Why my resume sucks...

[Neo]

Hey, I need tips on improving my resume. Apparently it sucks ass because I've been shot down over 40 times and if I dont get a job this time around Im screwed...

[Martin]

1. Get rid of strawberry harvester. Your employer doesn't care.

2. Your other employment description is boring. You're basically just restating your job description. Put things that you did that made you distinct.

3. Don't say relevant courses. Just courses, or maybe current courses.

4. Your objective is a bit of a run on sentence. Make it short and sweet.

5. Add some stuff to your hobbies and interests section. This section is supposed to make you look like a human being, not just a calculator. Mention sports. Do you play any musical instruments?

Here's a copy of my old resume. http://www.compsci.ca/martin/rn2.htm Check it out, it's worked for me.

Also, you might want to spice up the layout a bit. Throw in some css to show that you care.

[Martin]

The problem isn't that your resume doesn't show off your skills, it's that there are 500 students with the exact same resume. You have to make yours stand out.

[Neo]

What kinds of things can I add to make the layout look nicer? And what is css? I see you have no objective, is it generally a good idea to take it out completely? BTW thanks for the input.

[Martin]

No problem eh. I helped Tony write his resume too

Cascading Style Sheets. Google it. I wouldn't worry too much about the layout though. Maybe remove those horizontal dividers.

You can take it out if you want. It doesn't really matter at this point, as they're only hiring you as a temporary employee.

[Tony]

Quote:

Robotic Systems Design

...Lying on your resume probably isn't a very good thing, either.

MTE 100 hardly counts as Robot Systems Design.

Honestly, putting your education in your resume is just for aesthetic reasons. Employers know that ALL THE FREAKING APPLICANTS are co-op students in MTE, ECE, ME, or something that they probably don't really care to distinguish between. (Er, having said that, of course you still need to include it.)



{posted by Bren}

[Neo]

Tony wrote:

Quote:

Robotic Systems Design

So that lego robot thing we're building doesnt count as Robotics Systems Design?
How bout introduction to robotics systems design??.... Or I can just put plain old mechatronics... which nobody seems to know the meaning of.

[Boo-chan]

Brenda wrote:

Lying on your resume probably isn't a very good thing, either.

However, since the employers know that some students may be exagerating their skills(although it is hard to believe tha UW students would do this, it must be those arts students) it is necessary to add descriptive words to show them that your not just throwing a couple of extra skills in.

Your resume states that your proficient in several computer languages, but it would be better to also include where you learned them. This isn't really important if your not applying for a software job, but I know from my experience is that one of the first questions in software related interviews is about where you learned the languages and how much experience you have in their use.

Since your in mechatronics I assume your doing the group project with lego... so I would suggest that you say abit about that.Its a really good idea to put down some sort of group project, where you can tell the employer how your applying the skills you are learning, as well as being able to talk about how your using all those soft skills(communication, teamwork etc).

[[Gandalf]]

I am almost certain that only the last e is accented in "resume".

[wtd]

Anyone who wants to explain how they learned languages, and can credit me for things like Ruby should feel free to include my e-mail address.

[Mazer]

Interviewer wrote:

You learned from... who the hell is "Mr. Duck?"

[codemage]

Is this going to be an online resume, or is this just an online version?

If it's not exclusively for online use, you should use fonts that are similar to but aren't the overused TimesNR or Arial.

[Tony]

drop the objective part

adjust the "qualifications" to be job relavent. Its great for a programmer position in an Engineering firm, but if the employer doesn't know what AutoCAD is -- it is not "qualifying" you for the position. Place that under education/skills if you want to keep it around though.

Also "Microsoft Office" means Word. Everybody knows word. If the employer is looking for somebody with Access or Visio (have you had experience with the latter? it's part of Office package) you should mention those explicity (Knowledge of Microsoft Word, including Excel and Visio). Don't go listing the contents of the entire suite though.

Relevant courses - not exactly relavent to the job description, now are they? You could list them as just "courses" or leave out. Employers will be asking you plenty about the Mechatronics program as it is.

RCC job - its your current, so I guess your action verbs should be present-continues. Or at least consistent. Analyze vs. Installed

Drop Strawberry Harvester

Some formatting. Not neccessarly as much as CSS, that's just dressing on top, but some better font choices. Perhaps drop horizontal lines.

And have you seen how your resume looks in print? There are some pretty bad looking breaks in there.

Make the suggested changes, then come in to CECS, and get someone to critique it for you. They'll give you some more points, as well as proofread and what not.

You could also stop by my office, I'll help you put some CSS in there.

[brenn]

Neo wrote:

So that lego robot thing we're building doesnt count as Robotics Systems Design?
How bout introduction to robotics systems design??.... Or I can just put plain old mechatronics... which nobody seems to know the meaning of.

Sorry, I will clarify further.

You put "Robotic Systems Design" under "Relevant courses", which it's most definitely not; you can't say that it's a course when it really isn't. You can put "Intro to Mechatronics Engineering" or something to describe the course, if you like.

If you want to include something like "Robotic Systems Design" in your resume (which sounds great XD) you could put it in somewhere as a special interest, or project. Employers like to know about special projects you've done, especially those which are non-academic.


As per your work and volunteer experience:

Quote:

* Worked collaboratively with other council members to make important student body decisions.
* Assisted in organizing school events such as fundraisers, charity drives, dances and the annual school carnival.
* Promoted and sold tickets for various events.

[...]

* Served as a mentor and role model for younger children.
* Supervised children during various indoor and outdoor activities.
* Organized and supervised sporting matches and other activities.

You can add more quantitative descriptions. How many other council members did you work with? How many children did you supervise? Obviously it's much more work to supervise 30 children by yourself, as opposed to one or two. How old were the children? Although you probably won't be working with children in your co-op job, younger children can prove your reliability--it obviously takes more work to supervise a five year old than a thirteen year old. (i.e. "Supervised 25 children between the ages of 10 and 12 during various indoor and outdoor activities.") Being more quantitative can give the employer reading your resume a much clearer, more descriptive picture of what kind of work you did, and what you're capable of.

Quote:

Creating applications and video games.

Um.... this makes you sound like PDEng Eric. If you don't know what that refers to you'll know soon enough. It sort of gives the impression that you're the typical teenage boy who likes to sit in front of a console and game. You don't want any potential employers to think that you'll sit in front of your workstation and play games all day!!! You don't necessarily have to take it out of your resume, but I would strongly suggest not having it as the first in the list.

Oh, and it'd be nice to include your telephone number and e-mail address if you haven't already. Employers may or may not choose to use it (my first job was arranged privately after they received my resume from co-op, and they contacted me via telephone and e-mail to request an interview/offer me the job) but it's still a good idea to include it, just in case. =)

Good luck with your job search!!!! I know MTE has it tough >_<

[brenn]

codemage wrote:

Is this going to be an online resume, or is this just an online version?

If it's not exclusively for online use, you should use fonts that are similar to but aren't the overused TimesNR or Arial.

It's an online resume, and then employers can choose to print it out if they like.