Full Time Resume Tips

Let’s great ready to transform your resume. Review the following steps to transform your resume from your co-op/ intern search to a full-time professional search.

STEPS TO CRAFT YOUR ENTRY LEVEL POST GRAD RESUME

STEP 1. Professional Summary. After your intern/co-op experience(s), you now most likely have the experience to provide a short introduction highlighting your professional skills as a candidate. You can do this by adding a Professional Summary. See the following "How to Write a Professional Summary" article from KickResume and professional summary samples from Career Sidekick.

Another bonus to a professional summary is that it also includes technical and professional keywords related to your position of interest multiple times on your resume. Note in a full-time search your resume may go through Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Review my blog post on how to beat them.

• EXAMPLE: Communication / Public Relations Graduate, specializing in analyzing and developing digital strategies to increase followership and website traffic. Two years of social content management experience including website integration, video editing, graphic creation, and user engagement methods.

STEP 2. Keyword Check. A quick way to find if your resume will be competitive for a job posting is to compare your resume vs. the position posting using the Job Scan or RezRunner site. Job Scan compares the job posting and your resume and provides a summary of the skills and competencies that your resume has that matches the posting and those skills that are missing. The summary may provide you with ideas for skills you can add that you possess, but that is currently missing from your resume.

STEP 3. Add Experience. Review your co-op/internship experiences’ bullet points and description of your work. Additionally, consider adding your senior design project work to your resume. Be sure to highlight tools and specific technical and professional skills acquired throughout these experiences.

• EXAMPLE: Senior Design Capstone Project, Project Name (in progress) Collaborated with four-member team to develop comprehensive communication and marketing strategy for local urban district development center. Researched target market. Developed social media channels, created and delivered content over the course of the semester. Increased online platform followership by 1,000%.

STEP 4. Format, Format, Format. Check Length and Format: Length and Format: It is still encouraged that entry-level recent college graduate resumes are still limited to 1 page 1-sided at this time. However, this is contingent upon your industry. For instance education type roles prefer CVs and it is encouraged that your CV or resume is more than 1 page and includes details highlighting your research, professional experience, teaching, and service.

Your education, skills, and industry related experience should still be towards the top of your resume. Separate non-industry related work experience can now be in a different section than your industry work experience to assure that your transferable work experience is highlighted first in your resume.

Consider font size/type, use of tables, and narrowing margins. Font size. Your name in your HEADER should still be larger than all other fonts (16+). Body text size should not be lower than 10pt font. Use of tables. Highlight skills based on the type of roles in need. You may also see examples where level of competency in a specific skill is shown through an image of levels and colored circles. Narrowing margins. Be consistent but creative with spacing in your resume. The spacing between sections (i.e. 8pt. font size) and experiences (i.e. 5pt. font size) should be consistent but does not have to be a full line for each of these portions separately for the resume.

RESUME EXAMPLES

• Bearcat Career Studio CV and Resume Resources

• OSU Sample Resumes for A&S Students

• USF Example Resumes Full-Time

APPLICATIONS AND COVER LETTER

As you prepare for your search, be sure to brush off your cover letter and submit with your applications. Cover letters should be tailored to the position in which you are applying to and address the qualifications of the role in comparison with your skills and experience. If you are applying to two distinct types of roles, consider having resume templates for each type of role and edit from there. If in need of formatting tips, review the following cover letter resources page.

REFERENCE CONSIDERATIONS

Remember that references are part of this search process and will often be contacted. Start pulling together 3 to 5 professional references from past co-op supervisors to professors of your favorite classes. When reaching out to references, help them help you by providing your references with ample information about your search. In your correspondence, include your most recent resume and potential opportunities you are seeking during this search.

Good luck on your full-time search. In addition to getting your resume READY, also be sure to update your Linkedin and plan for the search.

Resources:

Clark, B. 10 Resume Summary Examples that Get Interviews. Career Sidekick.

"How to Write a Professional Summary on a Resume?" Kick Resume.

Mahoney, S. (2018, August). Getting your Resume to Crush Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).