Make Your Resume Stand Out
Anh Nguyen

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As you work on building your resume, it does take time and effort in order to make a quality one. Remember that a resume is just the ticket to take you to the interview section; it does not guarantee a job position. However, it still can be attainable if you follow these simple steps:

1. Format

    • Keep it simple. A one-page resume is recommended for undergraduate students and people with less than five years of experience. You can use bullet points instead of paragraphs to list your accomplishments.
    • Be consistent with your formatting: use of bold and italicized fonts, spacing, alignment, capitalization, dashes, dates, etc.
    • Page Margins should be the same for all sides. Do not make the margin smaller than .5 inches’ and the font smaller than 11 points.
    • Use reverse chronological order with your most current accomplishments first.
    • Separate different sections such as education, experience, projects, honors and awards. 

2. Include Keywords

     Nowadays, much of your job search will be online. Using the right keywords not only makes you stand out in the search engine but also emphasizes your accomplishments. You should include your accomplishments instead of your job duties. Those two things may sound similar, but there is a big difference between them. The employer wants to look at the amazing things you have done at your past jobs and what you can do when they offer you the job. For example, you want to tell the person reading your resume something she doesn’t already know. For the most part, hiring managers will understand what duties are associated with your job titles. It’s common knowledge an executive assistant will answer phones, manage files, and provide customer service. So, putting those statements as bullets on your resume only uses up valuable space. On the other hand, by including accomplishments, you paint a picture of your abilities — one that will sell yourself. 

     When writing resumes, many people look up the job description and use the language in their resumes, which results in tons of resumes with the same wording.  We want to make sure our resume is as unique as possible. For example, instead of writing, “Increased client base and advised clients on merger,” it would be better to write, “Advised clients on mergers and acquisitions of business segments ranging from $500,000 to $1.2 million that resulted in 95% customer satisfaction.”

For a list of keywords and how to use them visit:

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/keywords/fl/list-of-keywords-for-resumes.html

3. Extracurricular Activities and Involvement

To make a good resume, you actually need to get involved and take part in activities. Our school has a great system of social clubs, activities, internships and jobs that you can become involved in. To see a list of student organizations for business major students

http://web.towson.edu/cbe/student/getinvolved.html