This week's reading featured a gauntlet of tips and information on creating a good resume. I've never had to craft a resume in the past, so this is all new to me. In my attempt to absorb all this information and in a few days churn out a rough draft of my first resume, I'll highlight some things I'm going to seriously take into consideration.
10-30 seconds. Wow, that's it? I had no idea resumes were only considered for that long. With this knowledge in mind, I know I'm going to focus on a clear, concise, and elegant design that highlights exactly what they need to hear about me. This means focusing on the keywords offered in the job description. Since the position I'm "applying for" asks for a developer who writes "Standards based and accessible CSS/XHTML," I'm not only going to tell them I can and I do, I'm going to back it up with cold hard facts from my work experience. This means using active verb phrases such as "Developed XHTML/CSS standards compliant websites in-house and for clients,"
The blog post also recommends that Education be placed prominently in most of our resumes because it’s most likely our strongest selling point. I think in my position and for this specific job, my work experience actually outweighs my GPA and my future degree. I started as an intern at a rural electric co-op and shadowed their IT manager. The next summer I started work for the internet service provider they owned as the assistant web designer. The following summer I became the lead web designer, and began branching out into the PC repair department as a part-time assistant. I moved up once again the next summer, and became the lead web developer, and ran the PC repair department. I met and worked with clients face to face on both fronts, web applications and PC repairs. I believe this work experience is very relevant to the position I’m applying for, and shows that I both possess the skills to be a great addition to Westlake Design, but that I plan on growing in their company. What do you guys think: Education or Work Experience first?
Work Experience!
In your case, definitely put that work experience first. It seems extremely relevant for the job you will be applying for and if I were the HR individual reviewing your resume, which I am not, I would take much more interest in this than in your schooling or anything like that. I think it really comes down to the advice from Friday's readings suggesting that you sell yourself and demonstrate your relevance to the job opening you are attempting to fill. For many people, the most relevant information they'll have will be there grades and schooling, but as you have shown this is not always the case.
Education or Experience first?
I agree with nmhess on this topic because it sounds like you have enough experience to list that would win over a recruiter in this field. I on the other hand, have only had one job listed on my resume that does anything with my major and the job I am seeking. This is why I chose to put education first before my job experience. In the reading one article told how some resume readers use your educational information to give them a good impression thus encouraging them to re-read it, taking more time to pick out more useful information, but as far as your resume I don’t think you will have such a problem.
Education, Experience ...
I've sort of always dismissed the advice of putting work experience above education unless you're talking about a resume where someone ISN'T a recent college grad and is applying for a position that would suggest that. For an entry level position, though, I think reviewers expect that your education will be right there on top, and the last thing I think I'd ever want to do is make a potential employer dig around for my education. I'm not saying that I wouldn't do it, particularly if you feel that your experience does outweigh your degree/GPA, but I just think it's something to consider. You might just want to make sure that everything is clearly labeled and that if your education isn't in the typical place that it's very easy to find.
Kristin
Experience or Special Education
While reading your response I thought that your work experience was great. They all sound interesting and sounds like you probably cannot fit all of that on your resume. I do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. I agree with Kristin that you should put the education section before the experience section but I think your experience section will definitely be a lot more important than your education. Similar to my resume I just do not put my GPA and let the experience speak for itself. If I do not get the job because of my GPA then I guess it was not meant to be.
It is crazy that you have never had to make a resume. It makes sense in a way though because usually when a person applies for a job they only have to fill out an application not hand in a resume. I always think it is a pain to create a resume, but when you are done it feels good and is great to look at really what you are worth. I actually had a resume made up before this class but am remaking it to follow all of these new suggestions. Whether for a grade or not, it will probably help.
Real World
I would go ahead and put your education first but make the work experience the focal point of your resume. For mine I just put Purdue, my major, and GPA. It took a grand total of three lines where as my work experience takes up over a quarter of the page. In all reality once everyone graduates its not really going to matter about your school and GPA, companies are only going to know what you have been doing since then. So you can in a sense skip a lot of the “crap” and focus on the things you have done, not what you’ve been taught to do.
Education First
Put your education first. It's more standard and it's where your employer will expect to see it. If they don't see it there, they be aggravated and waste time looking for it. However, if the sections are clearly marked, it doesn't really matter. Although your work history seems to be more impressive, employers do care about the education section. They want to see that you have gone to a good university and even more importantly they want to know the date of your graduation.