CHAPTER 8

Résumé Writing, Curriculum Vitae (CV) and Statement of Purpose (SOP)

Chapter Objectives

This chapter discusses the importance of writing effectively the résumé, the CV and the statement of purpose (SOP). This is discussed in the context of their high career making value in relation to getting job calls and academic admissions.

DEFINITION OF A RÉSUMÉ

A résumé is a one or two page summary of your education, skills, accomplishments, and experience. Your résumé's purpose is to enable you to gain the selector's attention. A résumé does its job successfully if it does not exclude you from their consideration. To prepare a successful résumé, you need to know how to review, summarize, and present your experiences and achievements on one page. Unless you have considerable experience, you don't need two pages. Outline your achievements briefly and concisely. Your résumé is your ticket to an interview where you can sell yourself!

Writing a résumé is serious business. Often, it is the first impression you will make on a prospective employer. Hopefully, after looking over your résumé, the employer will grant you the opportunity to make a second impression. If we look at job search as a marketing campaign, we can then look at the résumé as a print advertisement or a marketing brochure. If you take a look through a magazine you will see many advertisements. Try to find one that tells you to buy a product because the company needs to increase its profits. You will be hard-pressed to find such a insensitive one.

The advertisements you see tell you what the manufacturer's product can do for you – make your smile bright, your hair shiny, or simply make your life better. When putting together your résumé, evaluate the needs of the employer and then determine how you can fill those needs. If you have access to a computer and a quality printer, you can design a targeted résumé for every job that you apply for. If you have to mass produce your résumé, you will have to do a little guesswork to come up with one that will impress everyone. There are three types of résumés. They are, (a) functional résumé, (b) chronological résumé and (c) combined résumé.

Functional Résumé

The functional résumé focuses on your skills and accomplishments. It highlights what they are, not when you developed them. It is best for:

1. People with lots of job experience and many jobs.
2. People just entering the work force with no track record.
3. People who are returning to work after a long absence.
4. People who are changing careers who want to highlight their skills and credentials.
5. People who are closer to retirement age.
6. People whose career growth has not been good.
7. Military personnel who are seeking civilian jobs.

Its contents include:

1. Contact information
2. Objective
3. Skills
4. Work experience
5. Education

Chronological Résumé

The chronological résumé is the most common. It is a chronological listing of your jobs and experience with most recent mentioned first. It is best for:

1. People who have practical work experience without long periods of employment and minimal job changes.
2. People who have demonstrated growth in a single profession.

Its contents include:

1. Contact information
2. Objective
3. Work experience
4. Education

Combined Résumé

A combined résumé includes elements of both the chronological and functional formats. It may be a shorter chronology of job descriptions preceded by a short ‘Skills and Accomplishments’ section (or with a longer summary including a skills list or a list of ‘qualifications’); or, it may be a standard functional résumé with the accomplishments under headings of different jobs held.

There are obvious advantages to this combined approach: It maximizes the advantages of both kinds of résumés, avoiding potential negative effects of either type. One disadvantage is that it tends to be a longer résumé. Another is that it can be repetitious: Accomplishments and skills may have to be repeated in both the ‘functional’ section and the ‘chronological’ job descriptions

Power Words

Use power words to describe your experience and accomplishments. Here are some power words to use:

accelerated, accomplished, achieved, addressed, administered, advised, allocated, answered, appeared, applied, appointed, appraised, approved, arranged, assessed, assigned, assisted, assumed, assured, audited, awarded, ability

bought, briefed, broadened, brought, budgeted, built

capable, capability, cataloged, caused, changed, chaired, clarified, classified, closed, collected, combined, commented, communicated, compared, compiled, completed, computed, conceived, concluded, conducted, conceptualized, considered, consolidated, constructed, consulted, continued, contracted, controlled, converted, coordinated, corrected, counseled, counted, created, critiqued, cut, capacity, competence, competent, complete, completely, consistent, contributions

dealt, decided, defined, delegated, delivered, demonstrated, described, designed, determined, developed, devised, diagnosed, directed, discussed, distributed, documented, doubled, drafted, demonstrated, developing

earned, edited, effected, eliminated, endorsed, enlarged, enlisted, ensured, entered, established, estimated, evaluated, examined, executed, expanded, expedited, experienced, experimented, explained, explored, expressed, extended, educated, efficient, effective, effectiveness, enlarging, equipped, excellent, exceptional, expanding, experienced

filed, filled, financed, focused, forecast, formulated, found, founded

gathered, generated, graded, granted, guided, global

halved, handled, helped

identified, implemented, improved, incorporated, increased, indexed, initiated, influenced, innovated, inspected, installed, instituted, instructed, insured, interpreted, interviewed, introduced, invented, invested, investigated, involved, issued, increasing

joined

kept, knowledgeable

launched, learned, leased, lectured, led, licensed, listed, logged

made, maintained, managed, matched, measured, mediated, met, modified, monitored, motivated, moved, major, mature, maturity,

named, navigated, negotiated, nationwide

observed, opened, operated, ordered, organized, oversaw, outstanding,

participated, perceived, performed, persuaded, planned, prepared, presented, processed, procured, programmed, prohibited, projected, promoted, proposed, provided, published, purchased, pursued, performance, positive, potential, productive, proficient, profitable, proven,

qualified, questioned, ,

raised, ranked, rated, realized, received, recommended, reconciled, recorded, recruited, redesigned, reduced, regulated, rehabilitated, related, reorganized, repaired, replaced, replied, reported, represented, researched, resolved, responded, restored, revamped, reviewed, revise, record, repeatedly, resourceful, responsible, results

saved, scheduled, selected, served, serviced, set, set, up, shaped, shared, showed, simplified, sold, solved, sorted, sought, sparked, specified, spoke, staffed, started, streamlined, strengthened, stressed, stretched, structured, studied, submitted, substituted, succeeded, suggested, summarized, superseded, supervised, surveyed, systematized, significant, significantly, sound, specialist, substantial, substantially, successful, stable,

tackled, targeted, taught, terminated, tested, took, toured, traced, tracked, traded, trained, transferred, transcribed, transformed, translated, transported, traveled, treated, trimmed, tripled, turned, tutored, thorough, thoroughly,

umpired, uncovered, understood, understudied, unified, unraveled, updated, upgraded, used, utilized

verbalized, verified, versatile, vigourous, visited

waged, weighed, widened, won, worked, wrote, well educated, well rounded, worldwide

GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE RÉSUMÉ WRITING

• Be clear, direct, effective and professional. Make your résumé easy to read.
• Use bulleted statements to facilitate skimming. Avoid long paragraphs and large blocks of text.
• Try to keep it to one or two pages. If you have less than 10 years of experience, a single-page résumé is a good rule-of-thumb. The reader should be able to skim your résumé in 25 – 30 seconds.
• Determine a format and stick with it through the résumé i.e., ensure section headings have the same placement and font treatment throughout the résumé.
• Put dates next to the right-hand margins.
• Information about your most recent job may use current or past tense depending on your current status, only use past tense to describe previous accomplishments, since they are completed actions.
• Accurately use up-to-date terminology relevant to the industry you have targeted.
• Spell out terms. Avoid abbreviations and acronyms.
• Identifying information should be listed on the firstpage in a balanced, organized layout, including:
  • Name (should stand out, i.e., bold, all capital letters etc.)
  • Street address
  • City / state / zip code
  • Home, Mobile and/or Cell Phone (include 10-digit telephone numbers with area code)
  • Work phone
  • Email address (include personal not work)
• If your résumé is more than a single page, be sure to place name and page number in upper right hand corner of the second page.

Points to be Included

1. Name and gender

   Given the first and last name only because that's how you are introduced and introduce yourself. Sometimes mentioning the gender is useful especially where names are not revelatory of it in themselves and when you are sure you will not be discriminated because of your gender.

2. Address

   Give complete address. Do not abbreviate.

3. Telephone number with area code.
4. Objective

   Keep it short in just one or two sentences. Adjust to fit the position for which you are applying. If résumé is going to be circulated a lot, the broader the better.

5. Education

   If you are a recent graduate, place education before work experience, if not, place after.

6. Skills

   List all that are appropriate to the type of work you are seeking. Include computer skills and languages (understood, read, or spoken) for every job.

7. Dates

   Include some type of reference of when you had the job. Be consistent with your notation

8. Job titles

   Adjust to fit the position for which you are applying. If résumé is going to be circulated a lot, the broader the better. If appropriate, use the title of the position for which you are applying.

9. Company name

   The company with whom you were employed. City and state are sufficient for the address.

10. Responsibilities

    This is an essential part of the résumé. Highlight the responsibilities of your previous jobs that are related to the position for which you are applying.

11. Professional licenses

    Include if important to line of work

12. Publications and patents

    Use if important to your field or profession.

13. Professional affiliations

    Exclude mention of political, social, religious or any other controvesial group. The emphasis is on your professional memberships, not personal.

Points to be generally excluded

1. A résumé title

   It should be obvious what it is.

2. Availability

   Apparently you are available; you are looking for work. It decreases the life span of your résumé and your efficiency if you do not get a job by the specified date.

3. Salary

   If your request is too high, you are eliminated immediately. If it's too low, they may still trash your résumé, or worse they may pay you what you asked, which is thousands less than you are worth.

4. Mention of age, race, religion, or national origin

   It is just not good business sense to mention these. Discrimination does happen to everyone now and then.

5. Photographs

   Unnecessary, unless applying for a modeling or acting career. Then, a portfolio is recommended.

6. Charts and graphs

   Nobody's résumé should have that much void space. You can do better.

7. Weaknesses

   It is counter-productive. The purpose of the résumé is to accentuate the positives.

8. Reason for leaving

   It is inappropriate for the résumé. If the employer wants to know, he or she will ask you.

9. References

   Do not list references because it is unprofessional. State instead, “References are available upon request,” at the very end of your résumé.

CURRICULUM VITAE (CV)

A curriculum vitae more commonly referred to as CV, is a longer (two or more pages) and a more detailed synopsis than a résumé. It comprises a summary of your educational and academic background, as well as teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honors, affiliations, and other details. Your CV ought to be clear, concise, complete, and up-to-date with current employment and educational information. The following is an appropriate format of globally acceptable curriculum vitae.

Your CV is your own logo and also the company profile of you as a brand!

Are you able to market your functional skills, expertise and achievements? Is your résumé a mere reflection of your skills? If you are looking for a job, then it is important that you understand how best to offer yourself to an employer. This is done by writing a ‘CV’ (curriculum vitae – Latin for ‘life story’), called ‘Bio Data’ in some countries.

Companies receive hundreds of résumés/CVs for one job opening. However, only few are short-listed for the interview. This short listing is done on the basis of your résumé/CV. On an average a Curriculum Vitae will receive no more than 30 seconds of initial consideration. In that time, it needs to make an impact. To get someone to look at it longer, it must quickly convey your capabilities, competence and ‘essence’.

We need to understand the difference between the scope of the résumé/ CV of a thorough professional and that of a new recruit. With years of experience behind you, your résumé should focus on your strategic capabilities and your business acumen. It should document how your presence had been valuable in driving the organization up the ladder of corporate success.

When it comes to salary negotiations, a well-written CV plays an important role. If your CV conveys your full worth you are likely to get a higher salary offer than you might have done with a poorer CV. A CV is personal, but it is neither a biography, nor a paragraph, nor even a novel, in which you tell the story of your professional life!

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE (SOP)

It is an essay written by a prospective candidate for admissions into any academic programme.

How to write an effective statement of purpose?

1. Establish your purpose in writing the statement

   Usually the purpose is to persuade a particular admissions committee that you are an applicant they should choose. You may want to show that you have the ability and motivation to succeed in your field, or you may want to show that, on the basis of your experience, you are the kind of candidate who will do well in the field. Whatever the purpose, it must be explicit to give coherence to the whole statement.

   1. Pay attention to the purpose throughout the statement so that irrelevant material is excluded.
   2. Keep in mind the audience (committee) throughout the statement. Your audience is made up of faculty members who are experts in their field. They want to know that you can effectively go through the paces of learning, given your purpose.
2. Establish the content of your statement

   Sometimes, there are pre-given questions in the admission document itself. Ensure that you answer such direct questions completely. Analyze the questions or guidance statements thoroughly and answer all parts to build the statement.

   For instance: “What are the strengths and weaknesses in setting and achieving goals and working through people?” (Observe closely the small words. This example question says through people not with people, if it says with people, answer that way). This question points at six parts to be answered. They are,

   1. Strengths in setting goals,
   2. Strengths in achieving goals,
   3. Strengths in working through people,
   4. Weaknesses in setting goals,
   5. Weaknesses in achieving goals and
   6. weaknesses in working through people.

   Usually graduate and professional schools are interested in the following:

   1. Your purpose in graduate study. This implies that you must have thought this through before you try to answer the question.
   2. The area of study in which you wish to specialize. This demands that you know the field well enough to make such decision.
   3. Your future use of your graduate study. This would comprise career goals and plans for your future.
   4. Your special preparation and fitness for study in the field. This is the context to link your academic background with your extracurricular experience to show how they combine to make you an exceptional candidate.
   5. Any problems or inconsistencies in your records or scores such as a bad semester. Be confident to explain positively and justify the explanation. Since this is a refusal argument, it should be followed by a positive statement about your skills and talents.
   6. Any special conditions that are not revealed elsewhere in the application such as a substantial (25 hour a week) work load outside of school. This also should be followed with an affirmative statement about yourself and your future.
   7. You may be asked, “Why do you wish to attend this school?” This demands that you have obtained prior information about the school and realize its special appeal to you.
   8. Most importantly, the statement of purpose ought to comprise information about you as a person. They know nothing about you that you don't tell them. You are the subject of the statement.
3. Determine your approach and the style of the statement

   There is no such thing as “the perfect way to write a statement.” There is only the one that is best for you and fits your circumstances.

   1. There are some things the statement should not be:
      1. Avoid the “what I did with my life” approach. This would be fine for school essays on “what I did last vacation.” It is not good for a personal statement.
      2. Equally simple is the approach “I've always wanted to be a________.” This is only suitable if it also reflects your current career goals.
      3. Also avoid a statement that indicates your or your family member's ill-health.

These are some things the statement should do:

1. It should be objective while being self-revelatory. Write directly and in a straightforward manner that tells about your experience and what it means to you.
2. It should form conclusions that explain the value and meaning of your experiences such as: (a) what you learned about yourself; (b) about your field; (c) about your future goals; and (d) about your career concerns.
3. It should be specific. Document your conclusions with specific examples or draw your conclusions as the result of individual experience..
4. It should be an example of careful, credible writing.

Considerations about Form and Language

1. Keep to the page limit. Reviewers have to read many of these applications; don't overstrain them with extra pages.
2. Do not leave any typographical errors and do not use unacceptable and inappropriate language. You should not want to be taken less seriously due to these.

Words and phrases to be used discretely and with explanation

SUMMARY

• A résumé is a one or two page summary of your education, skills, accomplishments, and experience.
• To prepare a successful résumé, you need to know how to review, summarize, and present your experiences and achievements on one page.
• There are three types of résumés. They are functional résumé, chronological résumé, and combined résumé
• Use appropriate power words to describe your experience and accomplishments
• A curriculum vitae (CV), is a longer and a more detailed synopsis than a résumé.
• It comprises a summary of your educational and academic background, as well as teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honors, affiliations, and other details.
• Your CV ought to be clear, concise, complete, and up-to-date with current employment and educational information.
• Statement of purpose (SOP) is an essay written by a prospective candidate for admissions into any academic programme.
• Usually the purpose of an SOP is to persuade a particular admissions committee that you are an applicant they should choose.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is a résumé?
2. What are the features of an effective résumé?
3. What are the aspects to be avoided while writing a résumé?
4. What is a CV and what does it consist of?
5. How does a well-written CV help in negotiating the salary?
6. Recalling and analyzing experience – write short paragraphs on the following:
   1. Pick a memorable accomplishment in your life. What did you do? How did you accomplish it?
   2. What sort of important activities have you engaged in? With whom? What role did you play?
   3. What work experiences have you had? What was your job? Responsibility? How did you carry it out?
7. Write two short paragraphs on the following:
   1. What career have you chosen? What factors made you take this decision?
   2. What evidence shows that this is a correct choice? That is, how can you show that this choice is realistic? (Personal experience in the field is a good place to begin.)