Resume-Writing-Worksheet PDF

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Resume-Writing-Worksheet...

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This worksheet will help you collect and organize all of the information you will need to create a beautiful and effective resume, one that will attract employers into calling you for job interviews. Before you can begin writing your resume, you need to gather up all the relevant information that will go on your resume and that’s why you need this worksheet. I strongly advise against grabbing any old resume template you find on the internet and cobbling your own from that template. If you use a poorly written resume template as your starting point, your final version won’t be any better. But don’t worry, I’ll will show you where can download a wide variety of great resume templates from a trustful source. You’ll find that link at the end of this worksheet. If you want a truly effective resume, one that you are proud of, one that will impress employers, and one that you wrote yourself, then follow my resume writing advice. There is a lot of information you’ll need to assemble your resume and this worksheet will make it easy for you to organize that information in to a format that works best for you. All you need to do is fill in the blanks with your details under each section. Don’t worry about writing your actual resume yet because that will come later. I have placed all of the following categories in chronological order and in most cases your resume should follow this format, from one category to another. Though, if you have an overriding need to go out of sequence, then do so at your discretion. The real purpose of this Resume Worksheet is to help you gather and organize all of your information you will use to write your resume, and not necessarily to create a new section for everything. The only sections that are required are on a resume are: HEADING, EXPERIENCE, and EDUCATION. Everything else is optional.

LET’S BEGIN…

At the top of every resume you need your name and contact information. Believe it or not, I’ve see resumes without any of this. This step is pretty straight forward, but it will get tougher. Name: __________________________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________________________ Phone #: _________________________________________________________ Email: ___________________________________________________________

NOTE: Always use your best phone number and email address. Avoid using more than one. Do you really think an employer is going to reach out to you at multiple addresses and phone numbers? Probably not. Some people like to put their picture on the top of their resume. This would be optional and I can’t say one way or the other if it will improve your chances of getting called for the interview. Putting a picture on your resume or CV tends to be more common in Europe, but not so much in the United States.

Optional, but highly recommended. What type of position are you seeking? You want to include an objective statement to clarify your candidacy and make it easier for prospective employers to understand what type of position you are looking for. Without an objective, anyone who reads your resume will not immediately understand the type of job you want. An objective statement can be a career goal, industry, a type of position, or even the exact title of a position. About 50% of resume writers will tell you objectives are outdated and not to use one, but I completely disagree with this non-sense and strongly encourage you to use one. Most resume writers were never in a position to hire someone, unlike me, and I know for a fact that recruiters like objectives. Start off by writing down 3 or 4 different objectives and we’ll pick the best one later.

Objective #1: __________________________________________________________ Objective #2: __________________________________________________________ Objective #3: __________________________________________________________ Objective #4: __________________________________________________________

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This is my favorite section to write. I suggest having 4-7 bulleted accomplishments about some of the most awesome things you have done in your career that are relevant to the job you are seeking. You want to put your best accomplishments here, and for everything else, put those under your work experience. Accomplishments are most powerful when they talk about an action you took to solve a problem, the results you achieved, and how the company benefited. Some resume writers will use a SKILLS SUMMARY instead of an accomplishment section, but I totally disagree with this because a Skills Summary is nothing more than a bunch of skills listed without context. But an Accomplishment section lists your skills in context. Anyone can say they have [blank] skills, but few can write about how they used their skills to solve problems. And that’s why you want Accomplishment section instead of a Skills Summary. If you have ZERO work experience, it may be difficult to come up with some accomplishments. So in cases like that, you might look back to your college years to see if you have anything you can use. Keep in mind that an Accomplishment section or Skills Summary are optional, but I can’t think of any reason why you would not want to have one. Start writing your Accomplishment section by writing down some of your key skills, and then turn those in to accomplishments by saying what you did to solve a specific problem and who benefited from your efforts.

Skill #1: ________________________________________________________________ Skill #2: ________________________________________________________________ Skill #3: ________________________________________________________________ Skill #4: ________________________________________________________________

Accomplishment #1: _____________________________________________________ Accomplishment #2: _____________________________________________________ Accomplishment #3: _____________________________________________________ Accomplishment #4: _____________________________________________________

Your work experience can be jobs you worked, internships or any physical experience you have that is related to the types of jobs you are seeking.

When listing your responsibilities, duties and accomplishments, describe them in concise, but simple statements with each statement starting off with an action verb like: Developed, Managed, Led, Taught, Implemented, Grew, Exceeded, etc. But don’t focus too much on making them perfect right now because this is just the information gathering phase. We’ll work on refining and improving everything later. Fill out your work experience for each job on the next page…

EMPLOYER #1

Employment start and end date: ____________________________________________ Position/title: ____________________________________________________________

Employer name: __________________________________________________________ City, State, Country: _______________________________________________________ Responsibilities: __________________________________________________________

Daily duties: _____________________________________________________________ Accomplishments: ________________________________________________________

Continue listing daily duties and accomplishments: _____________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

EMPLOYER #2

Employment start and end date: ____________________________________________ Position/title: ____________________________________________________________

Employer name: __________________________________________________________ City, State, Country: _______________________________________________________ Responsibilities: __________________________________________________________

Daily duties: _____________________________________________________________ Accomplishments: ________________________________________________________

Continue listing daily duties and accomplishments: _____________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

EMPLOYER #3

Employment start and end date: ____________________________________________ Position/title: ____________________________________________________________

Employer name: __________________________________________________________ City, State, Country: _______________________________________________________ Responsibilities: __________________________________________________________

Daily duties: _____________________________________________________________ Accomplishments: ________________________________________________________

Continue listing daily duties and accomplishments: _____________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________

List all colleges and universities you have attended. Optionally you can list your graduation date, GPA, degree and the address of the college.

School, University or College: ______________________________________________ Location (city & state): ____________________________________________________ Degree: ________________________________________________________________ GPA: ____________ Graduation date: ________________or Expected graduation date: ________________ Major(s): _______________________________________________________________ Minor(s): _______________________________________________________________ Honors? : _______________________________________________________________

Create a bulleted section of some of your best acts of volunteerism. This is the perfect place to list any type of volunteer or community service you have done that might influence a potential employer and further demonstrate your dedication and qualifications. Be careful not to list all of your volunteer work and try to keep it relevant to your job. A volunteer section is optional on your resume, but its also a very good idea. Volunteer work #1: ______________________________________________________ Volunteer work #2: ______________________________________________________ Volunteer work #3: ______________________________________________________ Volunteer work #4: ______________________________________________________

List awards where you received recognition for something. It could be for your volunteer work, a special contribution you made to your company, a product you invented, a sales quote you exceeded, or even an article you wrote. This section is optional and most of the resumes I review don’t have an Honors section. Me personally, I never had one on my resume. Not that I didn’t receive any awards, I just showcased them differently. Alternatively, if you don’t want to create an Honors and Awards section, but you have a really cool award you want to mention, then put it under your Accomplishment section. That’s what I would do. Award #1: ____________________________________________________________ Award #2: ____________________________________________________________ Award #3: ____________________________________________________________ Award #4: ____________________________________________________________

Write down all of your skills that are related to the types of jobs you are searching for. This can help you demonstrate proficiency with a skill, tool, or software program that you may not have used in college or on a job, but have honed this skill on your own free time. Maybe you learned a new programming language on your own time, but never used this skill for an employer. In a case like that, then a skills section might be the best way to showcase your expertise. I’m not a big fan of a skills section because I don’t like giving a long list of skills without context. Anyone can say they have a bunch of skills, and usually people give a long list of far more skills then they can possibly be good at. But what is right for me and what is right for you are probably two different things. Ideally though, try to put your skills in context and list them under your Experience because that’s the best way to get the most value from them on your resume.

Skill #1: ________________________________________________________________ Skill #2: ________________________________________________________________ Skill #3: ________________________________________________________________ Skill #4: ________________________________________________________________

List names of organizations that you belong to and your membership dates. Be careful with these. Try to only list organizations that will offer benefit to you in your job search. Avoid listing potentially controversial organizations. For example, if you are a member of the NRA (National Rifle Association) and you’re applying for a job at the Humane Society, you may want to think twice about listing your NRA membership. But if you’re applying at Dicks Sporting Goods, then your NRA membership might serve you well. This section is optional.

Association #1: __________________________________________________________ Association #2: __________________________________________________________ Association #3: __________________________________________________________

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References do not belong on your resume. You’ll want to create a separate sheet that contains the contact information from three to four people you have worked with who have nothing but good things to say about you, your skills and abilities. Only give these references to employers who ask for them. I don’t advise offering them in advance. You’ll also want to ask each of these individuals for their permission to use their name as a reference. Just a simple phone call or email to them is all you need to do. Simply title your reference page as such:

Professional References for Don Georgevich

See reference form on the next page…

Reference 1: Name: ____________________________________________________________ Title: _____________________________________________________________ Company: _________________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________ Phone number: ____________________________________________________ Email address: _____________________________________________________

Reference 2: Name: ____________________________________________________________ Title: _____________________________________________________________ Company: _________________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________ Phone number: ____________________________________________________ Email address: _____________________________________________________

Reference 3: Name: ____________________________________________________________ Title: _____________________________________________________________ Company: _________________________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________________ Phone number: ____________________________________________________ Email address: _____________________________________________________

Congratulations! You did it! Now that you have gathered all of your information, now it’s time to begin putting it together to build your resume. I would recommend a word processor like Microsoft Word or Google Docs. If you would like me to walk you through each step of the resume writing process, as if I were holding your hand, then I would strongly recommend downloading the Resume Masterpiece. It’s the best resume writing guide available. Maybe I’m a little biased because I wrote it, but it surely ranks up there in the top 3. You can download your copy from www.jobinterviewtools.com/resume/. This guide will walk you through each step of your resume and help you decide what you need to put on your resume and how to write strong accomplishment statements that will make your resume stand out from the crowd. Once you’re done writing your resume I’d be happy to critique it for you. You can register for a resume critique here. Good luck! Sincerely,

Don Georgevich...