ABOUT ME
• Career Center Coordinator
• Work Experience Instructor at LPC, have taught WORKX 94 and 95
• Volunteer at Jails to Jobs, former career advisor at Fresno State
• Former English and English as a Second Language Professor at LPC
ABOUT YOU
• How many years at LPC?
• How many years of work experience?
• How many veterans?
• How many seeking full-time work? Part-time work?
• How many seeking internships?
POLL
On average, How much time do you think a recruiter spends reading a resume?
a) 2 minutes
b) 1 minute
c) 30 seconds
d) 6 seconds
WHAT DO THEY PAY ATTENTION TO?
On average, recruiters spend 6 seconds reviewing a resume in their initial fit/no fit
screen. Recruiters spent most of their time skimming for:
• Name
• Job titles and companies
• Start and end dates (experience level)
• Education
• Particular skills and keywords
SECTIONS OF A RESUME
• Contact information
• Headline
• Summary
• Skills
• Education
• Experience
• Extracurricular activities/ Community involvement
• Awards/Honors
CONTACT INFORMATION
• First and last name – larger font (14 pt., 16 pt.)
• Phone number (working, professional voicemail)
• Optional: City, state, zip code (no street address)
• Professional e-mail address (containing your name, no nicknames)
• Optional: LinkedIn URL
HEADLINE
• Use a more narrow headline when applying for a specific job:
• Engineering Technology Intern
• Customer Service Representative
• Can use a broader headline for a job fair, general networking, your LinkedIn
profile:
• Engineering Technician, Mechanical Technician, CNC Machinist
• Customer Service, Retail Sales Associate
SUMMARY
• Summary puts the critical information at the top of the page in a prominent
position
• Between 3 and 6 sentences, or 20-50 words
• Use some key words from the job posting
• Include accomplishments, strengths, skills
• Does not need to be complete sentences
OTHER SUMMARY SAMPLE
Accounting Assistant
A bilingual accounting student with experience in tax preparation. Key strengths
include accuracy, attention to detail and the ability to meet tight deadlines. A
considerate and thoughtful person who maximizes resources and develops efficient
processes.
Summary Template:
A/an (adjective) (noun) with experience in the (functional knowledge /Industry). Key
functions/ strengths/ responsibilities include (skill), (skill), and (skill). A (adjective) and
(adjective) person who (verb) and (verb).
SKILLS
• List 9-12 key skills you have that are most relevant to the job that you are
applying for
• Use short phrases (2-3 words)
• Visual center of the resume
• Use key words from the job post whenever possible
WHICH SKILLS TO EMPHASIZE
Emphasize hard skills more than soft skills
• Hard Skills: typing speed, software programs you can use, language skills, industry-
related skills
• Soft Skills (more difficult to prove): interpersonal skills, customer service, team work,
punctuality, work ethic, etc.
Name 2 soft skills in the sample skills section below:
• Can speak a second or third language
• Are proficient in Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Work well in teams
• Can read blueprints
• Are good at solving problems
• Can make mathematical calculations and measurements
• Are good at public speaking
• Know how to use Canva
• Can use social media for promoting events, goods, or services
RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU…
EDUCATION
• Put Education before Experience when your education is recent and you have more
education than work experience related to your target job
• College degree completed:
Associate of Science in Engineering Technology, May 2020
Las Positas College
3.8 GPA
• Include GPA if it’s 3.0 or higher
• Can remove date of college degree once it’s more than 5 years old
• Optional: add relevant coursework if your area of study relates to the job you are
applying for. Use course titles and not numbers.
COLLEGE EDUCATION IN PROGRESS
Associate of Science in Social Science, in progress, expected June 2021
Las Positas College, Livermore, CA
3.8 GPA
WENT TO COLLEGE BUT DID NOT COMPLETE
Biology Major, completed 53 credits
University of California, Santa Cruz
• It’s optional to add the number of credits completed
HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION
• No need to include high school education now that you are in college (they
can assume you have a high school diploma if you are in college)
PROJECTS SECTION (OPTIONAL)
• Optional: Below the Education section, list and describe special projects you worked on as
part of your degree/coursework, or on your own.
• Do this if you have little or no work experience in the field but you have practical experience
using relevant skills.
Special Projects
• Solar Oven, May 2020, Built a solar-powered oven that baked 24 chocolate chip cookies
• Robot Project, December 2020, Designed a robotic teddy bear that hugs COVID patients
EXPERIENCE
• Include up to 15 years of experience
• List jobs in reverse chronological order (most recent first)
• Include jobs, internships, perhaps relevant volunteer work
• Fill employment gaps of more than 6 months
• Veterans: translate job title into civilian terms
• https://www.careeronestop.org/Toolkit/Jobs/match-veteran-jobs.aspx
• https://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/skills-translator
FOR EACH JOB/POSITION, INCLUDE…
• List each Job Title, Company Name (or company then job title), City and State,
and Dates of Employment for each position (Month/Year)
• List 2-7 achievements in bullet points in Accomplishment Statement format if
possible. No more than 2 lines long.
• Start each bullet point with an action verb
• Use past tense for past jobs and present tense for present positions
• Load it with the KEY WORDS, in the same verb format
• Use numbers to showcase your accomplishments, whenever possible
• Focus not just on what you did in your job, but on how well you performed,
and what the positive results of your work were
ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENTS
Weak Bullet:
• Checked patients in
Better Bullet:
• Efficiently checked patients in and processed copayments
Best Bullet:
• Efficiently checked in 100+ patients per day, and processed
copayments
Challenge Action Result
What was the situation? What did you do? What was the result?
MORE IDEAS FOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• How much did you do? How many people did you help?
• Maintained inventory of 250+ shoe models
• How quickly did you finish your work?
• Processed 20 invoices per week
• Use percentages
• Achieved 95% customer satisfaction rate in exit surveys
• Achieved 100% of sales targets
• Mention how you used specific skills
• Created GoogleForm to survey students about their social media usage
• Used Excel to track students’ grades and course progress
EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES SECTION
• Sports
• Clubs
• Other volunteer work
• Mention any leadership positions held
• Consider risk of including political or faith-based volunteer work
AWARDS/HONORS
• List any awards, honors received that have not already been listed on the
resume
• Include name of award, who gave you the award, when you received it
• Can include scholarships awarded
• If you have a lot of awards, consider which are most important
SECTIONS OF A RESUME
• Contact information
• Headline
• Summary
• Skills
• Education
• Projects (optional)
• Experience
• Extracurricular activities/ Community Involvement (optional)
• Awards/Honors (optional)
THINGS NOT TO PUT ON A RESUME
• Your photograph or date of birth
• Your street address – city, state, and zip code is okay
• An objective statement. Use a Headline and Summary instead.
• “References available upon request”
• Fancy borders or fonts
GENERAL RESUME TIPS
• Keep it to 1 page if you are new to the field; 2 pages if you have 10-15 years of
experience; Resumes for scholarships or college applications could be longer
• Use numerals (1,2,3,4) rather than words (one, two, three, four) for numbers
• Keep margins to 1 inch or 0.75 inches wide on all sides
• Keep formatting consistent
• Use a sans serif font (Arial, Ca libr i) instead of a serif font (Times New Roman)
• Font size should never be smaller than 11 point
• 2-column resumes are sometimes hard to read
OTHER REMINDERS
• Your resume is a living document. Keep adding new accomplishments, skills, and
experiences to it, even while currently working
• Tailor your resume when applying for a specific job. Use key words from the job
description.
• Your resume is your first impression
• Edit! No typos, grammar, or spelling mistakes. No slang. Have someone else review it before
you submit it.
• Resume format: email as a PDF, upload as a Word document (unless otherwise
specified)
• Use a consistent file name to save resumes:
• Technician_Jordan, LLNL internship resume, 11.15.2022
TAILORING YOUR
RESUME
Highlight key words and
qualifications in the job posting
RESUME USES KEY WORDS FROM JOB
DESCRIPTION
BEFORE AND AFTER
TAILORING
NEXT STEPS
• Check out the Resume tool in Career Coach
• Or fill out the Resume Template that I email you. Use the resume sample and
the action verbs list to help you. Ask someone to provide you with feedback
on it.
• Avoid resume builders that cost money and don’t generate an editable
document (e.g. Canva, PerfectResume)
• Upload your resume to Handshake, the Las Positas College Internship and Job
Board.
• Attend more of our workshops (register in Handshake).
