The best Strategies for Developing your Resume

Editor's Notes

• #1: Rationale: Welcome to “Developing Your Resume: The Honors and Activities Section.” This workshop discusses the most variable of all resume sections, the honors and activities section. Students will learn different names for this section, reasons for including it, and usual placement on the page. Next, they will do some exploratory work to identify possible content. Workshop participants will then learn some criteria to be used in selecting content and determining how big or small the section should be. After looking at a couple of samples, students review design options and form a plan of attack for this section. Directions: Each slide is activated by a single mouse click, unless otherwise noted in bold at the bottom of each notes page. Writer and Designer: Bryan Kopp Editor: Jennifer Liethen Kunka Contributor: Muriel Harris Developed with resources courtesy of the Purdue University Writing Lab Grant funding courtesy of the Multimedia Instructional Development Center at Purdue University © Copyright Purdue University, 2000.
• #2: Key Concept: This section is by far the most variable of all sections. Some resume writers list only awards and honors, some list only extracurricular activities or hobbies, others list only professional memberships or volunteer work—and still others mix all of these together in the same section. Some honors and activities sections take up as much of a third of the resume while others are only three lines at the bottom. This workshop will help resume writers identify some possibilities.
• #3: Key Concept: As most students know, too much white space on a resume is undesirable because it makes applicants look like they don’t have much to offer the employer. However, there are more important reasons to develop your honors and activities section. Just like the experience and education sections, this section should provide evidence that the applicant is the person to call for an interview. Unlike other sections, though, this one gives applicants a chance to show who they are outside of a work and school environment. If one’s activities and honors are related to his or her career goals, including them provides evidence of one’s commitment and experience. However, all activities and honors need not be related to one’s professional identity. Interviewers sometimes begin an interview by talking about the activities listed on the resume. For example, a job interviewer may try to break the ice by saying, “I see you are a downhill skier. Where have you skied?” Of course, an interviewer will only use the honors and activities section in this way if the rest of the resume has shown that the applicant is someone who should be interviewed! Click mouse to reveal each item.
• #4: Key Concept: Usually this section is placed at the bottom of the resume because it is the least important. However, occasionally students move the section up the page because they have, for instance, earned an especially important or relevant award. Other students find they have no room to list activities because their education and experience sections are well developed, taking up the whole page. Placement depends primarily on relevance, but before one can determine relevance one needs to explore content possibilities.
• #5: Activity: The facilitator may invite students to take out a piece of paper and draw three columns for some brainstorming work. In column one, write “Title or Position”; in column two, write “Sponsor or Organization”; in column three, write “Dates.” Students who have already drafted their honors and activities section may want to take out their drafts for reference. The next slide will give suggestions for kinds of experiences to list in each column.
• #6: Rationale: You may want to give students a few minutes to jot down some ideas for each type of experience. Activity: The facilitator may initiate discussion by asking the following questions before advancing to the next slide: Should you include everything you have just listed? How do you decide what to include and what to leave out? Click mouse to reveal each item.
• #7: Key Concept: The size of your honors and activities section depends on three factors: potential relevance, potential interest-value to employers, and space available. To determine relevance, students may need to do some outside research into company literature and study job advertisements in their field. Determining interest-value is difficult, but generally speaking applicants may want select experiences they feel best represent them as professionals or as interesting people. It is a good idea to draft the honors and activities section last, after one has written one’s objective, education and experience sections, in order to see how much room is left for extra information. Students should keep in mind that they do not have to include everything in this or any resume section. Include only enough to spark interest in the eyes of resume readers. One can always fill in any gaps in the cover letter—and in the interview itself. Activity: Have participants write an “R” next to all potentially relevant experiences and an “I” next to ones that most interest them and may most interest employers, regardless of relevance. Later, if they have space, consider developing all marked experiences. Rationale: The next slide illustrates two different approaches for listing items in the honors and activities section. Click mouse to reveal each item.
• #8: Rationale: These two samples are included not so much as models as options for students to consider for their own resumes.
• #9: Key Concept: Because this section is so variable, students will need to determine design and layout on an individual basis. Commonly, all that is needed is a simple list, but if students want to include additional information, they may want to use the same design strategies they are using in other resume sections in order to build a consistent presentation.
• #10: Rationale: During this workshop students have begun brainstorming work and have learned ways to determine content. The two remaining tasks are to coordinate organization and design with the rest of their resumes and to seek out critical feedback from professors, advisors, peers, and tutors. Click mouse to reveal each item.
• #11: Rationale: Although this workshop has offered general advice, students will probably have additional questions about developing their own resume sections. Purdue students are invited to meet with a tutor to assist with writing challenges on an individual basis. Viewers outside of Purdue may receive assistance through the OWL (Online Writing Lab) and answers to quick questions through the OWL email service.