I've never really written a resume before, all my previous jobs didn't require it (for whatever reason) so now I'm kind of at a loss. Annie has graciously gone over it, but I had to make some changes to it since then and she's way too overworked now anyways.
I'm applying for a job programming most likely, though it's possible the company will have other jobs as well.
This is a straight chronological resume' -- and I thought most everyone was going for the functional resume's now....
But whatever works for you.
Farmgirl
Posted by The Thnikkaman (Member # 6330) on :
Quick copyedit:
--More space between the Objective paragraph and the Education header --Put a comma between Boulder and Colorado. --programming or engineering capacity. --(projected graduation date May 2007) --Science in Civil Engineering major with a Structural emphasis --lowercase "minors" --lowercase "courses" --Use title case capitalization on the names of your awards--makes them sound even more important
[ March 31, 2004, 06:16 PM: Message edited by: The Thnikkaman ]
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
It's the right length. (As a college student, you should be able to fit everything on one page.)
You might want to share some details about your MEMS project. Were you a part of a team? If so, what was your role?
That "working for a company" thing in your objective statement was too bland. Imagine yourself already sitting at your new desk (or holding your new shovel), and give your future employer a vision of what it's going to look like with you sitting in that chair.
If you're going to be e-mailing your resume, do it up in HTML with super clean code (no MS-Word formatting junk). Send it as an attachment, rather than a link. Then it will load up real slick on your employer's browser.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Hobbes - verb phrases work better. Also, describe the projects the tasks were for - that way you get their reflected glory (if any).
When I hired programmers, I was interested in both the technical skills and the vertical market the experience was in. For programming, describe some of the projects you've written, even if only for school. List the project the finite element analysis is for and the intended use of the MEMS chips (assuming they have different use).
For example, "Developed MEMS accelerometers for airbag deployment, including researching, designing, and testing."
Dagonee
Posted by twinky (Member # 693) on :
I'd put more details in about your relevant work experience. The education section of my résumé is three or four lines, but the work experience section is a page and a half (albeit with five jobs on it).
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
"To employ my technical and problem-solving skills in a programming or engineering capacity."
Use small, round bullets. You want the formatting to dissapear and the content to stand out.
Put the headers in Ariel, 14 pt. Bold. Put your name in Ariel, Bold, 14 or 16 pt. Everything else, 12 pt Times New Roman. White space is okay.
quote:Education Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana: Major: BS Civil Engineering, structural emphasis Minors: Computer Science and Mathematics Graduation Date: May 2007
Relevant Courses completed: C++, Java, Calculus 3, Linear Algebra and Differential Equations (Honors), Civil Engineering Structural Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering Statics and Structures and Civil Engineering Materials (place these in a double-columned bulleted list)
Computer Skills: AutoCAD, MatLab, Photoshop, C, C++ and Java (place these in a double-columned bulleted list)
I can't get the formatting exactly right in this box, but I think you can see it.
I agree with what was said above. Put the project in the education section.
Also, take the programming languages off the courses list and on the skills list.
[ March 31, 2004, 06:23 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
First impression:
When writing about your technical experience you should include what equipment you used (if you don't already list what you're familiar with in another section), what were your resposabilities? Was it solo? Member of a team? What you have there doesn't really tell anything. Don't be afraid to use up a line or two to highlight important points. But specifics are good. "Working in teams to accomplish specific goals" is so vague it looks like you have nothing to say. What goals did you worked toward? If there were many, pick the one that's most relevant and emphasize it.
Decrease the font by 2 points all across the board. Fill up the resulting white space with more specifics.
Your university, majar, graduation date and minors can all fit into one bullet. It'll save you space.
Listing relevent courses at your level isn't generally worth it unless the job you're applying for specifically says it requires certain courses. As a first year student what you've taken is probably the same as every other engineer. Of course, if you're taking upper year courses (say, because you did some AP courses in High School) feel free to leave them on if you think they're important.
What's this best researcher award? Do I just not know about it because I'm from Canada or can you tell me more about it?
Posted by T. Analog Kid (Member # 381) on :
Hobbes, please e-mail me...
edit: never mind, I'm e-mailing you...
[ March 31, 2004, 07:13 PM: Message edited by: T. Analog Kid ]
Posted by Jeni (Member # 1454) on :
quote:This is a straight chronological resume' -- and I thought most everyone was going for the functional resume's now
What's the difference?
Posted by BYuCnslr (Member # 1857) on :
I'll manage a guess and say it's like mine or fugu's more of in paragraph form: http://enguin.com/stuff/resume.pdf Satyagraha
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Thank-you! I don't have time to change it tonight, or most likely tomorrow because of mid-terms, but I really appreciate your advice and I'll let you guys see the fruit of your labors when I have it done. Not that more comments aren't welcome.
TAK message recieved and responded to. Let me just say, you have no idea how cool that would be for me.
Hobbes Posted by HollowEarth (Member # 2586) on :
i dunno about that html resume. if possible i'd send it as a pdf. That completely eliminates any issues with different versions of Word.
Also your school should have an office where you can get assistance on these things. Go there talk to them. You don't have to take their advice, but your paying big bucks to attend and they likely have some helpful advice.
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
Granted, HTML isn't going to give you the fanciest layout for your resumé, but for programming jobs it shows your boss one more thing that you can do. For non-programming jobs, with less tech-savvy HR depts., HTML requires the least amount of tinkering on the receiving end...no plug-ins to load.
We just went through the job-search thing with my wife, using HTML resumés attached to e-mails. We got two immediate responses, asking for interviews. Both commented on how quickly they were able view the resumé.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Just to elaborate on what Bob said...
For your education summary, here at school they suggest a format something like the following:
quote: Candidate for Bachelor of Science Civil Engineering (Structural Emphasis), Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Sept. 2003 – Present
(and I'm guessing on your entry date there)
My own resume is divided into Objective, Skills Summary, Work Experience, Volunteer Experience, Education, Other Certifications, Awards, and Activites and Interests (which you probably want to omit but is usually relevant to the jobs I apply to). Things like "good team player" and "excellent communication skills" can go under "Skills Summary" as well as any specialized information.
I'd suggest putting the names of your positions or whatnot in bold or italics to differentiate it from the details. It draws the eye to the most important information.
And someone else already said it, but make the font smaller and add more detail to the bullets. "Finite element analysis" doesn't sound very compelling.
I wish I could pare down my own resume. Co-op gives you great experience but makes things crowded.
[ April 01, 2004, 01:30 AM: Message edited by: Eaquae Legit ]
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Well I'm going through this trying to get it to look good. I'm using Kat's double columned stuff and I think it does look a little nicier, but it's also taking up more space. I haven't adressed re-writting my work experience section yet so who knows.
Skill, can you (or someone else) explain this more, I'm not quite sure what you mean:
quote:If you're going to be e-mailing your resume, do it up in HTML with super clean code (no MS-Word formatting junk). Send it as an attachment, rather than a link. Then it will load up real slick on your employer's browser.
Can you make that transfer to html really easily with some program or will I have to type this out again?
quote:When I hired programmers, I was interested in both the technical skills and the vertical market the experience was in. For programming, describe some of the projects you've written, even if only for school. List the project the finite element analysis is for and the intended use of the MEMS chips (assuming they have different use).
For example, "Developed MEMS accelerometers for airbag deployment, including researching, designing, and testing."
Ha, well I haven't started redoing that yet like I said, but it was pure reasearch. I was trying to create hugher-frequency thermal actuators, nto for a specific purpose but just as a general reasearch good idea. As in, it would be great to have higher frequency thermal actuators because they're easy to build, but they didn't have a specific application in mind for them.
quote:Use small, round bullets. You want the formatting to dissapear and the content to stand out.
The round bullets only come in one size as far as I can find... which is what I'm using now but...well, maybe when I get this done I'll post it up and see if that's what you mean.
quote:Also, take the programming languages off the courses list and on the skills list.
Even though they're both courses I took and a language I know?
quote:Listing relevent courses at your level isn't generally worth it unless the job you're applying for specifically says it requires certain courses. As a first year student what you've taken is probably the same as every other engineer. Of course, if you're taking upper year courses (say, because you did some AP courses in High School) feel free to leave them on if you think they're important.
Actually that's what I did, all those courses are either special courses (courses that I elected to take) or upper-level courses that no other freshman have taken.
quote:Also your school should have an office where you can get assistance on these things. Go there talk to them. You don't have to take their advice, but your paying big bucks to attend and they likely have some helpful advice.
I did, and they were pretty helpful, but not compared to this. What I put up was a result of their ideas.
Hobbes Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also, take the programming languages off the courses list and on the skills list. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Even though they're both courses I took and a language I know?
Hobbes, you have fallen victim to Katie's Classic Posting Error: I left out the verb.
Insert "leave it" before the on in the sentence above.
<sorry>
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Put job experience before education. Even as a college student, people will be more interested in any applicable experience you have.
I also would shrink it down a bit (font size). As a college student, it's okay to go a bit light (though you should continue as you have, and get internships/summer jobs at every opportunity to flesh it out.
-Bok
Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
As far as your courses go, I still think you shouldn't include all of them when you apply somewhere, just leave the relevant ones on and cut the rest out so your resume is tailored to the job you want. I'm pretty sure we're both on the same page on that regard though. I have a "master copy" of my resume that's around 3 pages that has everything I've ever done in great detail on it. When application time comes a hack away at it to get it down to 2 pages. It takes more time, but it's also treated me really well over the years.
On a totally unrelated note, I think my first post on this thread is the most rambling, mish-mashed, confused sounding thing I've ever posted. I love it Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Yeah, what Bob said. Particularly in the tech/engineering fields, which don't usually require cover letters, you should compensate for that by tailoring your resume for the particular job you are applying for, or at least job categories (in your case, programming or mech. eng.).
I have 2 resumes myself, one for programming, on for software QA. Different objectives, and I further modify it for relevant skills.
-Bok
Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :
Hobbes, about the HTML thing:
MS-Word allows you to save your document as an HTML file. That's an easy way to convert your resumé to a format that is viewable on a web browser. When your prospective employer receives your e-mail he/she can view your resumé directly on his/her browser or e-mail application, without having to select or load any other plug-ins or applications.
The problem with MS-Word is that it puts all kinds of metadata and crap in your HTML file. If you are applying for a programming job it's often a bonus if you know how to write HTML. You can demonstrate your ability by writing your resumé from scratch in HTML, without the MS-Word crap.
I know a couple of programmers who pride themselves on writing compact HTML code and who do all their documentation in HTML.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Real programmers document everything in i18n-compatible XML.
Sheesh.
-Bok
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Well I've taken to heart as much advice as I could and here we are. That directory has both my resume (still in Word format) and a zip file I've created with my better programs on them (the source code and the executable). There are only 3 programs on there so far, I plan on putting in more later.
As for the resume, something's look all right, but I'm sure you'll notice that the objective is still the same because I can't for the life of me think of a decent statment to put there.
Hobbes Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Make Relevant courses and Skills all separate headings under education, equal to the university.
And for the working for a company statement, you really don't need it. It's redundant to your purpose, and a shorter objective is more likely to be read.
Seriously, most resumes get seven seconds. That's right - SEVEN SECONDS. You do NOT want to make the reader work. Eliminate as many words as possible without truncating the meaning.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
I'm going to e-mail you. Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
I'm going to give you a hug. (((Kat))) Thanks so much!
Hobbes Posted by Bob the Lawyer (Member # 3278) on :
Hobbes, just a few more things that jumped out at me when I glanced over it.
You should have your anticipated graduation date somewhere in there. Right now you're implying you already have the degree.
When listing your work experience (which has already happened) use the past tense. So, if you've finished the job at the time of your resume you researched and designed something and if it's ongoing it's research and design of something. This means you're probably going to have to restructure some sentances (Built and constructed as a team sounds wonky).
Having the dates of your work experience on a seperate line but the same tab as your bullets makes the two blur together. I'd put it on the same line as the job, but now we're getting into personal preferences. I've you've fiddled with things and decided that looks the best, fair enough.
Again on the personal preference thing. This might just be the difference between an engineer craving efficiency and a scientist wasting resources, but I'd like some more white space between your experiences, probably just one hard return.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
There's a sentence in there that needs you to supply the nouns.
Added: oooo, I like what Bobble said about the dates.
*sees the hug* I'm glad you like it.
[ April 02, 2004, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Thanks you guys.
The reason I keep coming up with what really are wonky sentances for that second job is that describing what it really is makes me want to bury my head in the sand. We built a fence. Over a full summer we did nothing but build one stupid, sturdy, picket fence.
Hobbes Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Oh. Hmm. Yeah.
Was it a long fence? Is there any way to call it an "enclosure"?
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
No, and probably not. It was a really stupid job. They built in "team-building activities" that would sometimes involve playing tag of all things.
I suppose I may be able to call it an enclosure... possibly. Hmmm....
<--*Feels pathetic and wishes he had gotten a real job that summer*
Hobbes Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
It's fine. It's hilarious. I once spent a summer answering phones for about half hour a day.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I still don't agree with you giving the limelight to "Education" (by having it so high up). "Skills" should be showcased, then education is secondary. Skills don't necessarily mean paid experience either -- just showcase the skills you have.
Farmgirl
THIS is an older resume' of mine, not perfect, but to give you an idea of what I mean. (I won't leave the link on here long, since it has personal name/information)
[ April 02, 2004, 10:34 AM: Message edited by: Farmgirl ]
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
There's nothing wrong with building a fence - it's a worthy project.
Just describe your role in the fence-building. Did you direct people? Did you acquire materials? Did you measure, plan, design, or anything else?
Even if you just hammered nails, focus on the actions you took and the goal that was achieved because of them. If I recall correctly, this was a volunteer project. Stress that as well.
Dagonee
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
OK, I played around with it a little, and then decided I was only messing it up. Here it is in its final version (unless something as major as a spelling error or what not is found, I'm sending it out in a few minutes).
Thank-you everyone for your help, it means a lot to me.
Hobbes Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
I didn't proof for spelling or grammar, but it's much improved. Good job!
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I don't have time to change it tonight, or most likely tomorrow because of mid-terms, but I really appreciate your advice and I'll let you guys see the fruit of your labors when I have it done. Not that more comments aren't welcome. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Hail]](graemlins/hail.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
![[Group Hug]](graemlins/grouphug.gif)