A good resume is very important. It is designed to sell your talents to the prospective employer. It needs to be attractive. Two versions of the same resume are even better, one detailed and the other should only contain the basics.

The reason for writing two resumes is that the life span of it varies from several seconds up. It depends primarily on the method of selection of candidates for employment.

The resume should be organized by topic, and should always contain a minimum of the following:
Contact Information
Position Desired
Experience
Education

You should determine if your experience or your education is the stronger. That one should be listed first. Experience and education should be listed with the present or latest entry first, then work backwards.

The formats for both resumes should be identical. Contact information should go in the heading. The heading should be centered, and should simply list your name, mailing address, voice and fax phone numbers. There should be a little white space between topics. The font you use should be easy to read. Arial looks nice. Topic headings should be slighter larger than the paragraph text. Navy, Maroon, or dark green may be used for topic headers. Don't use red or any light colors. Text should be black or navy. Margins should be determined by the size of the resume. The brief resume should be less than a page in length, with the margins approximately equal all the way around. If there's room, each section should be surrounded by some white space. Formality is best here.

When a company looks to hire, they seek the most qualified for the available position. Often they place classified ads in newspapers and trade journals with a request to mail or fax a resume. This often results in a large number of resumes. The average life span of the resumes is about six seconds. What happens is that someone in personnel is charged with determining which resumes merit attention. Those that don't display desired qualifications usually are relegated to the round file on the floor. So, you want your resume to attract attention in the first several seconds.

At this point the company should only be interested in your qualifications. Each employment term should list the date in mm/yy format. Then the name of the company you worked for, and what your job title was. All periods of time should be accounted for. Try to avoid the term unemployed. Examples are in college, undergoing training, home remodeling, touring South America. But, don't lie by embellishing your work history with non-existent positions.

Under Education, again use the mm/yy format for dates. List the name of the institution, then a brief statement of course subject matter. Then list the certificate or diploma if you were awarded one. Time breaks are permitted here, and may even overlap periods of employment. If you studied part time, say so.

The last section should be a single line stating, A detailed resume is available on request.

Here's where you'll expand the brief resume. Make a copy of it and add pertinent information. Margins may be changed where needed, but use the same format.

In the employment history section, you'll want to describe performed duties. The address and telephone numbers of the former employer should be included here as well as the name of a supervisor. Starting and ending salaries should be included. Awards and commendations should go here also.

Expand the education section to show specifics studied. Include any academic honors. If your marks were high, say so.

In general, this is the resume that you'll present when applying in person. Say at an interview, or if you're making the rounds of locally owned computer shops. Sometimes a prospective employer will simply staple a copy of your resume to an application instead of having to fill out the complete form. Have an extra copy for this purpose.

You might want to add a section to serve as a personal statement. Marital status, hobbies, and such. Avoid political and religious issues. Mention that you have your own car if pertinent. You can also mention that you have your own tools and test equipment if that's the case and you want to use them.

Personal references may be included in addition to the occupational references listed in the employment section. You can draw from your list of customers and co-workers for these. About five should be ample.

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So you want to be an IT pro?

Where are all of the jobs?

Your Resume

Your Education

The Interview

Positions and Salaries

Clark Simmons
PO Box 293
Round Rock Texas 78680-0293 USA

512 246-2597 - Voice
512 246-1478 - Fax

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Created - November 13, 2000
Revised - November 23, 2002; Feb. 23, 2005

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