Rewriting Resumes

Hello readers! Today’s blog post will be about writing, and more importantly, rewriting resumes.
The resume is an essential document everyone needs to get a job interview. It is a 1-2 page document that
summarizes your work experience and other relevant information about who you are as a professional.
Writing good resumes is not an easy task, and I would not necessarily call myself a professional resume writer
(I am currently volunteering). Despite this, NYU has trusted my ability to write and critique resumes,
so I can help you with yours!

Your resume is a personal marketing document. The concept of personal marketing should be thought of as
a sales pitch: how can you make yourself look hireable on paper? Do this by highlighting relevant skills, strengths,
and experiences in the context of a specific job application. The main purpose of a resume in your job application is
to convince your employer to interview you; therefore, you do not need to include your full work history in a
resume.

Imagine you are a hiring manager at a large company. You are confronted with hundreds of resumes every day
and are likely wishing you could go home by now. Stop imagining. It is important that you format your resume in a
way that exhibits your qualifications as quickly and efficiently as possible. In order to do this, every single job you
apply for should have its own resume. 

While this may sound overwhelming, a Master Resume is a useful document for professionals to archive all
of their previous experience in one place. For example, you can copy and paste the relevant information for
your job application into a refined resume document by using a Master Resume. Never submit your Master
Resume to a job application. It will likely cause your hiring manager to throw it in the paper shredder.
The three most important things to put on your resume are always:  

1) Contact information: How can employers contact you? (first and last name, preferred name, local
address, NYU email address, phone number, professional social media, or personal website)

2) Education: What are your qualifications as a working student? (Institution name(s), location, degree,
concentration, minor, graduation date (month and year), GPA if 3.0+, study abroad experience, and relevant
coursework)

3) Experience: What do you have to offer professionally? (Full-time work, part-time work, internships,
volunteer experience, military service, organization name and location, your role, date range of employment
including month and year, and bulleted descriptions of your accomplishments)

These three things must be included in every single resume you write. For the time being, the above order is
best for presenting information on your resume as a student. Once you graduate from college, your education will be
slightly less important than your professional experience, and you should reformat accordingly.

Drafting resumes in the context of the language used by your hiring manager will help you get an interview.
Look at the job description and requirements to understand this language, while also adding your own
personal flair to each resume document. Optional sections you can include in your resume are leadership
experience, research experience/certifications, teaching experience, technical skills, ability to speak multiple
languages, academic projects, student activities, honors/awards, professional affiliations, specific interests,
and references. All of these things can be in a separate category at the bottom of your resume, as they are
purely optional. References should not be included on your resume unless the job description explicitly
asks for them (in which case, format them like this).
Never include your birthday/age, sex, gender, nationality, religion, marital status, health status, or a
personal photo on your resume; these are all things that can work against you and your employer, under
the guidelines set by the EEOC. Always pay detailed attention to your hiring manager’s job description
and requirements to tailor your resume document.

While resume writing is difficult, I hope this blog post helped you understand the process more completely.
Like I said before, I am not a professional in this field (meaning I am not getting paid to critique resumes).
If you have specific questions about your resume, I am much better at helping you in person or on google
docs. Email me at wf603@nyu.edu to continue the conversation!

Another very important piece to your job application is a cover letter. Cover letters allow you to create a
narrative about your professional identity, and why you are a good fit for the specific position you are
applying to. For more details and ideas about writing a strong cover letter, stay tuned for next week’s
blog post.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed reading :)