Resume Forum

[emkay625]

Hi everybody- seeking resume feedback.

It's in Google doc form here. The Google doc deleted some of the formatting, so sorry it's visually a little hard to read now. Feedback of all kinds is appreciated.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qZe ... t?hl=en_US

[JamMasterJ]

I'd remove the first sentence from the TFA blurb. They know what the process is. Also, get rid of "prestigious" in the next sentence

[emkay625]

I'd remove the first sentence from the TFA blurb. They know what the process is. Also, get rid of "prestigious" in the next sentence

Done. Thanks.

[bdubs]

You have two positions that are XX-Present, but neither indicate that they are part-time.

PS - I would ask people not to quote revealing info, your resume has a lot of it.

[thederangedwang]

as a rice owl i'd like to say tuck fexas!...jk..there a few things i would have done differently (stylistic ones) but they are small....

the only major one is that i would recommend u break up the paragraphs into bullet points...nobody is gonna read a paragraph of description, but they will read 3 or 4 succinct, to-the-point, and atten-grabbing bullets

[JamMasterJ]

You have two positions that are XX-Present, but neither indicate that they are part-time.

PS - I would ask people not to quote revealing info, your resume has a lot of it.

It's pretty well known from her posting history that she's a TFA'er, so it's really not a big deal to mention

[bdubs]

You have two positions that are XX-Present, but neither indicate that they are part-time.

PS - I would ask people not to quote revealing info, your resume has a lot of it.

It's pretty well known from her posting history that she's a TFA'er, so it's really not a big deal to mention

I meant that you can figure out exactly who she is by certain info on her resume, that info is not the TFA position.

Hint: Don't list publications on resumes distributed on the internet

[emkay625]

You have two positions that are XX-Present, but neither indicate that they are part-time.

PS - I would ask people not to quote revealing info, your resume has a lot of it.

Oooooooo thank you. One of those definitely ended in May 2010. That would have been bad.

[emkay625]

Other question:

My resume does not list nearly all of my work experience. It just contains all of my WE since graduating. It does not contain 3 internships and 3 part time jobs I had in college. Is it worth shortening the other sections to include this or no?

[Richie Tenenbaum]

1) Why no GPA listed? Is it low?
2) Bullet points are your friend. Nobody wants to read a big block of a paragraph on a resume.
3) You really should try to get this down to one page.

[Danteshek]

I like it.

But I wonder why you are thinking about law school.

[JamMasterJ]

I like it.

But I wonder why you are thinking about law school.

that doesn't need to be addressed by the resume

[emkay625]

1) Why no GPA listed? Is it low?
2) Bullet points are your friend. Nobody wants to read a big block of a paragraph on a resume.
3) You really should try to get this down to one page.

1. Yup. Low.
2. Agreed. Will fix.
3. It is one page in Microsoft Word. Google Docs messes it all up and the spacing looks funny in Google Docs too.

[emkay625]

I like it.

But I wonder why you are thinking about law school.

Many, many reasons.

[emkay625]

There's lots of other stuff I left out as well - all of my college extracurriculars except speech, for instance. But I figured I'd rather be able to to talk about the one that matters than be able to list membership in 4 others that are pretty darn generic.

Also, I'm near-fluent in German, have a lot of interesting graphic design/Web skills, and a long resume as a performer, but just don't have room to even mention that in a little skills section.

Am I right to go in-depth with what I have and leave this stuff out? Or should I shorten everything on there for the sake of being able to add all of this other stuff?

[SisterRayVU]

1) Why no GPA listed? Is it low?
2) Bullet points are your friend. Nobody wants to read a big block of a paragraph on a resume.
3) You really should try to get this down to one page.

1. Yup. Low.
2. Agreed. Will fix.
3. It is one page in Microsoft Word. Google Docs messes it all up and the spacing looks funny in Google Docs too.

I thought so too, but the examples on the Harvard site that everyone says to use don't have bullet points???

[SisterRayVU]

There's lots of other stuff I left out as well - all of my college extracurriculars except speech, for instance. But I figured I'd rather be able to to talk about the one that matters than be able to list membership in 4 others that are pretty darn generic.

Also, I'm near-fluent in German, have a lot of interesting graphic design/Web skills, and a long resume as a performer, but just don't have room to even mention that in a little skills section.

Am I right to go in-depth with what I have and leave this stuff out? Or should I shorten everything on there for the sake of being able to add all of this other stuff?

I think I'd lose the Humane society exp in favor of putting an extra line like "Other Activities/Skills/whateverididotherstuffandididnthaveroombutyoullknowaboutit: Near fluent in German, Humane society volunteer, extracurricular 1 2 and 3"

[omega918]

There's lots of other stuff I left out as well - all of my college extracurriculars except speech, for instance. But I figured I'd rather be able to to talk about the one that matters than be able to list membership in 4 others that are pretty darn generic.

Also, I'm near-fluent in German, have a lot of interesting graphic design/Web skills, and a long resume as a performer, but just don't have room to even mention that in a little skills section.

Am I right to go in-depth with what I have and leave this stuff out? Or should I shorten everything on there for the sake of being able to add all of this other stuff?

I think I'd lose the Humane society exp in favor of putting an extra line like "Other Activities/Skills/whateverididotherstuffandididnthaveroombutyoullknowaboutit: Near fluent in German, Humane society volunteer, extracurricular 1 2 and 3"

I agree with this. I think it just shows a little more about you as a whole person, and provides more opportunities for someone reading your resume to understand you on a more personal level. Otherwise, I like it.

I also struggled with the bullet/paragraph debate, and opted for bullets. I just think they look cleaner and easier to read, and you can more readily scan it and find all the action verbs of what you have done. I think either are acceptable, so it becomes more of a personal formatting choice.

[Dany]

Positions you currently hold should have present-tense verbs.

[clouds101]

Usually I like bullet points, but in your case, I think the few sentences underneath each position works better. Because some of them have fairly short descriptions, I think it would look awkward to have bullet points. Bullet points look good when you have a fairly even number under each position. As long as the resume conveys uniformity, I think you're good.

[tmplge]

The core of information you have is good and quite interesting, the only thing that i would be concerned about is the clutter of information and the way its viewed. Someone above recommended using bullets which may be a good idea and help spread the information out making it easier for the reader.

There are obviously several different views on how to organize and/or improve your resume. Just make sure to make it your own in the end and feel comfortable with what your going to submit.

Good luck!

[theadvancededit]

I'm near-fluent in German, have a lot of interesting graphic design/Web skills, and a long resume as a performer, but just don't have room to even mention that in a little skills section.

Am I right to go in-depth with what I have and leave this stuff out? Or should I shorten everything on there for the sake of being able to add all of this other stuff?

You can list these in a short section, mentioning your language skill, Web design (including a SFW link, if you'd like) as well as what kind of performer you are. I wouldn't list your performances, however.

[kublaikahn]

*Put your work experience at the top. Four years out, the education goes below it.
*Instead of writing a bullet list in paragraph form you should describe a major problem or strategic goal you achieved in your organizations. For example, the IMG position could read more like, I was hired to turn around a relationship with one of the organizations largest assocation management clients. I used my writing skills to produce more effective..." (Something like that)
*It seems odd that you are a second year math teacher and run the debate program. That school must really suck (please don't take that the wrong way.) This is not a resume for a job, so it does not need to hit on every skillset you have (those resumes are to get hits from electronic search tools.) When you describe the teaching position, you should say something to the effect that despite dedicating fifty hours or whatever that a new math teachers need to work to prepare for math classes, you took on the debate team rather than see it go away. You can describe your broader goals there instead of just listing successes. For example, "My goal was to build a single program that excelled and dmeonstrate for these students that they could perform at an elite level. (Essentially you stay high level, grab some supporting details (successes) and go back up.
*Your honors section does not show any any honors. Honors are awards and special recognition.
*You should have a separate section for your volunteer work, bc it is extensive. Compact this section though.

[kublaikahn]

Also, whatever you do, do not use bullets on the two jobs. Leave it in paragraph form.

[kublaikahn]

I think I would drop the public relations internship, unless you are worried about the gap. In any event, if you already graduated, it is not an intern (I don't think it is even an extern.) IMO, You should change the last two headings to Communications Publications and Awards (first) and Volunteer work (second). Combine your publishing and speech awards. And get rid of the other filler about what someone on the debate team does ("Researched, wrote, and prepared...".) Besides it makes no sense that your dates on that go through 2010, but you graduated in 2008. If you continued to work or volunteer after graduation, this needs to be segregated in you resume.