2-STEP DESIGN PROCESS

STEP ONE:  CONTENT
STEP TWO:  DESIGN

1. CONTENT
   1. Start writing about yourself. Don't worry about how it looks, spelling, grammar, etc...this is a time for free-flowing writing, express yourself, get down on paper all the skills, traits, experience, etc. that you have experienced in your life.
   2. Organize your thoughts. Once you have the information down on paper (which can be as long as you like at this stage, 2, 3, 4 pages and so on...) you can now choose the categories you will use to tell about yourself, then begin to assign what you have written down into those categories. Some sample categories could be, but are not limited to:
      1. Education
      2. Objective
      3. Career Goal
      4. Experience
      5. Career History
      6. Skills (also as: Computer Skills, Technical Skills, Design Skills, etc.)
      7. Related Coursework
      8. Scholarships
      9. Honors
      10. Professional Affiliations
      11. Awards
      12. Personal Attributes
      13. Personal
      14. Achievements
      15. Activities
      16. Qualifications
      17. Volunteer Work
      18. Interests
      19. Software Knowledge
      20. References (Available Upon Request.)
      21. Keep going...don't limit yourself to these categories...
2. DESIGN
   1. Make your resume visually stimulating. Now that you have your life on paper, organized into categories, it's time to make it attractive to your reader, so they would not want to take their eyes off your resume.
      1. Simple but stimulating. Use design elements, but don't make your resume too busy that it takes away from its most important feature, your content.
      2. Think outside the box, incorporate design elements such as lines, blocks, shapes.
      3. Try incorporating elements of your career into your resume design.
      4. View some samples online and at the links on this page, above this list.

RESUME TIPS

1. Professional Appearance: Be sure your resume is computer generated, high quality of paper and envelopes used, appropriate, professional paper color choice, highlight important information and headings, avoid using too many printing styles and italicizing and use consistent margins.
2. Clear and concise: Eliminate unnecessary words and phrases, avoid jargon, short paragraphs, bullets and sentences. Make every word count.
3. Be Thorough: Ensure all relative information is included, watch for time gaps if done chronologically (can explain in cover letter), use action verbs (listed below), try to cover all important transferable skills and talk about accomplishments.
4. Error Free: Edit, proofread, edit and proofread again. Have somebody else review your resume as well.
5. Balanced and Consistent: Be sure your use of white space, margins, indentations, highlighting and headings are uniform and balanced. Each page must be filled with text.
6. Be Honest: You must honestly represent yourself in your resume. Employers can check on information that you have included in your resume.
7. Verb Tense: Be sure all job description information is consistent. For past tense activities use past tense verbs and for activities you are currently involved in use present tense verbs. Do not use personal pronouns (e.g. I, me, he, she).
8. Abbreviations/Acronyms: Always spell out abbreviations and acronyms. You may know what they stand for, but the reader might not. Instead, write out each acronym like the following:
   E.g.: Bowling Green State University (BGSU)
9. Important Information First: This can help the reader to remember the most important details about you.
10. Length of Resume: Your resume should best represent you. Typically most college students have enough academic and work experience information to make their resume one solid page. There are some students who may have more experience, which could increase the length of their resume to more than one page. Make sure that you follow the requirements of the employer on the type of information to include. It is important to be clear and concise.
11. References: The majority of employers prefer to receive your references AFTER they decide to interview you, not before. Sending your resume is the first step to the interview. Don't get ahead of yourself by unnecessarily including your references. Many employers would rather you use that space to tell them more about yourself and how you can be an asset to their company. Attach a separate sheet to your resume that includes your contact information and the information of the references: name, title, employer, address, phone and email of each reference.
12. Include Numbers! For example: If you have saved your company/organization $5,000 over a certain amount of time, or you have completed a project leading a team of 13 people, if you have earned a $10,000 scholarship, if you have supervised 5 people, if you have earned $15,000 on your own putting yourself through college, put these numbers on your resume. Numbers stand out to your reader and can be very impressive.
13. Electronic Resumes: If you create an electronic resume, be sure to save and send this in a "pdf" (Portable Document Format) format. We recommend that you use this format because, quite frankly, the rest of the world does. Saving your resume in this format allows any potential employer to successfully open your attached resume. For more information, please see this link.