Resume Workshop FBLA

FBLA 3/25/24 Intro to Creating an Effective Resume

• Purpose of a resume
• Preparing to write your resume
• Resume content areas
• Resume format
• What to include and exclude

Overview

• A resume is your introduction to the employer to review in under 10 seconds
• A resume is a one (or two for highly qualified candidates) page summary of your education, skills, experience and accomplishments
• As a HS student, ONE page is totally fine!

A resume gets you the interview so you can get the job! You're marketing yourself! Why should they pick you over someone else?

What Is a Resume?

The differences between CVs and resumes are the length, purpose, and layout

• Curriculum Vitæ, (which means course of life in Latin)
• CV is an in-depth document that can be laid out over two or more pages and contains high levels of detail about your achievements, much more than a career biography.
• CV covers your education as well as other accomplishments like publications, awards, honors etc.
• Resume, or résumé,
• A concise document typically not longer than one page to two pages as reader will not dwell on your document for very long.
• The goal of a resume is to make an individual stand out from the competition.

Curriculum Vitæ (CV) versus Resume

• Name & Contact information
• Education
• Skills
• Experience

• Employment Experience
• Volunteer Experience
• Activities & Honors / Professional Memberships/Certifications/Other trainings, etc.
• References *

Resume Content - Basic Section Titles

Education

Example: Commonwealth Charter Academy, Harrisburg PA High School Diploma, expected - June 2024 GPA 3.45 (optional)

• List most current education first
• Include major if college grad/HS just use the name of your HS
• Anticipated graduation date
• GPA if over 3.0

• Skills can be technical (hard) skills and soft skills
• Skill examples
• Technical skills: MS Office Suite, Computer Programming, Language Proficiency, Social Media expertise.
• Soft skills: communication, teamwork, leadership, and management skills, creativity
• Employers know what the skills are so labeling the skills is not necessary

• Listing skills one after another separated by commas will save space and provide the employer reviewer a quicker and cleaner view of skills

Skills

• List paid & unpaid experiences related to career path
• List organization, position, location, and dates
• List in reverse chronological order
• Use past tense for previous positions
• Start each description with an action verb and ensure all descriptions are full statements

Experience Format

• The skill sets identified in the Skills section should be integrated into the Experience section
• Employers want to see how an applicant has used the skills and to what extent the skill is developed
• Describe your responsibilities and accomplishments
• What did you do?
• How did you do it?
• What was the purpose?
• What was the result?
• Do NOT use pronouns such as I, my, me, etc.

Experience Tips

Experience Tips

• Students with few paid positions can use non-paid experiences
• Unpaid internships
• Projects (group or individual)
• Relevant and significant course assignments
• Volunteer activities
• Use same format for non-paid experiences as paid work experience

Activities, Honors, Memberships, etc.

• clubs, sports, student government, honor roll, etc.

• Special scholarships – exclude amount
• Awards/Honors/Achievements--FBLA awards?
• List most relevant activities such as professional associations or honor societies first
• Other training/Certifications

References

• References are people whom the employer could contact to say that you are a good worker, responsible, a good person, reliable, and hardworking.
• These are NEVER relatives or friends your own age.
• You should have at least 3 references.
• One reference should be your instructor, but you ALWAYS need to ASK these people to be references for you.
• Include Name, Title of the Person, address, phone number and email if they have it.

Resume Basics

• Resumes should be clean, clear & concise

• Easy to read & align visually
• Resume length can be up to two pages with relevant and significant information determining the overall length
• Determine what skills and achievements are necessary, and keep only those that are relevant and significant to the job you are seeking

SPELL CHECK!!!!!

Do's and Don ts

• Do include all relevant experience
• Do use a legible font face and size
• Do use bulleted lists
• Don’t include your SSN, Photo, etc.
• Don’t use more than two fonts
• Don’t put references on the resume – create a separate sheet **
• Don’t use excessive bold face/italics or an ink color other than black

Layout Samples

CCA Layout Sample

No Experience Samples

• A customized letter to introduce yourself to the employer
• Provide enhanced details about your qualifications but do not copy resume content
• Point out specific experiences which are relevant for the position
• Do not insert assumptions that you are the ideal candidate or the perfect fit
• A cover letter does not need to be lengthy and should not exceed a short one page

Cover Letters

Questions?