How to Write a Resume for Your First Job
Writing a resume for your first job requires patience, attention
to detail, and a little creativity. All job seekers need a
strong resume if they want to compete for the best jobs. But
while seasoned professionals can rely on their experience to
generate initial interest from prospective employers,
individuals hitting the job market for the first time do not
have such a luxury. New professionals, therefore, need to work
even harder to sell themselves to managers.
To start your resume, you will need to select a resume format. A
functional resume is usually the best choice for a new
professional, since it allows you to present your qualifications
by functional skills as opposed to purely chronological job
order. Since your work history will be brief, if not
non-existent, you want to place the emphasis on your skills and
knowledge.
Layout of a Functional Resume: The layout you select for your
resume should attract attention and create interest, but not
detract from your overall presentation. Use of capitalization,
bold lettering, underlining, indentations, different fonts, and
white space can add variety to your resume and emphasize
important information. The layout should be consistent
throughout the individual sections of the resume, be visually
appealing, and be easy for the reader to follow. A functional
resume has several parts, which are typically included in this
order: Name and Contact Information Objective Statement
Education Key Skills and Qualifications Work Experience
Additional parts may include a section for Awards and Honors or
References.
Name and Contact Information
You should include your name, full address, telephone number
with area code, and email address (if applicable) at the very
top of your resume. If you are currently residing at a temporary
address, such as a student's college address, you may include it
in addition to your permanent address depending on the
circumstances.
Objective Statement
If you choose to include an objective statement, it should be a
concise and meaningful statement that describes your career
goals in detail. An objective can include your goals in regards
to your desired position title, industry, level of
responsibility, and desired utilized skills. The elements
included in your objective should be reinforced and supported
throughout your resume and your cover letter.
A major mistake that many new professionals make is that they
use a generalized objective statement. This is due to the fact
that many men and women new to the workforce may not necessarily
know what they are seeking in a position. They fear that by
limiting the scope of the objective, that they are knocking
themselves out of the running for positions that do not neatly
match their objective - positions that they might otherwise be
interesting in pursuing.
While this is true in some cases, it is advisable to either keep
your objective focused and narrow, or completely leave it off
your resume. A weak, unfocused objective in effect says nothing
and will actually detract from your overall presentation.
Education
If you have a college degree, you should position the Education
section near the top of your resume before your Key Skills and
Qualifications. If you do not have a degree, the Education
section should follow your Key Skills and Qualifications.
Your highest level of education achieved, whether you completed
the program or not, should be the first listed in this section.
All other schools you attended should follow.
For each individual school, list the following: Name of the
school Dates you attended or graduated Degrees earned (or degree
program you were in, if not completed) Major and minor subject
areas
You may also list any honors, awards, Dean's list commendations,
and GPAs if they will enhance this section of your resume. Any
certifications or completed training courses that that are
relevant to the position you are seeking should also be included.
Newer graduates can include a list of completed courses that are
directly relevant to the type of position you are seeking. For
example, a newly graduated Accounting major may want to
highlight her course in Financial Accounting, Management
Accounting, and Tax Accounting.
You should only include high school information if you do not
have a college degree or if you achieved high commendation in
some area that reinforces your career objectives.
Key Skills and Qualifications
This is the most critical section of a functional resume. The
Skills section of your resume should highlight any relevant
skills that might not otherwise be disclosed on your resume.
This section will be highly individualized to both the person
and the position they are seeking.
First, identify the key skills relevant to the type of position
you are seeking. Some examples of key skills include customer
relations, graphic design, marketing, leadership, and computer
technology skills. It may be necessary to develop several
different versions of your resume so that you are able
effectively market yourself to a variety of jobs.
Next, rank the key skills in order of importance - you want the
most important skill to appear at the top of your skills list.
Then, under each of these key skill categories, include any
information about yourself that demonstrates how you possess
this skill. You can draw from any work experience, volunteer
experience, schooling, extracurricular activities, or any other
area as appropriate. As with the key skills themselves, rank
this in order of importance so that the most relevant examples
appear first.
Examples of key skills with supporting documentation are as
follows:
Research Designed questionnaire to assess customer needs
Identified sample population to be included in the study Drafted
analysis plan Prepared survey results report and presented the
results to the study team
Marketing and Distribution Developed layout and organization of
merchandise for a 25-page giftware catalog Maintained accurate,
up-to-date computer records of merchandise inventory, suppliers,
customers, and shipping vendors. Handled all facets of order
receipt, processing, and fulfillment
Work Experience
Since you are new to the workforce, employers do not expect you
to have much in terms of work experience. This section should be
very brief. You should not provide any details of your
responsibilities and accomplishments in this section (these
should have been included under Key Skills and Qualifications).
Instead, simply list your job title, the name of the employer,
the location of the position, and your dates of employment.
Other Optional Sections:
Honors and Awards: List any career, academic, leadership or
athletic honors you have received. Academic awards may
alternatively be listed under the Education section of the
resume.
References: You may include a statement declaring "References
Available upon Request" if you need to fill space on your
resume. Otherwise you should list references in a separate
document. References should typically only be provided when
requested or once it is clear that the competition for a
position is narrowing. Do not include specific reference names
or contact information on your resume.
Other Categories: If there is additional information that you
feel is important to include butt does not fit into any of these
categories, you can create custom categories. Examples of custom
categories may include Background, Professional Activities, and
Recitals/Art Shows.