Students: Career Planning: Resume Writing: Step 3

STEP 1 |STEP 2 |STEP 3 |STEP 4 |STEP 5

With an objective complete, you must now choose a proper resume format to best market your abilities. Remember there is no "best" resume format. Because your job seeker is unique, the presentation of the resume must reflect that individual. Regardless of which format you use, here are some typical sections found on most resumes.

Sample Resume Sections

• Identifying Information
• Education
• Special Skills
• Honors
• Activities
• Career Objective
• Work Experience
• Research
• References

The most commonly used formats for creating a resume are Chronological and Functional/Skills-Based. Each is unique and meets special needs. Read through the descriptions to determine which is most suited for our resume.

Chronological

Within each section, information is organized in reverse chronological order-most recent first. Over 60% of all resumes follow this format.

Advantages: Many employers are more comfortable with the chronological format; highlights a steady employment record.

Disadvantages: This format clearly exposes gaps in work history. Sometimes emphasizes work areas you prefer to minimize.

Functional/Skills-Based

Organizes experience by skills or job functions.

Advantages: Highlights skills and accomplishments, de-emphasizing employment gaps and work experience less related to your career goal.

Disadvantages: Individuals with a solid work history in their chosen profession may find this format de-emphasizes their work history too much.

In a combination format, you can organize your experience, accomplishments, and skills separately from your work history or they can be integrated. This format can often allow more freedom to emphasize achievements while minimizing employment gaps. In addition, the Skills-Based format may be the resume of choice for recent college graduates and/or career changers. When creating a Skills-Based resume, you may include skills and experiences from paid experiences, volunteer experiences, skills learned within the classroom, and even skills that you learned at home. On the resume, group similar skills and experiences together, regardless of WHERE and WHEN you obtained them.

Resumes for Teachers

Resumes for teachers are slightly different from other resumes. It is common for school administrators to have many, many applicants for each vacancy. They have to assess the viability of each applicant very quickly. For insight in to what to emphasize on your resume, consider what all school administrators must assess first:

• What teaching position does this person desire?
  • List your Teaching area (secondary science, elementary with computer endorsement, etc.)
• Does this applicant have the education required for this position?
  • List your college education, identifying academic honors, minors, GPA (if you want to highlight an outstanding GPA), endorsements, etc. High school is usually only included if the résumé is going to your old high school or if you had an honor such as Valedictorian or Class President.
• Does this applicant have the certification required by the state?
  • Is the applicant in the process of obtaining the required state certification? Do not forget to list your teaching certification. If you are in the process of obtaining certification, list expected date.
• What kind of experience does this applicant have in the classroom and with young people?
  • The largest part of your résumé will probably be detailed information about your classroom experience and additional experience with young people (tutoring, camp counselor, troop leader, etc.)

The biggest mistake new teachers make on their resume is to gloss over their classroom experience and focus entirely on their non-teaching experience. Students involved in Student Teaching experiences may detail their current duties, even though Student Teaching is still in process. Use a bulleted statement format for readability. For fieldwork/student teaching currently in progress, list: start month/year to present.