Resume Writing Advice – Personal Qualifications

Personal Qualifications

Listing personal information on a resume is effective only if it relates to your job target and demonstrates qualifications that you will need in your next career. For example, including hobbies or extracurricular activities that demonstrate personal characteristics, such as leadership, teamwork, problem solving, and creativity is a valuable way to communicate qualifications to a prospective employer.

Use this section to list activities or other personal information that illustrates the characteristics you possess that are relevant to the position. Be cautious not to include unrelated information, or you may appear unfocused and less dedicated to your career than your competition.

You should not include information such as your age, height, weight, marital status, children, ethnicity, political affiliations, religious affiliations or other nonessential personal information, unless it is clearly relevant to the position.

Providing a List of Activities

Sports-related activities can demonstrate “dedication, drive, commitment, and winning attitudes.” Involvement in community clubs, organizations, and other extracurricular activities demonstrates that you have a well-balanced professional life and possess certain qualities and characteristics that would make you an asset in your position.

Be sure to mention your role with each organization, especially if you have held an elected office, such as treasurer, secretary, president, or founder. Do not list a club or membership you were not truly an active member of, because you may be asked to discuss your involvement with the prospective employer at the interview. List the name of the organization, dates, your role, accomplishments and anything else that demonstrates your ability to succeed or produce positive results. Honors, awards, and official recognition that demonstrate your leadership abilities should be included as well. List all activities in this section in order of relevance to a future employer. When writing about your activities, consider treating them as a job. What accomplishments or achievements did you attain? What skills did you develop or experience did you gain?

If you are a recent graduate who was involved in a fraternity or sorority, you should probably list this activity on your resume, especially if you were an officer or founder.

Insider Tip:  You may also use the Personal section to demonstrate your willingness to perform the routine tasks that will be required of the position. For example, for Sales and Training careers where a willingness to travel is essential criteria, use the Personal section to indicate your interest and even enjoyment in performing these tasks. This reinforces your qualifications and interest in the position and may give you the edge over the competition.

Professional Affiliations

Professional and personal affiliations can offer the prospective employer insight into important personal characteristics, such as dedication to your profession or a strong desire to learn and develop professionally. Involvement in a professional organization indicates that you are up-to-date with current industry trends.

Additionally, participation in industry and trade associations can offer you the opportunity to gain a variety of skills, such as team-building, leadership, problem solving, and management that potential employers find valuable.

Include all professional affiliations related to your job target and personal affiliations that demonstrate characteristics important to the job you are applying for.

Insider Tip:  When listing affiliations, use the organization’s full name followed by the appropriate acronym in parentheses:   American Society for Training and Development (ASTD)   This helps maximize your search results based the appropriate keywords managers use to locate qualified candidates when publishing your resume on the Internet or forwarding electronically to hiring managers.

Determining What Information to Include

If you have a list of Affiliations within your career field, you can consider listing only the names of the organizations.

However, you may also consider listing the months and years of your membership, the name of the association, your title within the organization, and its location. You may want to include any additional information that will add to your qualifications.

• If you held a leadership position within the organization, list your title and briefly summarize your duties.
• You might also consider listing any important committees on which you served.
• List any honors or awards you’ve received within the organization.
• If you belong to an organization that may be unfamiliar to a prospective employer, describe the nature of the organization including its charter and any community related service it provides.

Resume Writing Advice – Talent, Theater, and Design

Talent, Theater, and Design

For professionals in the film, modeling, entertainment, advertising, graphic design, and media industries, your job titles and projects hold a more noticeable level of creativity, excitement and even celebrity. Resume information for these types of positions needs to be an artistic statement as well as a statement of professional credentials. Visual excitement can be graphically communicated as well.

If you are in the performing arts or media arts fields, a prospective employer will want to see a list of the projects, performances or productions in which you have been involved. Use this section to list artistic endeavors you have worked on and your role within each project.

Insider Tip:  If your work can be divided into several areas, then consider one section on your resume for each area. Talent resumes have the greatest impact when you separate your work experience into different sections. An actor will want a talent section for FILM, another for TELEVISION, and another for THEATRE.  A graphic artist might include a section for PRINT DESIGN and another for COMPUTER GRAPHIC DESIGN.  An advertising professional might include a section for RADIO ADVERTISEMENTS and another for TELEVISION ADVERTISEMENTS.

 

Resume Writing Advice – Publication References

Publication References

Any published books, articles, stories or papers that you have written, co-authored or contributed to can be an effective way of demonstrating to a prospective employer your expertise within your career field, and that you have the necessary writing and communication skills required for the position. The Publications section is especially valuable for careers in academia, medicine, law, publishing or journalism. In this section, list the publications in which your work has appeared that are relevant to your job target or would be valuable in illustrating your qualifications to an employer.

This is an opportunity to focus the reader on your reputation among peers and to demonstrate personal initiative in your field. It can also demonstrate your researching, interviewing, and writing abilities. If you are widely published, you will have to be selective and list a few well-known or important publications.

List publications in reverse chronological order so that the list begins with your most recent work. Include the title of the paper, article or book, the name of the publication, name and location of the book publisher, and date of the publication. Be sure to include the names of any co-authors that are applicable.

Insider Tip:  Give a brief description of the contents of your publication. If your article or book was reviewed favorably, you may want to include a quote. Be sure to include the names of any co-authors and list them exactly as they appear in the article or book. If applicable, provide more details about your publication, such as volume and page number. Use abbreviations such as: vol. (volume), p. (page), or no. (number). Make it as easy as possible for a prospective employer to research your work.