What is a Resume?

A resume is a short document that highlights your skills, accomplishments, and experiences in a concise and organized format.

Why Create a Resume for a Portfolio?

There are several reasons why adding your resume to your portfolio can be beneficial:

1. Meeting expectations: Resumes are an expected part of the career development process.
2. Professional presentation: Including a resume in your portfolio adds a level of professionalism and structure to your online presence.
3. Comprehensive overview:  By including a resume in your portfolio, you can offer visitors a quick snapshot of your qualifications making it easier for them to assess your suitability for various opportunities.
4. Ease of sharing and accessibility: With an online portfolio, you can easily share your resume with others by providing them with a link to your portfolio website. This makes it convenient for potential employers to access your resume.
5. Ease of forwarding: There are times when your mentor might want to forward your credentials and having your resume online makes it easier and more efficient. in addition, employers report that they often forward candidates’ information to friends they know who are looking to hire.

Getting Started

Collecting your materials and brainstorming is the first step in building a resume.

• Make a list of all your jobs, and volunteer experiences complete with dates and key duties.
• Do an occupation keyword search on O*NET OnLine and see ways to describe positions you have held.
• Look at the verb list and then write down all of them that apply to your experiences.
• Do an internet search for your career field and look at resumes to see the language used and formatting.

 

Taking the time to brainstorm and to get a feel for resume types in your field before you begin writing will help the process go smoother and with stronger results.

Sample Resumes

As you build your resume, it can be helpful to look at the resumes of others. When possible, look at the resumes of those from similar fields.

University of Arkansas, Career Connections: Sample resumes based on major.

Resume Samples from Harvard University

 

Know Your Audience

Generic resumes are seldom effective. Research the audience and the industry that will be viewing your portfolio and resume and pick headings and buzzwords that will appeal to that audience. Many career specialists use applicant tracking systems, a tool that searches for keywords in your resume and matches them to the positions available. Knowing and using industry keywords and using the proper headings will help you get your resume noticed. 

 

Beat the Bot: What You Need to Know About Applicant Tracking Systems

When writing your resume, you should consider bots–digital software as part of your audience. Many employers use applicant tracking systems to streamline their recruitment efforts. As a result, job seekers must be strategic when crafting their resumes to ensure their documents are optimized for Applicant Tracking System (ATS) compatibility. If an employer mentions specific skills in a job description, it’s safe to assume they want someone with those particular skills. Using “keywords” in your resume from the job posting will increase your resume’s chances of getting past the ATS, but it may also increase your chances of getting called in for an interview.  

When building your resume, you should consider the following:

• Always include keywords. Use the same language on your resume that is used in the job description.
• Use plain fonts: Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica
• Avoid tables and columns.
• Avoid headers and footers.
• Avoid textboxes.
• Use traditional headings like “Education” and “Work Experience.”
• Keep it plain. Avoid graphics and embellishments.
• Think about the essential skills for a job and make sure you include those.

Check Your Knowledge About Applicant Tracking Systems

 

Pick Your Resume Headings

Most employers either use applicant tracking systems or do a quick glance at resumes to look for crucial elements. If those elements are present, they may take a longer look. Your goal is to design your resume so that the important information is easily accessible. One way to do that is with headings. Your resume heading shines a spotlight on the main things that you want an employer to notice.  

Write About Your Education

Tailor your education section to highlight the most relevant information for the specific job or industry you are applying to. Prioritize details that showcase your qualifications and align with the employer’s requirements. You will want to put your education on your resume in a way that is easy to read.

• List your education in chronological order (put your most recent education first).
• List the degree, the college, and the city and state where you earned your degree.
• In a 2019 study from NACE, only 37% of employers surveyed use GPAs to screen candidates. Because of this, there are different schools of thought about the need to include your GPA or not. If it is 3.0 or above, I would suggest you include it.
• You can put your grade point average in your major if it is higher than your overall grade point.
• If you are in your last two semesters of college, you can write “expected date of graduation.”
• If you are in your first few years of college, you can put “studying” or “majoring in.” (Never make it look like you have a degree if you haven’t earned one yet).
• You may list specific courses if they highlight skills you possess that relate to the job posting. 
• Once you are in college, you no longer need to mention high school.
• If you have been out of school for a few years and have some relevant work experience, include your education section underneath your professional experience.
• If you graduated recently and your education is your most relevant experience, put your education section at the top of your resume.
• Most people include honors and study abroad in your education section.
• If you have many specialized training, certifications, or licenses list them in a separate section or include them with your education. Be sure to include the certifying or licensing organizations and the dates of validity for your credential. 

Examples of Different Ways to Include Education on Your Resume

(click below to expand each item. This information is also included at the end of the chapter for those using the pdf version of the book)

Honors and Certifications

When it comes to honors and awards, you need to decide which to include and how to report them.  

Summary of Qualifications, Skills, or Professional Profile

A well-written summary of qualifications or professional profile section can be used to quickly showcase your relevant skills, strengths, or qualifications for a specific position in a short, clear section right at the beginning of your resume. It can also be a surefire way to capture the reader’s interest. Hiring managers save time and energy usually spent reading through the entire resume by reading the highlighted qualifications in the summary and can get a basic understanding of what a candidate can offer their company or organization. It is also a great place to include keywords from the job posting which will increase your resume’s chances of getting past the Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).

The summary or profile section usually includes a bulleted list of three to five key strengths, skills, or experiences that make you qualified for a position or industry. It usually lists skills, strengths, or other qualifications that are based on “hard skills” not necessarily “soft skills”. Hard skills are specific teachable abilities based on facts. Either you’re fluent in another language or you aren’t. You either obtained a certificate or you didn’t. You either know a particular software program or you don’t. These are based on facts and are good for a summary or profile section. Soft skills on the other hand are subjective and based on opinion. They are often associated with personal attributes and character. Examples include motivated team player, strong communicator, hard worker, and detail-oriented. These are skills that anyone can list on a resume and are considered cliché. A recruiter or hiring manager wants to see proof of these skills as opposed to just lists of them. Employers see these phrases repeatedly, and they don’t bring as much impact as actual hard skills. Soft skills are best used within your work experience descriptions to describe the type of work you are doing or did. If you do decide to use soft skills in this section, remember to provide some evidence of the skills listed by using numbers and percentages to demonstrate accomplishments and impact.

Tips for Writing a Good Summary of Qualifications or Profile:

• Read the job posting thoroughly to understand the key requirements, skills, qualifications, and responsibilities of the position.
• Identify and highlight the specific keywords and phrases that are relevant to the job. These may include hard skills such as technical skills, certifications, languages in which you are fluent, job titles, industry-specific terms and soft skills.
• Next, identify the relevant qualifications and skills you possess or can demonstrate. If you have already done this for your experience section, you are ready to create a 3-6 summarized bulleted list of your hard skills or quantifiable soft skills that match those found in the job posting.
• Tailor the section for each position for which you are applying.