Preparing Your Resume or Curriculum Vitae
The foundation of your job search should be a good, solid
resume (which may also be called a curriculum vitae or vita). The
curriculum vitae describes in detail one's professional career
over the course of one's life, including both work experiences
and qualifications. It is primarily used when pursuing
opportunities in an academic setting. Although the curriculum
vitae and resume have the same function, the differences between
the two are length and format. In the business world, the
standard resume is usually no more than two pages in length. An
effective resume gets your foot in the door and it may lead to
personal interviews.
Your resume should be detailed enough to give employers the
information necessary to assess your qualifications for the job
opening. At the same time, it should be concise. It's essential
that your resume be word processed; if you can't word process it
yourself, hire a word processor. The few dollars you pay to have
it word processed will prove to be one of the best investments
you will make. You may use your resume for several different
purposes:
- include one with a "blind"' letter of inquiry about a job
opening;
- send one with a cover letter in response to an advertised
position;
- attach one to a standard job application; or
- take it with you on a job interview.
With the recent advances in technology, a very efficient and
fast way to respond to a position is to send your resume
electronically. Robbie Miller Kaplan, in her book,
Resume Shortcuts: How to Quickly Communicate Your
Qualifications With Powerful Words and Phrases
(1997), defines an electronic resume as an unformatted resume
prepared with American Standard Code for Information Interchange
(ASCII) text and sent via email. She cautions when using this
technology to closely follow the employer's formatting
instructions to avoid technical appearance problems. She further
provides tips on how to create an ASCII resume.
Resume Help
Samples
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