It is important to keep in mind that this is a supplement to the Career Placement Manual, not a substitute. Use the worksheets on this page to help you prepare for creating your resume. You can then use the Career Placement Manual to help you decide which resume and cover letter is best for you.
Getting Started
- Make sure your resume is accurate! If you think you do not meet every requirement for a certain job, do not lie on your resume to get the interview. Many job descriptions are the company's best case scenario - NOT the only qualifications. The best thing you can do is be honest on your resume and turn in the application. The worst they can do is say no. But if it's later discovered you lied to get your job there is a good chance you would be fired and you will most certainly lose your Aggie Job Link privileges.
- Don't combine GPA's. If you are a transfer student or attended multiple schools, DO NOT combine your GPA's. If you list your GPA you must list them separately for each institution you attended. Also, most people don't know this but transcripts listed in sisweb automatically combine your gpa. Make sure you quote the separate GPA's because your official transcripts will ONLY post your UC Davis GPA.
- Come see us! Not sure what to do? Don't know if you should include something in your resume? Come by and ask an advisor. We're here to help you.
Creating a Noticeable Resume
Your resume is a powerful marketing tool (perhaps the most powerful) in getting interviews. In many cases, it (and your cover letter) can be your only tool for getting your foot in the door of major companies. To make your resume stick out in the sometimes thousands of unsolicited resumes popular companies receive weekly, you should make it clear, concise, appealing, and informative. Your objective is to communicate what makes you stand out above other candidates. In short, you want to write a resume that will actually get read, and will stick in the mind of the person reading.
The first step in the recipe for creating great resumes is listing all the "ingredients." Grab a pen and paper and answer the following questions; or, fill in the boxes and print this form. Keep in mind that anything typed beyond the scrollbars will not print.
Many people don't think they have any resume material to list. Even if you're still an undergraduate, or have barely finished college, chances are you have a lot of good material to put on your resume to make employers notice you. The following excercises will help you thoroughly assess your professional abilities, technical skills, personal atributes, experiences, and accomplishments.
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What are my major skills and abilities?
Look for relevant "life skills" that are transferable and can be used in a variety of different employment settings. Examples of these skills are organizational, analytical, time management, leadership and communication skills. To begin, think about situations in which you have appplied these skills. Some experiences you may want to consider are: putting yourself through college (part-time and full-time jobs), military service, unique college experiences (were you ever a resident advisor or peer counselor), clubs, fraternities and sororities, sports, etc....list as many as you can.
What are my technical or field-specific skills and abilities?
List skills and qualities that will meet employers' needs, such as computer applications (list all), computer programming, cash handling experience, clerical duties, bilingual communication, customer service, conflict mediation, management skills, etc.
What are my important personal attributes? How can I relate them to the job force?
Employers look for distinguishing characteristics that tell them you can handle situations that occur on a daily basis in their industry. These situations may involve dealing with high pressure situations, having a high energy level, willingness to assume responsibility, conflict mediation, and dedication. It is important to not only list your experiences, but also how they have contributed to your achievements.
Can't think of any? Did you play any sports? Were you in any clubs? Did you hold any positions in those sports or clubs? What types of projects did your clubs and organizatins do? What was your role in these projects? Were you active in church? Did your club/organization/church do any charity work? What was the result of this work? What was your role in this?
Make a 3 column list of your personal attributes, relevance to your job performance, and the place or situation that they occured.
Personal Attributes
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How they relate to your job performance
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Place or situation in which they occured
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What are my important achievements?
Nothing speaks louder about you than your accomplishments. Along side your skills, one of the first things an employer looks at is your achievements. Identify at least 3 accomplishments for each example or situation you listed above. Your responses in this section may help you identify challenges and problems you have faced and overcome. Take pride in your solutions and be prepared to list and discuss them.
I'm not sure what I've done that's noteworthy...
Not sure of some of the things you've done? Here are some ideas that may help you "get the gears moving." List as many items as you can for each question.
- What can I do that's better, faster, or cheaper than other people?
- Have I ever achieved results with little or no supervision?
- Have I ever increased membership/participation, sales, donations, or use?
- Have I ever accepted more responsibility or taken on projects outside what was required?
- Have I ever saved my organization/fraternity/club/team/church any money or eliminated waste and inefficiency?
- When have I demonstrated good leadership skills or exhibited good team-player skills?
- Have I ever helped someone identify and/or solve problems?
- When have I maintained a consistently high-level of performance?
- Have I ever created new methods or systems and procedures? What about the time when I created a database for all of my fraternity's donations, contributions, and charitable acts?
- Have I ever refined the nature of an existing task?
- Have I ever suggested a new service, product or project; and has that suggestion been accepted?
- Have I ever reorganized or improved an existing system?
- Have I ever tutored anyone? Did their grades improve?
- What new goals and objectives have I established?
- Have I ever trained or supervised another person/group? What were the results?
- Have I ever lead a sub-group of any of the organizations I've been in? What about that church youth group I lead for a year? How about the time I took charge of all the advertising and recruiting for the Fall Rush of my Sorority?
- Have I ever accomplished something others could not?
- Have I ever coordinated an event or project? Was I ever a team leader?
- Do I motivate others?
Don't forget to emphasize your results. Emphasizing and quantifying your results gives prospective employers a sense of how you went about an assignment or project and the end-result of your actions. A quick way to get a prospective employe
rs attention is by showing them the "bottom line."
"Why would companies be interested in this information?" you ask? Consider how this sounds: "Organized all fraternity charity events, resulting in contributions of over $6,000.00" versus "Organized all fraternity charity events." Another example: "Developed diplomacy and descretion in dealing with customers in a fast-paced environment" as opposed to "Sales clerk."
Do I need to priortize my skills?
The next step in creating a great resume is priortizing your skills. To do this, you must first identify your primary career objectives. You can then decide which skills and experiences to emphasize and which ones to omit. If you are still unsure about a career decision, consult one of the counselors in the Internship and Career Center. They can help you come to a decision.
Ideally, each resume you produce will be tailored to fit the specific job you are applying for. This is not always possible however. In situations where this is not possible, target your resume toward your primary career/job objective. You can then use your coverletter to emphasize or add job-specific skills.
Primary Career Objective
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List the principal abilities, skills, attributes and experiences desired by employers in this field.
Abilities
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Skills
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Attributes
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Experiences
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Now you have the ingredients for a great resume. The next step in this recipe is deciding what type of resume you want to use. For more information on creating resumes, curriculum vitaes, and cover letters, along with some really good examples, click here or come talk to a coordinator or student advisor.
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Power Verbs
Power verbs, such as those listed below, are words that leap off resumes and letters and tell the reader what you do without being passive. "I saw the doctor do surgery" becomes "I observed surgical techniques". "I took the animal's temperature" becomes "I monitored animal health." Power verbs show that you learned valuable experience from mundane tasks.
Power Verbs for Your Resume
Management Skills |
Accelerated |
Adjusted |
Administrated |
Admitted |
Advanced |
Allowed |
Amended |
Analyzed |
Appointed |
Apprised |
Ascertained |
Assigned |
Attained |
Bolstered |
Chaired |
Conducted |
Consolidated |
Contracted |
Coordinated |
Dedicated |
Delegated |
Designated |
Developed |
Directed |
Employed |
Empowered |
Evaluated |
Executed |
Fostered |
Hired |
Improved |
Increased |
Interceded |
Interviewed |
Led |
Organized |
Oversaw |
Planned |
Prioritized |
Produced |
Realized |
Recommended |
Regulated |
Reinforced |
Reviewed |
Revived |
Sanctioned |
Scheduled |
Streamlined |
Strengthened |
Supervised |
Valued |
|
Communication Skills |
Addressed |
Admitted |
Aided |
Apprised |
Arbitrated |
Arranged |
Articulated |
Attested |
Authored |
Collaborated |
Composed |
Comfirmed |
Convinced |
Corresponded |
Deciphered |
Developed |
Directed |
Drafted |
Edited |
Elicited |
Enlisted |
Formulated |
Influenced |
Indicated |
Inferred |
Interpreted |
Lectured |
Mediated |
Moderated |
Negotiated |
Persuaded |
Promoted |
Publicized |
Reconciled |
Recruited |
Reinforced |
Related |
Served |
Smoothed |
Solicited |
Spoke |
Suggested |
Translated |
Transmitted |
Updated |
Verified |
Wrote |
|
|
Research Skills |
Acquired |
Attested |
Certified |
Clarified |
Collected |
Compared |
Concluded |
Consulted |
Critiqued |
Deciphered |
Diagnosed |
Elicited |
Evaluated |
Examined |
Extracted |
Identified |
Inspected |
Interpreted |
Interviewed |
Investigated |
Judged |
Organized |
Queried |
Questioned |
Raised |
Related |
Reported |
Reviewed |
Scrutinized |
Sought |
Studied |
Submitted |
Summarized |
Supplemented |
Surveyed |
Synthesized |
Systematized |
Tailored |
Updated |
Verified |
|
Technical Skills |
Activated |
Added |
Adjusted |
Advanced |
Altered |
Assembled |
Built |
Calculated |
Charted |
Computed |
Constructed |
Converted |
Debugged |
Deciphered |
Designed |
Devised |
Engineered |
Fabricated |
Formatted |
Maintained |
Mobilized |
Modernized |
Modified |
Operated |
Overhauled |
Programmed |
Rated |
Refined |
Remedial |
Remodeled |
Repaired |
Secured |
Solved |
Streamlined |
Submitted |
Supplemented |
Synthesized |
Traced |
Transmitted |
Updated |
Upgraded |
Verified |
|
|
|
Teaching Skills |
Accomplished |
Acquired |
Adapted |
Advanced |
Advised |
Allowed |
Authored |
Clarified |
Coached |
Communicated |
Cooperated |
Coordinated |
Correlated |
Demystified |
Developed |
Enabled |
Encouraged |
Evaluated |
Explained |
Facilitated |
Fostered |
Guided |
Informed |
Instructed |
Licensed |
Persuaded |
Prescribed |
Regarded |
Reinforced |
Reported |
Served |
Set Goals |
Settled |
Stimulated |
Studied |
Substantiated |
Trained |
|
|
|
|
Financial Skills |
Accomodated |
Acquired |
Activated |
Added |
Adjusted |
Administered |
Advanced |
Allocated |
Allowed |
Alleviated |
Analyzed |
Appraised |
Approximated |
Audited |
Balanced |
Budgeted |
Calculated |
Charted |
Computed |
Devaluate |
Developed |
Disbursed |
Eased |
Endorsed |
Enumerated |
Estimated |
Figured |
Forecasted |
Indicated |
Managed |
Marketed |
Planned |
Projected |
Raised |
Rejuvenated |
Reported |
Researched |
Sanctioned |
Secured |
Solicited |
Substantiated |
Supplemented |
Sustained |
Tailored |
Transacted |
Updated |
Valued |
Verified |
|
Creative Skills |
Accomodated |
Acted |
Added |
Adjusted |
Alleviated |
Altered |
Articulated |
Brainstormed |
Commissioned |
Compared |
Composed |
Conceptualized |
Constructed |
Created |
Customized |
Designed |
Developed |
Directed |
Displayed |
Envisioned |
Established |
Fashioned |
Founded |
Illustrated |
Improvised |
Initiated |
Innovated |
Inspired |
Instituted |
Integrated |
Introduced |
Invented |
Modeled |
Originated |
Performed |
Planned |
Refined |
Rejuvenated |
Revamped |
Revitalized |
Revived |
Shaped |
Smoothed |
Suggested |
Tailored |
Updated |
Visualized |
|
|
Helping Skills |
Accelerated |
Accomplished |
Adjusted |
Aided |
Ameliorated |
Assessed |
Assisted |
Brainstormed |
Clarified |
Coached |
Consented |
Contributed |
Consulted |
Cooperated |
Counseled |
Guided |
Demonstrated |
Diagnosed |
Educated |
Enhanced |
Estimated |
Expedited |
Extended |
Extracted |
Facilitated |
Familiarized |
Guaranteed |
Guided |
Held |
Helped |
Involved |
Justified |
Lightened |
Motivated |
Procured |
Rectified |
Referred |
Rehabilitated |
Relieved |
Remedied |
Represented |
Reserved |
Served |
Smoothed |
Suggested |
Updated |
Verified |
|
|
Clerical or Detail Skills |
Accomodated |
Aided |
Approved |
Arranged |
Catalogued |
Charted |
Classified |
Collected |
Compiled |
Composed |
Contributed |
Delivered |
Dispatched |
Executed |
Exercised |
Generated |
Implemented |
Indexed |
Inspected |
Issued |
Linked |
Measured |
Minimized |
Monitored |
Operated |
Organized |
Polished |
Prepared |
Processed |
Purchased |
Queried |
Rated |
Recorded |
Reserved |
Retrieved |
Screened |
Scrutinized |
Settled |
Specified |
Submitted |
Systematized |
Tabulated |
Validated |
|
|
Verbs for Accomplishments |
Accomplished |
Achieved |
Advanced |
Alleviated |
Amended |
Augmented |
Authored |
Boosted |
Centralized |
Certified |
Committed |
Conducted |
Eclipsed |
Elevated |
Empowered |
Enlarged |
Enriched |
Excelled |
Expanded |
Finalized |
Fulfilled |
Grew |
Improved |
Launched |
Multiplied |
Orchestrated |
Pioneered |
Realized |
Rectified |
Reduced |
Reformed |
Relieved |
Resolved |
Restored |
Revamped |
Revived |
Satisfied |
Spearheaded |
Streamlined |
Substantiated |
Synthesized |
Transformed |
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Updated 9-Jan-08 by Ken Barnes of Liberal Arts & Business
Room 211, South Hall. 530.752.2011.
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