University of Wyoming Career Guide

Resume Basics A good resume is the following: • Focused . A summation of your professional and academic life. • Subjective . There is no perfect resume format and different styles appeal to different types of employers. • An advertisement . The employer is the target and you are the product. • Brief . Most entry level resumes should be limited to one page. Employer Resume Pet Peeves: • Errors. Any mistakes could instantly disqualify you. • Long Paragraphs. No one likes to read long blocks of type and important resume information should be easy to find. • Irrelevant Duties. Potential employers may not care about your previous job duties. Instead, focus on relevant skills such as customer service, management, training or software usage. • Photos . Companies prefer not to see photos to avoid potential discrimination issues. • Poor Organization. Your resume sections should be ordered from most to least relevant. Items or positions inside your sections should be in reverse chronological order (most recent first). • Messy Font. Ill-conceived attempts to show personality with font choices often lead to rejection letters. • “References available upon request.” It is given that you have references so this is unnecessary to write. Typically, you would include a separate page of references anyway to make the process easy for the employer. Have your resume reviewed by CACS! Many employers will spend less than 10 seconds reviewing your resume on an initial screening. Make sure your best qualities are easy to find.

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