Nailing that First Impression
Often, the first glimpse that an employer gets of a potential employee is their resume. From a resume, the employer can obtain relevant information, and make the decision to call you for an interview. It's important to nail that first impression with a strong resume. There are several key elements that any resume should include.
Contact Information
It’s very important to include your full name (of course), address, phone number, and possibly email address. Make sure that the address you use is permanent, because you don’t want to miss any mail! Also, if you choose to include your email address, make sure it sounds professional. You don’t want to submit a resume where you’ve stated that your email address was something like “sexybaby2001”.
Objective
Including an objective in your resume is important because it gives the potential employer a summary of the work that you expect to perform. It also lets the employer know your goals, and what you expect to achieve out of the job. Be sure to tailor your objective towards the interests of the company you hope to work for!
Education
If you don’t have much work experience yet, which is common in college students or recent graduates, include the education section before the work experience section. Be sure to include your most recent schools first. Also, make sure to include the school’s name, the degree that you obtained, and your majors and / or minors. If you have a high GPA, it might be wise to include that as well. Remember that you are trying to impress this person as much as possible.
Work Experience
Always start with your most recent job first. The following items are important to include in this section:
Your title - What was the name of your specific position?
Name of company / organization - Who did you work for?
Location - Where did you work?
Dates - When did you start working, and when did you quit working?
Responsibilities - What were your duties on the job? What, specifically, did you do?
Other
If you don’t have much else to brag about, it might be necessary to go straight to your references. If not, there are a number of other things you can include in a resume, such as special skills and hobbies. If you’ve had volunteer or leadership experience, it might be a good idea to include this as well.
Those are some great points, Jewel. I hope you don't mind me sharing a few of my own thoughts...
I think you hit the nail on the head with email addresses (getting a professional address that's simply your_name@gmail or mac or yahoo or somewhere is important), but I think it's a better idea to leave your physical address off of a resume and only include it on request or on forms at the actual interview, if neccesary. I've never put my address on my resume, and it's never been an issue.
This is true for safety reasons, but it's also especially true if there's a commute to the job in question. Believe it or not, I've had that come up before (more than once), and it's much easier to address in person than to have your resume tossed aside before you get the chance to speak.