At Monmouth, the Writing Center and the Placement Office, which is part of the Center for Stu-
dent Success, provide help with creating resumes, cover letters, and Curricula Vitae (CV). The
resume is your way of marketing your skills to employers. As such, it presents your qualifications
and explains how these would be a good fit with employers’ human resource needs—all in about
one to one-and-a-half pages, while leaving enough space to make the material appear easy to
read.
For those seeking academic, scientific, and technical positions, a CV, a much longer document, details the
skills and accomplishments of importance in those fields. These documents are intended to be very detailed,
as they take an exhaustive look at the candidate’s achievements, degrees, certificates, research accomplish-
ments, patents, publications, or other relevant skills. Note, there are also important formatting differences be-
tween a standard resume and a CV.
Writing is all about audience; for a resume, some of that audience isn’t in human form. Many re-
sumes are scanned electronically, so it is very important that there be a match between an em-
ployer’s needs and the words you use to describe yourself. Some career experts suggest refining
your resume for each and every job listing, incorporating phrases that match those used in the ad-
vertisement or posting. This may mean you have several slightly different versions of your resume
in your electronic files, so it’s very important that key details, like job and academic histories,
match exactly.
FORMATTING TIPS:
Fonts should be Times New Roman, Arial,
or other easily readable fonts.
Convert your resume from a Word document to a PDF file to ensure proper format-
ting when e-mailing or uploading to a prospective employer. If you need assistance
with converting your file to PDF format, you may contact the Writing Center.
If you use bullets in your resume, consider also creating a version that has mini-
mal formatting and uses the above fonts. This can be offered when you are apply-
ing via a Web or e-mail interface in lieu of creating a PDF file.
Proofread multiple times for typos and unclear sentences or phrases. This sounds
simple, but numerous employers say they get many resumes and cover letters with
typos. Even a single typo conveys the wrong signal about you as a potential em-
ployee. At Monmouth, the Writing Center and the Placement Office offer resume
review services.
Students often find that their resumes are short on full-time job experience. However, that does
not mean that they haven’t had other types of meaningful experiences that potential employers
might find relevant.
Include courses that provided the skills the
employer is seeking, but also look beyond the
classroom.
Your extracurricular activities or volunteer
work also offered an opportunity to gain valua-
ble leadership skills.
Don’t overlook internships, part-time or summer work but explain how it is relevant to the job
you’re seeking. A summer job in a resort hotel may be of interest if you are applying for a hospi-
tality management job but less interesting to an employer in the financial services industry. How-
ever, if your summer job involved client contact, management or priorities, on a tight deadline,
or other transferable skills, these could be conveyed in a way that would impress a range of em-
ployers.
Focus on action verbs that convey value to
an organization—show how you either saved an
organization money, improved a process that
saved some other resource like time, or im-
proved customer satisfaction.
Be confident but truthful, and don’t exagger-
ate. Employers frown on any misstatements
made in connection with a job application. Even
if you get the job, trust is a major career asset.
Avoid vague phrases. Most jobs expect you to be mature, efficient, and responsible (or some
combination of the three). Explain your course work, job or internship responsibilities in a way
that shows how you exhibited these qualities.
Your Academic Achievements
Starting with your most recent college experience, document the colleges that you attended, the
degree(s) achieved, with date of graduation or your anticipated graduation. A GPA is usually not
required (with the exception of some public sector and government jobs) but should be mentioned
if it is of a high caliber and you’re a student or recent graduate. Don’t fudge GPA or academic
honors; they are relatively easy to catch.
References
Have a list of references typed and ready for an interview, but generally don’t include mention of
references on a resume. Most employers assume that you have professional references. Make
sure that your references have agreed to serve in that role, and keep them current on your
search. Be sure that they have enough knowledge of your work or college experience to provide
accurate information on request. Be sure to include:
• Names and titles
• Company name
• Addresses
• Phone numbers
• E-mail addresses
Your Online Image Counts, Too
Be aware that employers are increasingly looking to a wide range of sources to find out infor-
mation on applicants. If you have an account on social networking sites like Facebook.com or
MySpace.com, your comments could be found in an online search. Personal blogs and Web sites
are also accessible to potential employers. Many companies, not just those in security and finan-
cial services, look at credit scores in assessing applicants, so check your credit report for accura-
cy. Use a professional e-mail address for your job search (think [email protected], not
sexeeeLegs@monmouth.edu). Check the email account regularly so you don’t miss correspond-
ence.
For Your Safety
Fake job postings are a fact of life, and take several forms, from phishing scams to worthless work
-fr
om-home “opportunities.” Don’t provide confidential information, including a Social Security
number or scan of your driver’s license, in response to a job advertisement unless you have inves-
tigated the business and have gone through an interview. Don’t agree to perform financial trans-
actions or to accept merchandise as part of a job—many such “jobs” are fraudulent. Avoid jobs
that don’t clearly describe the nature of the work or the skills required. Be cautious about com-
panies that charge fees for services. While there are legitimate job-search services, there are al-
so businesses that charge inflated fees for services that are only minimally useful.
For a more detailed list of safety tips and popular scams, visit:
Monster.com
http://help.monster.com/besafe/
Resume and Cover Letter Basics Beyond Monmouth:
• The Online Writing Laboratory at Purdue University
https://owl.purdue.edu/
• The Writing Center at University of Wisconsin-Madison
https://writing.wisc.edu/
Services at Monmouth:
•
Career Development
https://www.monmouth.edu/career-development/
Last modified 9/15/09
