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> The LoA covers a lot of what's in _my_ RESUME. What, then, do you put
> in the resume? Where does "a general, comprehensive history" leave off
> and 'personal/education/work_experience/[references]/publications' begin?
Fair enough.
Remember, the resume and the cover letter are complementary. This is
important.
Never put the word "Resume" on a resume. Likewise, never label a phone
number with the words "phone" or "phone number".
Put your name and address at the top. Next put your relevant education.
Stick to the school, the degree or certificate, the years, and expand on
the basics you show on the resume (if they are helpful for this
particular job) in the cover letter.
Next, put your job history. This should be chronological, starting with
your most recent job and working backwards. Put the company, the dates,
and major responsibilities for each job. Elaborate on the most relevant
experience in, once again, the cover letter. The resume gives the
complete shorthand picture. The cover letter professionally shows why
the resume items are important for the job at hand, and injects other,
non-resume items.
Don't put 'References available upon request' in the resume. Either give
them in the cover letter, or don't talk about them at all.
Do NOT use personal pronouns; everybody knows the things in the resume
are about you.
Of course, make sure your punctuation and spelling is correct. Use the
standard postal code abbreviations and zip codes in addresses. See the
archives of this list for details 8-).
Keep your resume visually balanced. Make sure the items scan well. Chris
Goolsby's tip about putting the best job experience first (since
employers blow it off after one or two) sounds pretty good to me.
This is subject to discussion, but at DTCC they advised us not to be
fancy - no colored paper, no fancy fonts (stick with Roman), no perfume,
no money. Your mileage may vary, but *I* never was impressed by this
stuff. (So what, Len, right?)
They also advised that more work (for any specific job) should go into
the cover letter, since that will hook the employer into reading the
resume. The resume just has facts; the cover letter shows your
personality, ambition, intelligence, and so on.
Oh, yeah. If you *have* to put in an item about "health", don't just put
"good", put "excellent".
Go for it.
|Len Olszewski, Technical Writer |"That boy's about as sharp as a sack|
|saslpo -at- unx -dot- sas -dot- com|Cary, NC, USA|o' wet mice." - Foghorn Leghorn |
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| Opinions this ludicrous are mine. Reasonable opinions will cost you.|
