How to Build or Create a Career Resume

Creating a career resume has two main areas of focus: formatting and efficient and effective wording. Proper formatting helps to lead the eye to key words and efficient and effective wording is achieved by creating sentences that quickly and strongly reflect your skills. Resumes are always a work in progress, so by understanding the basic functions of a resume, the small adjustments will be easier.

1 Decide whether to create a functional/skills resume or a chronological work experience resume.

A functional/skills resume outlines the relevant skills that you, the applicant, have obtained. A functional/skills resume is best for an applicant with little or no direct experience. This type of resume is typically formatted using the sections Objective, Skills and Abilities, Education, and Honors/Awards/Achievements/Other. A chronological resume is best for applicants who have consistent work experience. This resume is typically formatted using the sections Summary of Qualifications, Work Experience (in reverse chronological order), Awards/Achievements and Education.

  2 Write your Objective or Summary of Qualifications.

An objective is one sentence explaining in specific the type of work you are interested in. For example, "To obtain a Marketing Planning/Coordination position with ABC company." It is important to be very specific here, even referencing the company you are applying to, so the hiring manager will know what position to consider you for. This communicates to the reader that you know what type of position you want and what that position entails. This small amount of customization also communicates that you have taken the time to specifically apply with that company. Keep in mind, if you do write a specific company name make sure it is the company you are applying to. A Summary of Qualifications outlines in three to five bullet points the type of skills you have obtained through your work experience. These bullet points should give a generalization of a skill that is further explained in your Work Experience section. For example: "Consistently rose above recruitment goals, five years in a row," then in your work experience note what the recruitment goal was and your percentage of increase. Many times this is the only area a hiring manager will read so make sure to use key words from the job description and to accurately reflect who you are as a worker.

3 Write your Skills and Abilities and Work Experience sections.

Skills and Abilities should be presented under general headings such as Customer Service, Reliability and Detail Oriented. Then under those headings explain your abilities in a quantitative way. For example, under Customer Service, you might say, "Created confidence in existing clients considering not using staffing to taking on 3-6 employees at a time." By explaining what you have achieved with numbers, a hiring manager will be able to better understand at what level you are able to produce. Work Experience should be outlined in reverse chronological order with your most recent work experience first. List the company you worked for, position title, how long you worked there in month and year format, and three to five bullet points outlining what you achieved. These bullet points should reflect your achievements in a quantitative way and work directly with your Summary of Qualifications by explaining why you have those qualifications.

4 Write your education.

For both types of resumes list the school you attended, the degree(s) you earned, and for college degrees the month and year you received your diploma. For a skills resume you can also list clubs and affiliations that you were apart of during your schooling that are relevant to outlining your skills.

5 Write your Awards and Achievements.

These awards or achievements should be work related and reflect your skills. Include in this section: Name of Award, Association/Company/School presenting the award, the month and year the award was received, and a brief sentence outlining what the award signifies. Achievements could be things such as "#1 sales person three years in a row," "Employee of the Month," "Dean's list four years in a row."