where the rubber meets the road on your resumé is in the employment and internship section, where you list the responsibilities you had in the position. Each item must begin with an active verb and carefully and completely, yet succinctly, tell what you did.
Dan Orzano of Nationwide once provided the following list of action verbs for students to use in writing their resumés.
For example, you may say that you:
Received, reviewed, corrected, validated and entered data from co-workers
Or that you currently:
Write news releases, internal newsletter and Web site articles, pamphlets and brochures, and pitch stories to the media
After you draft a resumé have people check it to make sure it is perfect. When you think it is, have professionals review it so you can make the perfect impression.
Here’s that list of action verbs to help you on the way.
achieved
adapted
addressed
administered
advised
analyzed
anticipated
appraised
appointed
arbitrated
arranged
articulated
assembled
assessed
assigned
assisted
attained
audited
automated
bought
budgeted
built
calculated
checked
clarified
classified
coached
collaborated
collected
communicated
compared
compiled
composed
computed
conducted
consolidated
constructed
consulted
controlled
coordinated
counseled
created
critiqued
defined
delegated
delivered
demonstrated described
designed
detected
determined
developed
devised
diagnosed
directed
discovered
documented
earned
edited
eliminated
empathized
enforced
established
estimated
evaluated
examined
executed
expanded
experimented
expressed
facilitated
financed
followed-up
forecast
formulated
gathered
generated grossed
guided
handled
helped
hired
hypothesized
identified
illustrated
implemented
improved
increased
influenced
informed
initiated
innovated
inspected
inspired
installed
instituted
instructed
interpreted
interviewed
invented
investigated
labeled
lead
listened
maintained
managed
marketed
mediated
memorized
modeled
monitored
motivated negotiated
observed
obtained
operated
ordered
organized
oversaw
performed
persisted
persuaded
photographed
planned
prepared
presented
prevented
printed
processed
produced
programmed
projected
promoted
proofread proposed
provided
publicized
purchased
questioned
received
recommended
reconciled
recorded
recruited
reduced
referred
refined
rehabilitated
repaired
reported
represented
researched
resolved
responded
restored
retrieved
reviewed
revised
routed
scheduled
selected
served
sketched
solved
sorted
studied
summarized
supervised
supplied
surveyed
tested
trained
transcribed
translated
traveled
treated
tutored
upgraded
utilized
wrote
2 comments:
Adding to this post, a note about objectives. I'm not sure if DS will agree with me or not, but I would omit the "objective" part that people sometimes put at the top of resumes. There is hardly a good way to write it without sounding cheesy or awkward, and I think that the objective is something you TALK about in an interview.
I somewhat disagree w/ Courtney re: the objective. Your resume' is a tool used to GET the interview. If you don't include an objective, how will the person reviewing your resume' and 100 others know what you are looking for? The objective is a quick snipit and doesn't have to be awkward.
Dan's action verb list is great. I'm a professional and it will come in handy when I update my resume'. I'm always looking for new words to use.
Also a tip regarding action verbs. If the job is a former one, make sure you use past tense. It can be annoying to the reader if you are using an incorrect or inconsistent tense. (I noticed this recently w/ several resume's.) Also, make sure if you're presently employed that you make all of the action verbs present tense. You don't want to mix tenses under one job heading.
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