Your resume is your marketing tool to get an interview for a position. It should show employers exactly why they should interview you vs. someone else.

What Employers Look For 

• Information that ties your experience, skills, and education to the needs of the organization
  • Education: in reverse chronological order, stating name of school, location (city, state), and degree. Note GPA if above 3.0, as well as special coursework, honors
  • Experience: in reverse chronological order, stating name of employer, location (city, state), job title, and job description. List both related and non-related jobs to show continuity. Use "strong" verbs: analyzed, wrote, created, developed
  • Skills: include software, industry-related equipment
  • Activities: include on- and off-campus activities and sports that demonstrate teamwork, leadership
  • Professional memberships and certifications
• A functionally formatted, one-page resume that can be skimmed quickly, with good use of white space

Resume Standards

General Tips

• Never use resume templates or wizards.  They are easy to spot and some employers may perceive you as being lazy or having a lack of creativity.
• Never use I, me, my.  The resume is all about you so you do not need to use these words.
• Do not use periods at the end of bullet statements
• Your resume should be 1 page unless you have at least 5-10 years of relevant experience
• Write dates consistently.  Use either 8/2008 or August 2008 or Aug 2008 consistently throughout your resume.
• List the city, state/country for each of your schools and experiences.  NYIT's city, state should be either New York, NY or Old Westbury, NY
• List education and experience in reverse chronological order.  Start with the latest experience and work back in time.
• Do not include "references available upon request" 
• Do not include references on your resume.  They should be a separate document provided to employers only when they ask for it.

Objective

• Your objective is a clear statement about the job you want or industry you wish to work in.  Examples: To obtain an internship in software development.  To obtain a position in information technology

Education

• Unless you are a freshman or went to a high school related to your field, remove high school.  Limit high school activities unless you are still participating in those activities
• Write out the full name of your degrees: Bachelor of Professional Studies in Hospitality Management, Associate of Applied Science in Computer Science
• Simply put the date you expect to graduate.  Example: Bachelor of Science in Advertising, May 2010

Experience

• Be specific about your accomplishments.  Instead of "managed staff" write "managed staff of 5"
• Use a verb (action word) to start each bullet.  Never use "responsible for."  Example: "Developed software using C++ to manage payroll for 1000 employees"
• Instead of using paragraphs to describe what you did on a job, use a list of bullets.  This is easier to read and will increase the chances of employers reading your accomplishments

Skills

• Include a skills section (or technical skills section for technical majors) to highlight your skills.  Categorize them if you have many skills.  Example:
  • Software
  • Database management
  • Hardware
  • Programming Languages
  • Editing software
  • Design software
  • Spoken Languages

What Not to Include

• Your photograph
• Names of references. They should be a separate document provided to employers only when they ask for it.
• Marital status
• Salary requirements
• References to political or religious affiliations; although organizations that demonstrate diversity outreach can be listed
• Exaggerations or mentioning skills with no explanation of how skills were attained

To view sample resumes, check out the resume section of the Career Resource Guide (pdf).