Employment Portal
Writing a Resumé - What to include
Name/Contact Details: Your permanent address, telephone number and e-mail address
if you have one. Resumés may be kept on file with a company for up to 12 months
and they may want to get in touch with you in the future.
Personal Details: Personal details can be placed at the beginning or end of
the document. If you have a home page/website then include this here.
Education: Give places of education where you have studied - most recent education
first. Include subject options taken in each year of your course. Include grades,
any higher education courses. If you are still at college/university or are
doing any kind of course relevant to the job then state what you are doing,
when you will be finished etc..
Work Experience: Last position first (dates), including your title/position
and company name. Detail your responsibilities and achievements. Include any
voluntary work and work placements you did at school.
Additional Skills: Regional Studies, Project, Analytical. If you have specific
computer, foreign language, typing, or other technical skills, consider highlighting
them by giving them their own category— even if they don’t relate
directly to the occupation you’re pursuing.
Personal Interests: Limit this information but look at what it is saying about
you (solitary individual or team player). Don`t go in to hobbies that have no
interest to the position unless you have wrote articles and had them published,
have been a captain of some kind of sport.
Referees: Only include - 3 maximum. Ensure at least one is an existing or a
previous manager - provide details on company division, job title & telephone/e-mail
contact details.
Selecting a Resumé format
Chronological: Work history in chronological date order (last position first).
It shows no gaps or changes in career and is useful for a continuous work history
which is related to your next job opportunity.
Functional: Highlights certain skills, achievements and responsibilities rather
than chronological listing work history. Good for career changing, periods of
unemployment, redundancy or general gaps in work history such as illness. Also
useful for repetitious job titles.
Targeted: A one off Resumé targeted for a specific job or vacancy. It focuses on
what you can do and your potential. Unlike chronological or targeted which focus
on past work, it can be useful for a specific position
The length of your Resumé
A long Resumé is difficult for a recruiter to digest and retain; and, given the
volume of Resumés many recruiters receive, long Resumés are often ignored. Although
rules about length are more flexible than they once were, general guidelines
still exist.
If you are a student use a one page Resumé
other workers use one or two pages,
and the very experienced use three-four pages. If your Resumé doesn’t match
this pattern, it probably contains unnecessary words or irrelevant information.
Eliminate anything that does not help prove you’re qualified for the job.
Presentation
Use plain English don`t try and impress with big words that will just use up
valuable space
Use good quality paper: Your Resumé maybe forwarded to another office or department
so do not use very thick paper as it can jam faxes or photocopiers.
Where possible, use a good quality printer and print on one side of the paper
only
Avoid long sentences
Overall appearance: a Resumé should be visually pleasing and easy to read - bold
headings, use indentations and bullets where applicable. Avoid excessive use
of capital letters, underlining, bold or italics. Avoid lots of white space
- or very wide margins.
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