A HOW TO AND DESCRIPTION GUIDE



RESUME & CURRICULUM VITA JOB AID

PART I: HOW DO RESUMES AND VITAS DIFFER?

A resume is an individually designed summary (usually one or two pages) of personal, educational, and experience qualifications intended to demonstrate fitness for a particular position or type of position. A resume focuses attention on an individual's strongest qualifications and develops them to fit the specific or general purpose for which the material is provided.

A vita is a comprehensive biographical statement (generally three or more pages) emphasizing professional qualifications and activities. Often, vitas are requested specifically when applying to graduate or professional programs, employment with international firms, or when promoting oneself within professional and academic fields. In addition to its use in seeking academic positions, a vita may also be required for departmental tenure reviews, speaking engagements, publishing review boards, committee service, professional association leadership positions, sabbaticals, and fellowships. Unless requested by name, it is usually unwise to send a vita in a first contact. If a resume is requested, send a one or two page, tightly drawn document with the notation that a vita (and/or references) will be sent later upon request. It is far better to start out with a one or two page resume than it is to stifle the reader's interest by prematurely sending an overly long vita. A vita is longer than the average resume because it provides a greater range of information that can include:

|Professional, Vocational, or Research Objective |

|Summary of Qualifications |

|Professional Licenses or Certifications |

|Education including Post Graduate, Graduate and Undergraduate Degrees and Studies |

|Listing of Relevant Course work to Match Career or Academic Objective |

|Educational or Professional Honors or Awards |

|Scientific or Academic Research, Laboratory Experience, and Related Skills |

|Description of Thesis or Dissertation, Papers Written, Publications |

|Academic or Professional Presentations |

|Related Extracurricular Activities, Professional and Association Memberships |

|Community Involvement |

|Work Experience - Paid or Volunteer |

|Technical and Specialized Skills such as Computer Programming or Laboratory Instrumentation |

|Interests - Future Academic or Professional Goals |

|Travel / Exposure to Cultural Experiences |

|Foreign Language Skills |

|Additional Information that May Support Objective or Qualifications |

Part II: Composing a Resume

Organizing chronologically may not be in your best interest in the long run because the most relevant information is often too far down in the resume – and if you organize it from most recent to least recent you mix up categories of activities. Finally, the achievements you want to stand out the most will be lost in the welter of the information you are providing. Resumes need not go back in time further than five to six years. And, for a new graduate, the most current work experiences will be the most relevant.

Instead, organize your resume by activities regardless of how long ago, how recently you worked in these roles. For example:

In-Home Training Activities

List these chronologically but begin with the achievements you want most for the potential employer to notice. Limit each achievement listed to thirteen words and include work and outcome.

Training Activities

If you were responsible for training a new person to do what you do/to do a different job, YOU FUNCTIONED AS A TRAINER.

Teaching Experience

If you were a teaching fellow (TF) list the classes you taught. If you were a TA, list your TA experiences (tutoring, grading, organizing teaching materials, etc.) However, do not call yourself a TA. Instead, title it as a graduate student instructor, as it better describes what you did. A TA could just be someone who sat in on a professors class and graded homework, and that is not what you did.

Professional Presentations and Publications

These are relevant data for a potential employer. It reveals what you do, says that your work was acceptable to your peers at national/regional/state conferences and journals and you have some in-depth information in that area. Finally, should you want to pursue research in any of these areas/topics, your professional history may help you find research and application opportunities otherwise unavailable.

Leave your academic credentials until the end of your resume

You would not be applying for that job if your qualifications did not meet the position’s stated requirements. Since you will be applying for jobs requiring a degree, include only your four-year and graduate degrees. Also, it is NOT necessary to include college honors on your resume because 1) they are of no interest to your prospective employer and 2) they will serve to remind people that you were very recently a student.

References

It is important and courteous to ask people you want to use as references if they would be able to write a reference letter for you. Provide those persons with your resume and focus each version of your resume based on the work experiences you have had under that person’s supervision. To ensure that these persons are not going to be flooded with requests, ask them to compose a letter that will enable you to send it to several places.

DO NOT LIST REFERENCES on your resume for several reasons: 1) you could lose contact with that person, 2) certain persons have more experience with certain types of your skills than do others, so you want to be able to customize your references and 3) you may decide to remove or add a person, thus requiring a revision. When you apply and references are requested, select two people (preferably with different experiences with your skills) as references. If your potential employer asks for more than two, send them. It is not the length of your references list but the content and quality of each reference’s letter that will increase your hiring probability.

PART III: Composing a Vita

Getting Started

Writing a vita can seem overwhelming but can be made easier by organizing your background. To begin, put each of the headings listed above in the vita description – and any others that are relevant – at the top of several sheets of paper. Once you’ve done that, begin filling in your information for topics such as those listed above.

Remember to be Descriptive

When describing your background, be descriptive: use numbers and paint a broad range of your experience. For example, compare the following section from the following “before” vita. It is representative of what the rest of the vita looked like:

|Professional Goal: |Nurse Practitioner in rural setting. |

| | |

|Education: |June 1996 -- Bachelor of Science in Nursing, University of Utah |

| | |

|Employment: |August 1972 - Present |

| |Staff Nurse - Duties include primary care of patients. Harborview Medical Center |

| | |

| |June 1988 - August 1990 |

| |Staff Nurse - Member of the IV Team. Harborview Medical Center |

Now compare the “after” curriculum vita, shown below. Which one does a better job of pulling together the best qualifications for acceptance into a Nurse Practitioner program?

|Objective and Summary of Qualifications | |

|Seeking acceptance into a Nurse Practitioner Program with goal of providing rural community service utilizing my extensive | |

|primary care background. | |

| |Over 18 years Registered Nursing experience includes: | |

|°|Providing full-range of nursing care to patients and families of all ages from economically and culturally diverse populations. | |

|°|Management in a department serving over 30,000 patients annually. | |

|°|Training and supervising over 40 RNs; assuming direct responsibility for total patient care; narcotics control, assessment and | |

| |risk management. | |

|°|Bachelor of Science in Nursing with Honors, University of Utah 1972 | |

| | | |

As you can see, the “after” vita starts off much stronger and summarizes top skills at a glance. You may be thinking, "But I don't have any valuable work experience." If that's true, then follow a similar strategy but instead list whatever academic, volunteer, or curricular activities that form a foundation of skills or knowledge that relate to and support your objective. The section from vita shown above was followed by many of the topics listed earlier on this page.

When applying to academic programs it's wise to analyze the program's brochures and look for key words and phrases to integrate into your vita. It's also a good strategy to talk with academic advisors to identify traits the program you wish to be accepted into looks for in top candidates. These same strategies should be applied when preparing a vita for internal promotions or employment.

PART IV: Word Lists

Following this page are two lists of words, Action Words for Resume Writing and 100 Action Verbs for Accomplished Statements that may aid you in composing your resume and/or vita. The lists do overlap some so beware of repeated words!

ACTION WORDS FOR RESUME WRITING

|Ability |

|Accelerated |

|Accomplished |

|Achieved |

|Actively |

|Adapted |

|Administered |

|Analyzed |

|Approved |

|Began |

|Built |

|Canceled |

|Capacity |

|Competent |

|Completed |

|Composed |

|Conceived |

|Conducted |

|Conducted |

|Consistent |

|Contracted |

|Controlled |

|Coordinated |

|Created |

|Decreased |

|Delegated |

|Delivered |

|Demonstrated |

|Designed |

|Developed |

|Directed |

|Effected |

|Effectiveness |

|Eliminated |

|Engineered |

|Established |

|Evaluated |

|Expanded |

|Expedited |

|Facilitated |

|Finished |

|Found |

|Founded |

|Generated |

|Guided |

|Implemented |

|Improved |

|Increased |

|Influenced |

|Initiated |

|Instructed |

|Interpreted |

|Invented |

|Launched |

|Lectured |

|Led |

|Maintained |

|Managed |

|Mastered |

|Maximized |

|Modified |

|Monitored |

|Motivated |

|Operated |

|Optimized |

|Organized |

|Originated |

|Participated |

|Performed |

|Pertinent |

|Pinpointed |

|Planned |

|Presented |

|Produced |

|Proficient In |

|Programmed |

|Proposed |

|Proved |

|Provided |

|Purchased |

|Qualified |

|Recommended |

|Reduced |

|Reinforced |

|Reorganized |

|Researched |

|Resourceful |

|Revamped |

|Reviewed |

|Revised |

|Reevaluated |

|Saved |

|Scheduled |

|Set Up |

|Simplified |

|Sold |

|Solved |

|Streamlined |

|Structured |

|Substantially |

|Supervised |

|Supported |

|Taught |

|Technical |

|Trained |

|Translated |

|Utilized |

|Versatile |

|Vigorous |

|Won |

100 ACTION VERBS FOR ACCOMPLISHED STATEMENTS

|Accomplished |

|Accelerated |

|Achieved |

|Approved |

|Built |

|Conceived |

|Conducted |

|Completed |

|Consolidated |

|Controlled |

|Converted |

|Created |

|Cut |

|Delivered |

|Developed |

|Devised |

|Demonstrated |

|Designed |

|Directed |

|Doubled |

|Earned |

|Edited |

|Eliminated |

|Established |

|Expanded |

|Formulated |

|Founded |

|Headed |

|Generated |

|Installed |

|Increased |

|Implemented |

|Improved |

|Improvised |

|Innovated |

|Introduced |

|Instituted |

|Invented |

|Launched |

|Led |

|Maintained |

|Managed |

|Negotiated |

|Operated |

|Organized |

|Originated |

|Performed |

|Planned |

|Produced |

|Processed |

|Programmed |

|Proposed |

|Promoted |

|Provided |

|Purchased |

|Recommended |

|Redesigned |

|Reduced |

|Reorganized |

|Researched |

|Revised |

|Scheduled |

|Serviced |

|Simplified |

|Sparked |

|Set Up |

|Sold |

|Solved |

|Staffed |

|Started |

|Structured |

|Streamlined |

|Strengthened |

|Stressed |

|Stretched |

|Succeeded |

|Summarized |

|Superseded |

|Supervise |

|Terminated |

|Tracked |

|Traded |

|Trained |

|Transferred |

|Transformed |

|Translated |

|Tripled |

|Trimmed |

|Traced |

|Uncovered |

|Unified |

|Unraveled |

|Utilized |

|Vacated |

|Verified |

|Widened |

|Won |

|Withdrew |

|Worked |

|Wrote |

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download