Resume Guidelines

A FEW IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT PRESENTATION.

Your résumé must be: typed an original of laser quality - photocopies or poor quality printing will severely detract from the appearance of your document set out consistently (same format - font size, bolding etc for headings/subheadings), logically (each heading in the order of interest to the employer), in reverse chronological order (most recent information first under each heading) in point form rather than sentence form - employers usually only spend about 30 seconds scanning a résumé so they don't have time to read sentences.

GUIDELINES ABOUT WHAT GOES IN

In terms of personal details; the only essentials are name, address and telephone number.Information regarding your age, marital status, health, nationality, religion etc are not required. The decision whether or not to include this information should be based on your determination of whether or not it will advantage your application. For example, some mature age students choose to leave off their age as they feel that it will disadvantage them when applying for graduate positions. Equally they could decide that their age and additional experiences would actually make them more attractive to employers and choose to include this information. The bottom line is - it's your decision. It may be useful to write your name, address and telephone number on each page (top or bottom) in case the pages become separated. When listing education details you should state the name of the course first then underneath the institution you studied at. You then need to decide what other information about the course you wish to include. If you have completed a thesis or any significant project you might like to state the topic (vital if the work actually related in some way to the type of position you are seeking). If your results are impressive you might choose to list your subjects and results in the résumé, however if your results are not your greatest selling point!, you might simply make a statement such as "see attached Academic Transcript". There are ways of presenting a shortened version of results if you find that your list is too long. For example, our Science student applying for a Geologist position might decide to list only her Geology subjects up front on the résumé under a subheading such as "Geology Subjects Studied". Of course she wouldn't use this option if her Geology results were poor. Unfortunately, it is not appropriate to use headings such as "Subjects I Got Distinctions For". Regardless of whether you list all or some or none of your results in the body of the résumé, you would normally also attach a copy of your Academic Transcript. You only need to send A COPY of this - not the original. (Academic Transcripts are available from Student Administration.)