My Resume

Here is a sample resume you can use as a model when preparing your own resume. You can include your picture if you wish. Place the picture at the top right corner of the first page of the resume.

Click on the resume for a larger image.

Resume Tips

Common Resume Blunders - Make sure your resume is top-notch by avoiding the top resume blunders!

Resumes for Dummies, Fourth Edition by Joyce Lain Kennedy

Resume Magic: Trade Secrets of a Professional Resume Writer by Susan Britton Whitcomb

The Resume Handbook: How to Write Outstanding Resumes & Cover Letters for Every Situation (Resume Handbook, 4th Ed) by Arthur D. Rosenberg, et al

The Resume Guide from Susan Ireland, the author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Resume and other books. Check out also her Ready-Made Resumes and Cover Letters software.

eResumes and Resources

Rebecca Smith is the expert on electronic resume formats, so if she and I don't agree, I'm going to say go with her. You will also want to check out her book, Electronic Resumes and Online Networking from Career Press.

Career Victory

Tom Jackson, best selling author of "The Perfect Resume" and "Guerrilla Tactics in the Job Market" has gone online! His site features free Tips for Resume Success and a nice Resume Calculator, an interactive tool designed to help you determine which resume format will work best for you.You can also review his popular Perfect Resume Kit before buying it.

JobStar: Resume Help

JobStar has assembled a terrific resource of resume assistance for all users.

How to Write a Masterpiece of a Resume

...excerpted from The Pathfinder: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success by Nicholas Lore (Simon & Schuster, 1998.) The sections discussing the Object and Summary Statements are very good and could be very helpful to you in creating these sections of your resume. Everyone should also review his list of Questions a Pro Would Ask You to help you prepare your resume as well as prepare for interviews.

The Resume Place

"Home of the Federal Resume." Kathryn Troutman has been a professional resume preparer for over 20 years. Check out her expert information on the new federal resume format for the Federal Government and her guide to resume writing for high school students.

10 Minute Resume

...nice online site to walk you through creating a resume using their online wizard. Includes advice on keywords, and tips on what to write by occupation. Once you have completed the forms, you can view your resume in several formats.

Yahoo's list of Resume Sites, Samples, and Services.

...tons of tons of places for advice and loads of resume writing services

You will also want to check out Career Victory under Job Search Gurus.

Tips & Pointers

Resumes That Don't Tell You Anything

This is Bob Levey's column from May 1, 2003. Bob is the Washington Post"s "hometown" columnist, talking about anything and everything that affects or bugs the local citizenry. On May 1, he reported the rantings of a local Director of Human Resources who said "I am totally sick of job seekers whose résumés don't tell you anything." Yes, she is tired of resumes that are all fluff and no fodder and of folks who use machinations to try to get her attention. Her advice? "I think of a résumé as a letter of introduction. I never hire anyone on the basis of a résumé; I never have, and I never will. But I also never hire anyone who tries to make a résumé more than it can logically be. Let your résumé get you in the door and get you to the top of the pile. Don't treat it as a chance to go off half-cocked into outer space. It won't work. It never has, and it never will." Pay attention when the gatekeepers talk.

Lying on Your Resume by Dawn Rosenberg McKay

This 3-part article discusses the issue of lying on resumes and the ramifications, like being fired because you were caught and trying to explain why you were fired to a future employer. Part of the Career Planning channel on About.com

Is Your Resume Honest? by Kim Isaacs (Monster.com)

"One of the main reasons people lie on their resumes is fear -- fear of not measuring up, fear of being left behind, fear that a more qualified candidate will get the job. [...] While the fear is understandable, it doesn't excuse falsifying a resume to secure a job. And ask anyone who has been caught about how easy it is to give yourself away."

Showcase Your "Home Run" Accomplishments

An excellent article on documenting your greatest achievements during your career, done by Bill Frank, author of "200 Letters for Job Seekers." "Written records of your work results, achievements, successes, and accomplishments are the heart of your marketing campaign. They explain the essence of your "track record." Sooner or later, you'll be asked about what your triples and your home runs--or else your field goals and touchdowns--or any other metaphor you want to use. Writing them down on paper prepares you in advance."

Resumania from Robert Half

...these are some of the greatest resume bloopers, blunders, and typos from real resumes. Your goal is to Not end up in his list.

Top 20 Recruiter Pet Peeves About Resumes

Results of a survey done by ResumeDoctor.com As they say, some of the Pet Peeves will be quite obvious, while others may be surprising. Number 15 surprises me. He says most folks want that resume in Word, but he cites formats other than plain text. In reading the actual comments, I only saw one person say he wanted a Word resume attached to an email, not plain text in the email itself. Others complained about non-plain-text formats other than Word. I got the impression that most of these people were third party recruiters who need to be able to forward a resume on to a client, and many wanted the recruiting industry to accept Word as the standard. My advice -- unless they say "send it as an attachment in Word," stick with plain text, but offer to forward a copy in Word upon request. With third party recruiters, this also means they have to inform you of their intention to forward this document to others, meaning you know where your resume is going.

Job-Resources.com

...yes, she's trying to sell her books and services, but she also provides some good tips for constructing and critiquing a resume and creating cover letters.

Top Ten Mistakes Made on Do-It-Yourself Résumés by Tracy A. Bumpus, CPRW

....nice article on common errors and misconceptions that plague resumes. Check out her other articles and links by going to the front page of her site.

Samples & Critiques

Before & After Resumes

WetFeet is now partnering with ResumeEdge to provide advice and offer resume services to its users. One nice feature of this partnership is several samples of resumes both before and after ResumeEdge worked on them. These samples cover Executives, IT professionals, other professionals, and even entry-level job seekers.

Resume Expert Library from Monster.com

...sample resumes and sample cover letters. These not only cover a number of professions, they cover a number of situations. Check out the military-to-civilian and career change resumes and the Thank You and Follow up letters.

How to Correct and Improve a Resume

... from Acorn Consulting. This is an example of a defective resume along with his excellent advice on how to fix it.

Internet & Privacy Issues

Online Job Search Web Sites: Tips to Safeguard Your Privacy by Pam Dixon

...Another great article from Pam Dixon on how to protect your privacy and identity online. This is Fact Sheet 25: Privacy Tips for Online Job Seekers from the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

Resume Database Nightmare: Job Seeker Privacy at Risk by Pam Dixon

On February 19, 2003, Pam Dixon released this new report detailing a major privacy violation online -- the actual theft of resumes from several resume databases by someone establishing a new career site. She outlines how the theft was accomplished and how the thief then contacted the resume posters directly and got them to submit new resumes. She also discusses how you can recognize this problem and ways you can protect yourself online.

Click, you’re hired. Or tracked…: A report on the privacy practices of Monster.com By Pam Dixon, Research Fellow of the Privacy Foundation

Released Sept 5, 2001, this "investigative report on Monster.com, the nation's biggest online job search site, discloses that company officials have discussed selling resume data to marketers; resumes sent to Monster.com — even when deleted at a later date by job seekers — may be saved and parsed for later use; resumes submitted by job seekers to corporate Websites, such as H&R Block, have been routinely sent to Monster.com without disclosure to job seekers; and that Monster supplies AOL Time Warner, a marketing partner, with information from job-search activities — including unique resume I.D. numbers.

Protecting Your Privacy

...Susan Joyce, the force behind Job-Hunt.org, has put together a good collection of articles talking about protecting your privacy during your online job search. She addresses privacy policies in general, how to choose a job site that will help you maintain your privacy, and how to create your own cyber-safe resume. Susan has had several HR managers "find" resumes of their own employees while participating in her seminars, and many times she could tell that employee was toast as soon as the HR manager could get to a phone. I've heard the same thing from other sources, including reports from job seekers who had a lot of explaining to do when a resume was found still circulating a few months after being hired. I urge you to read these and consider the advice carefully.

Preparing Your Resume for the Internet and Posting it Online

... my own advice on the topic

Resume Posting Q & A's

Wonder how well it works? Here are some real stories and experiences to review.

Demise of the HTML resume by Steve Alexander (ComputerWorld 1/24/00)

"Recruiters say they don't like resumes created with the Internet programming language HTML because the format takes too long to read. Also, the use of links requires that a recruiter go to the trouble of visiting a Web site to see information that should have been included in the resume."

Online Resume Fraud by Jill Vitiello. (ComputerWorld, March 22, 1999)

..."When it comes to posting your resume on the Internet, hiring managers warn, you'd better tell the truth, and nothing but the truth."

Rebecca's eResumes and Resources has tutorials to help you prepare resumes for an eCommerce world.

Is Your Online Resume User-Friendly? by Tracy A. Bumpus, CPRW

...tips on making sure that your electronic resume is not just readable by a computer but also by the eventual human.

CVs

When talking about the CV, it is important to note how this term is used and in reference to what geographic area.

• In the United States, a Curriculum Vitae ("CV" or "vitae") is "a comprehensive, biographical statement emphasizing your professional qualifications and activities." It is not our standard resume but a variation provided only when specifically requested, usually in pursuit of an academic or research position. (Check the information from the Colorado College Career Center, below, for more guidelines on when to use a CV rather than a traditional Resume in the U.S.)
• In other countries, the CV is the standard resume, although the format and some of the information may differ from customary practice in the U.S.

For clarification, I have marked the information and resources under this category as Academic/Professional (US) or CV (non-US).

Academic/Professional CV (United States)

What is the Right Resume for Me: Curriculum Vitae, JobStar

...a short introduction to the CV along with samples and resources to guide you in preparation of your own CV. 

Preparing a Curriculum Vitae (CV) by Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D.

A nice article on preparing an academic C.V. To make it even better, he had a selection of Vita samples you can review (and even borrow). Dr. Hansen is an associate professor of marketing at the School of Business Administration, Stetson University, and webmaster of the Quintessential Careers website.

Curriculum Vitae from the Colorado College Career Center

A short introduction when to use and how to prepare a CV.

Sample Academic Curriculum Vitae (Word), Harvard University School of Public Health

...bare bones, but showing you exactly what is needed where, right down to the bibliography of your publications. Please note that this is a Word document. Save it to your computer and then scan it for viruses.

CVs (non-U.S.)

Preparing your CV from Haybrook

...do's and don'ts from this UK-based IT recruiter. Includes a nice sample to follow. I have seen other sites that suggest leaving the date of birth off the CV should you be uncomfortable supplying this information.

International Country Profiles from WetFeet

WetFeet, in partnership with Goingglobal, offers profiles of what it is like to job search in various countries, including the employment situation, major industries, and resume/CV practices. Select a country, then select the section on Resumes and Interviewing. These samples will give you a considerable amount of information, but those who are truly serious about searching for employment in these geographic areas will want to purchase the full guide.

Turning a Resume into a CV by Allan Hoffman (Monster.com)

A quick how-to guide for turning your American-style resume into the CV requested by employers in other countries. The author notes that the CV is really an expanded version of your resume, detailing more of your employment history and referring to specific projects, responsibilities, and accomplishments. Non-American employers also expect to see more personal information on the resume, including marital status, nationality, and any special skills, interests, or hobbies. These last three items are particularly important if they have any relevance to the position you seek. One note: the author says you should check with the employer to see if they prefer the CV or your resume. Many international companies will accept the briefer American style resume.

Check some of the International Job Resources for more info on non-US formats and practices for resumes and CVs.

Portfolios

Martin Kimeldorf's Portfolio Library

...sometimes a resume just doesn't work because it can't tell the whole story. This is where a portfolio comes in. Marty has written several articles on the topic along with a book, "Portfolio Power." On his web site you'll find several articles introducing you to portfolios and covering the how-to's of creating one. Sample portfolios are also included.