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unfortunately appear at the top of the section while your prized accounting internship takes second place.
Your goal is to present the most notable position, the internship, first. The way to achieve this order is to use a
section called “Relevant Experience.” By adding this section you can still follow chronological order, but now
you can have a say in what gets placed first. Any type of experience that has direct bearing on your career
objective can be listed under relevant experience. Once you have covered these positions (in the fashion used
by the chronological resume) you can do the same for your less important experience (see the functional
example in the appendix). The section that will come after “Relevant Experience” will be called “Additional
Experience,” “Employment History” or a similar heading. In any case, you should not go into great detail about
your duties under this section. Leave room to emphasize the activities, impact and duties contained in the
relevant experience section.
Resume 401: Positioning Yourself
Positioning yourself for the right job is a very important aspect of a successful job search, for beginners as
well as experienced professionals. The more you can demonstrate your clarity of purpose, the better your
chances of finding the right job. As noted earlier, your resume is not a job application, but rather a document
that markets you to prospective employers. Consider this question when writing your resume. Does it say
anything that could not be communicated on an employment application form? If not, you are not making
good use of your information. A resume should do more than list employers, dates, skills and responsibilities.
It should create a picture of who you are. It should position you for the opportunity that suits you best. The
focus of this level of resume development is to home in on the type of position you want. Many job seekers try
to load their resumes with all the diverse experiences they have had—hoping something will click with the
employer, or that the sheer volume will give them an edge over the competition. This approach is not advised.
Avoid using the shotgun approach and, instead, hone the points that relate best to your targeted career. For
example, you probably don’t need to mention your ability to set up a web page or operate a Zamboni if you
are targeting a position as an accountant. Instead, omit the Zamboni experience and look for underlying skills
(transferable skills, as mentioned on page 11) that relate to the position you are targeting. You may say that
you have demonstrated good computer or software skills, which will help you learn new software programs
for accounting. Now you’ve added some more relevant value to your resume.
One thing that will hurt your ability to create the image of a well-focused candidate is placing too much
emphasis on outside activities. Some students’ resumes, for example, read like a sports program. Avoid
overemphasizing your athletic achievements unless they have direct relevance to the position you are
targeting. This means you must acquire the kinds of work experience that will build your resume, or you will
have nothing relevant to put on it. At the very least, avoid giving the impression that you would always rather
be on the basketball court than studying. It’s OK to list some athletic activities at the end of your resume, but
keep it brief.
Many times half the battle in writing your resume is figuring out what qualifications candidates in your
particular field should possess. Here is a great way to gain insight into what employers are looking for. Once
you have some job titles in mind you can search job boards for positions in your field—not for the sake of
finding a job, but to see what employers are looking for and what words they use to describe their ideal
candidate. Read through and compare 10 to 20 job postings on the internet and note the skills and
qualifications that appear most often. The employers are telling you what they want to see on your resume. If
you can address these qualifications from your own experience, you will be able to show that you have what it
takes to do the job. If not, you will need to acquire such experience through internships or lower-level
positions. This process will also help you identify keywords for your resume. Keywords are terms used by
professionals in the field—technologies, skills, process and other experience—that employers specifically
look for on candidates’ resumes. Recruiters will screen out all but the closest matching candidates, based on
whether the right words show up on their resumes.