what is a resume

Cover Letter + Resume Tips

What is a Resume

  
Welcome   Cover Letter
+ Resume Tips		   Job Search
Books + Guides		   Job Search
Sites + Services		   Job Search
Software		  
















































































































Menu


 Cover Letter + Resume Tips

 Cover Letters:
 What is a Cover Letter?
 Addressing Your Cover Letter
 Common Mistakes

 Resume Basics:
 What is a Resume?
 Formatting
 Writing Your Career Objective
 Writing Your Profile
 Gaps in Your Work History
 References
 Common Mistakes

 Resume Tips:
 Make Your Resume Unique
 Make Your Resume Scannable
 Power Words
 Quantifying
 Emailing Your Resume

 Resumes by Position:
 Healthcare
 Internships
 Teachers

 Resume Writing Services
 

WorkTree.com

Click Here for a New Career
    
Job Pixie   >   Cover Letter + Resume Tips   >   Resume Basics   >   What is a Resume

A resume is a short (one or two pages normally) document that you provide to potential employers. It contains basic information about you, your experience and your skills. Obviously, since the whole purpose of sending out your resume is to get a job, you obviously want to present yourself in the best light possible - while of course remaining entirely truthful. It is also essential that you include all the relevant information that a potential employer wants to know including career objectives, professional experiences and achievements, and educational qualifications.

The heading of the resume should contain your name, address and contact information. The body of the resume should be broken into the following sections:
  • Career Objective:

    This is a brief section of about two sentences; it should give your potential employers an idea of how you wish to move forward in your professional life.

  • Profile/Summary:

    This section should also be fairly brief (although somewhat longer than "Career Objective"), perhaps a few well-written sentences. In this section you should discuss who you are, and how your skills and experience make you suitable (ideal!) for the job that you are interested in. It's okay to be somewhat creative, but don't go overboard - remember to stay professional and business-like.

  • Professional Experience:

    In this section you should include information on one to five jobs you’ve held, starting with your current or most recent job, and working backwards through your previous positions in chronological order (most recent jobs before prior jobs). For each job you should includes the dates of your employment, the name of the company or person that you worked for, the city and state where you worked (the full address is unnecessary), your job title and a summary of your main responsibilites. You should of course draw attention to particular achievements or duties that you had in the past that would position you well for the job that you are applying for.

  • Achievements:

    In this section you should list achievements, volunteer positions, publications and interests if they are applicable or related to your professional career. For example, if you wrote a book or published magazine article for whatever industry you are in, if you invented something that was patented, if you won an award, or if you helped your employer in achieving an important goal, be sure to list these things.

  • Education and Qualifications:

    This section should include college, graduate and post-graduate work, as well as any courses or professional certifications that are relevant to your career development.

  • References:

    If the employer has requested references with your resume, you should list them - in fact, if applying for a specific position (rather than merely circulating your resume online or through recruitment agencies), it's a good idea to list them. Some people put statements such as "references being available upon request", however most employers will assume this is the case anyway.
In all the sections, you should be careful to avoid placing personal information that discloses ethnicity, sexual orientation, marital status, age, living situations, or any other personal information that is not directly related to your career. Additionally, you should be careful to present you resume as well as possible, and perhaps also (if applying for multiple positions), customizing your resume slightly for each position that you apply for, in order to emphasize those points which are most relevant to each job.

You must also make sure that there are no errors in your resume. Check it. Double check it. Triple check it! Ask your spouse or a friend to check it. Check the spelling, including any company or school names. Furthermore, while it is okay to use some formatting, don't go overboard - format your resume professionally and tastefully - that means no garish colors, no huge text, and stick to a simple classic font throughout such as Times Roman or Arial.

The key thing to remember is that your resume is your sales pitch to potential employers - and you need to sell yourself in the best possible way by showcasing your positive attributes. A great resume really will make you stand-out from other candidates!

Related Web Sites & Pages

Here are some other websites that may be of interest:
  • CareerAssist
    We offer affordable, easy-to-use cover letter and resume builder software and resume and cover letter critique services
    (Advertisement)

  • Post Your Resume for FREE at HotResumes.com
    (Advertisement)

  • Resume and Cover Letter Secrets Revealed
    "This do-it-yourself manual makes writing your own resume and cover letter a breeze... even for someone who's never written them before!"
    (Advertisement)

  • Resume Rabbit
    This site INSTANTLY submits a customers resume and job requirements on up to 75 top job sites including Monster, Job.com, CareerBuilder, Net-Temps, Dice and more! Once finished our customers can be seen by over 1.5 million employers and recruiters daily. It takes customers ONLY 5 minutes & saves them over 60 hours of research and data entry. Best of all, its easy to use and produces REAL results! Since January 2001 ResumeRabbit has performed 1,000,000's of resume submissions for loads of happy customers. And the site has great testimonials to prove it!
    (Advertisement)

  • Sample Resumes
    Resume and Cover Letter Samples Package.
    (Advertisement)
Here are some other pages on this website that may be of interest:
Resume Zapper


 		 
Disclosure: Our company's websites' content (including this website's content) includes advertisements for our own company's websites, products, and services, and for other organization's websites, products, and services. In the case of links to other organization's websites, our company may receive a payment, (1) if you purchase products or services, or (2) if you sign-up for third party offers, after following links from this website. Unless specifically otherwise stated, information about other organization's products and services, is based on information provided by that organization, the product/service vendor, and/or publicly available information - and should not be taken to mean that we have used the product/service in question. Additionally, our company's websites contain some adverts which we are paid to display, but whose content is not selected by us, such as Google AdSense ads. For more detailed information, please see Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures

Our sites use cookies, some of which may already be set on your computer. Use of our site constitutes consent for this. For details, please see Privacy.

Click privacy for information about our company's privacy, data collection and data retention policies, and your rights.

Contact Us     Privacy     Terms Of Use     Advertising/Endorsements Disclosures

Copyright © 2000-2018, Answers 2000 Limited CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE,COMES FROM AMAZON EU S.à r.l. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.


In Association With Amazon.com
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
In Association With Amazon.co.uk
Answers 2000 Limited is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk.
As an Amazon Associate, our company earns from qualifying purchases. Amazon, the Amazon logo, Endless, and the Endless logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.



All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
All third party content and adverts are copyright of their respective owners.

Some graphics on our web sites are Copyright (C) 1997-2000 Hemera Technologies Inc., and used under license. All such pictures are provided for viewing purposes only and are not to be saved or downloaded. All such pictures of recognizable individuals are models and used for illustrative purposes only, and not meant to imply any association or endorsement of said individual with any product or service.