Writing the Dreaded Resume -- Part I

It seems as though many people dread writing a resume. The purpose of a resume is to secure an interview, which will help you land a job. Until you come in for an interview, a resume will be the only thing a potential employer will know about you. That's why it is so important to accurately showcase our own original objective.

Some sample objectives from About.com are as follows:

* Obtain a position at XYZ company where I can maximize my management skills, quality assurance, program development, and training experience.

* Account executive trainee at ABCD advertising agency.

* Position as clinical practice assistant for health maintenance organization, utilizing writing, research, and leadership skills.

* Elementary education teacher at small independent school.

* Customer service management where my experience can be utilized to improve customer satisfaction.

About.com - Job Searching (http://jobsearch.about.com/od/sampleresumes/a/sampleobjective.htm )

Create a section entitled, "highlights of Qualifications." In this section, write three or four bullets describing how you are qualified for the position. What skills have you learned in other jobs that will transfer to this new job?

The next section will be titled, "Professional Accomplishments." This is the section where you will list where you have worked, while adding a sentence or two about your positive contributions to your company.

Finally, you will include a section for your education. This section is very important because it will list your educational experiences and that will help demonstrate your qualifications for the position.

Based upon your experiences, if you are limited in your work experience and have had a rich academic career, you could include an Honors section or a section for organizations that you belong to.

Make sure before you start to write any resume that you surf the Internet and read some sample resumes. This can help guide you as you write your first resume.

For Chronological Resumes, you are going to want to stress your work history. After your objectives, an optional section may be entitled Summary. This is where you would highlight 3 key career highlights or skills that support why you would be good at the position in which you are applying.

The next section is the Professional Experience section. This section will give specific information such as the name of the company, the city and state of the company, and the years in which you worked for the company. Remember, when writing a chronological resume, you are first going to start with your current job and work backward. Under the company information, you are going to create 2-3 bulleted points highlighting your accomplishments on the job. This is also the place to mention on the job awards. This is your section to showcase yourself and to demonstrate how you positively influence the companies that you work for.

The final section on your resume would be your education and any relevant organizations to which you belong. Again, make sure to surf the Internet and look at sample resumes. This can help you develop a winning resume.