Career and Résumé Guide: Résumé Writing

What is a resume?

A resume is a one- or two-page summary of your education, skills, accomplishments, and experience.

There are two main styles of resumes: chronological and functional

Chronological: this type of resume highlights your employment history. You should use this type of resume if you have a lot of career experience in one field and are planning to apply for a job in that field.

Functional: this type of resume highlights your skills. You should use this type of resume if you do not have a lot of work experience, or if your work experience is in a different field from the job to which you are applying. This type of resume is ideal for first-year students or people who want to switch career paths.

 Visit the following links for guides to help you create your resume:

• CareerOneStop

  A great place to visit to start assembling your resume. This tutorial will take you step-by-step through the process of creating a resume, providing examples along the way.

• Penn State Career Services

  From Penn State. Explanation of parts of the resume & CV

• Purdue OWL: Resumes and Vitas

  From Purdue University. Includes parts of resumes & vitas. Includes information on how to make a resume scannable.

• Susan Ireland Resume Guide

  Guide created by Susan Ireland, author of The Complete Idiots' Guide series on resumes, cover letters & job hunting. Includes many free resources to creating resumes.

• University of Notre Dame: The Career Center

  From University of Notre Dame. Resume guide. Includes required and optional parts of a resume.

• University of Minnesota Career Services - Another good source with excellent tips for writing your résumé. 
• Boston College Career Center - Use action verbs when writing your résumé. The Boston College Career Center website has a helpful list for your use.

• The Career Center at the University of Illinois - An excellent source with sample résumés, and a section about cover letters.
• GotResumeBuilder.com - Online résumé building tool with templates and additional information on résumé writing. 
• Chronological Resume Sample
  From Purdue OWL
• Functional Resume Sample
  From Purdue OWL
• Skills Resume Sample
  From Purdue OWL
• CareerOneStop Examples
• Ohio State Resume Examples

The Russell Learning Resource Center is located on the Canton campus. If you attend on another campus go to the Borrow a Book page on the website to request one of these items be sent to you.