Spring Break
Building a strong resumé; takes preparation, honesty
Amy Ball
Having the key components of a resume when going for a job interview can be the single most important aspect of landing that dream job.
A quality resume is important in landing that job after graduation, Julie Collier, career counselor and co-op coordinator for the College of Engineering and Science said.
Collier said she has heard the average recruiter will look at a résumé for seven to 10 seconds, so it must look really strong.
"A résumé is a fundamental tool in a job search kit," Collier said.
Here are some tips and tricks from the Career Center on how to build a winning résumé.
1 - Present the most important data first.
2 - Make the résumé clear, concise and straight to the point.
3 - Include your name, address, telephone number and email.
4 - Use action verbs to describe your skills. Examples of these include advised, executed, resolved and entertained.
5 - Do not list references on resume. But list them on a separate sheet of paper.
6 - Be honest.
7 - Include your degree, major, minor, city and state of graduation.
8 - Include awards, scholarships, internships and extra-curricular activities that are relevant to the position in which you are applying for.
9 - Make sure your résumé is free of grammatical and spelling errors.
10 - Make sure the résumé is one to two pages.
Career counselor Brandon Cruz suggests limiting to a one-page résumé.
Jobs that require higher levels of education such as a college professor may require a longer résumé.
Cruz said the mistake students most often make when composing a résumé is grammar and sentence structure errors. Students are also too general in their descriptions and need to be more specific in order to sell themselves to potential employers, Cruz said.
Recruiting Officer with the Sacramento Police Department, Jayme Valdez, also recommends students stick to a one-page résumé. Valdez also suggests it is always good to go in reverse
chronological order beginning with the most recent education and most recent job experience first. The Career Center offers many resources for students to get expert advice on their résumé.
Students can do walk in appointments with a Career Center counselor to go over their resume and learn how to improve it. The Career Center also has several books and handouts for students to get ideas on how to improve their résumé. Finally at the Career Connection website http://www.csus.edu/careercenter/careerconnection/ students can upload their résumé and have a career center counselor view it and then give the student tips, or have them schedule to come in for an appointment.
The career center also hosts Resumania, an event for students to meet with local recruiting officers and get tips on how to perfect their resume.
The next Resumania will be held Feb. 27. Visit the Career Center's website for information about all of the upcoming events at www.csus.edu/careercenter.
Amy Ball can be reached at features@statehornet.com