resume review?

Shazkar Shadowstorm

Anyone wanna give this some comments:
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/152577/Anon%20Resume%2010-22.pdf

I mean, this is a general resume, but at the moment I am applying for this internship:

Program Manager (PM): Develop the Vision, and Deliver the Goods 
As a Program Manager, you’ll drive the technical vision, design and implementation of next-generation software solutions. You’ll transform the product vision into elegant designs that will ultimately turn into products used by * customers. Managing feature sets throughout the product lifecycle, you’ll have the chance to see your design through to completion. You’ll also work directly with other key team members including Software Development Engineers and Software Development Engineers in Test. Program Managers are advocates for end-users, so your passion for anticipating customer needs and creating outside-the-box solutions for them will really help you shine in this role. Skill Set: Design and creativity; technical depth and understanding of algorithms; customer focus; complex problem solving; negotiation and conflict management; cross-group collaboration. Responsibilities: Define and drive product vision, design, and feature set; author technical specifications; create and manage complex project schedules.

Thanatos

Your first job shouldn't be "volunteer," it should be "consultant." Mention the position was volunteer in your first bullet-point.

If you can possibly sell it, "teacher's aide" and "project manager" would be great for the other two.

Vixx

oh yay

I look at resumes all the time since I work in HR so let's see here

FORMAT
After "Columbia University..." your indentation of the following lines is not flush with the other indents later in the resume. This is subtle and unimportant, but it does demonstrate attention to detail. Fix it if it's easy to do so.

Your dates are hard to read, as are the locations for each position. People need to be able to spot, right away, how long you were at a position for.

TEXT
Change ", Expected May 2010" to "; expected completion May 2010"

After "GPA: 3.82", hit Enter and start a new line that says "Awards" and put your Dean's List details after that.

Change "Volunteer" line to "Volunteer Consultant".

Change "Intern" to "Project Intern".

Change "Tutor" to "Mathematics and Science Tutor".

Your job titles can be fudged a bit, but the key words in your "official" job title MUST be present. If you were hired as an intern, that line has to say so.

Also under tutor, detail how many hours a week you spent teaching.

Under "Languages" - English (native), Spanish (fluent)

Change "Computer" to "Computer Software"

Fix your spelling of "Activities"

Shazkar Shadowstorm

I updated it as per suggestions
Are you sure I should leave GPA on one line by itself like that?

I bolded the locations and dates since that seemed the simplest most straightforward thing to do

Thanks for advice so far

For this particular job (for which I already have an interview, but need to submit the resume again before the interview) I gotta send it before 5 EST... hmm

But overall it looks good I suppose?

Vixx

You could leave GPA on the same line as the awards, I guess it doesn't matter that much.

If you already have the interview then format isn't as important (since you're not doing it to get noticed you're doing it so that they have an updated reference for use during the interview).

Good luck!

Willeth

I'm actually in the process of rewriting my CV right now (it's essentially a wall of text as I have it at the moment). Any general tips?

Vixx

There are a few things you should keep in mind when writing a CV.

If you are writing a CV in to an existing job ad, realize that format matters because a hundred other people have also seen that job ad so that HR department is going to be swamped. Your format has to be eye-catching, easy to read, and informative. No one's going to waste their time on a badly formatted CV, there's probably someone else just as good with something easier to follow.

If you are writing a CV as an attachment to a cold-call cover letter (as in, there is no job ad currently and you are writing in out of the blue), then being eye-catching isn't as necessary. Your CV should still be crisp, but format matters slightly less. More important here is giving them reasons to pay attention to you, which is in the cover letter, not necessarily the CV. I would, however, add a "career objective" line to the CV, which details in brief what your career goals are. This helps HR figure out why you are writing to them and how to read your CV.

Other general points are:

• make your dates easy to read so that HR knows how long you were at that position; THIS MATTERS!
  
• for every job description, the bullet point should begin with a past-tense verb "delivered," "supervised," "assisted in," etc., and should follow up with a complete clause
  
• if you are coming fresh out of school and don't have a lot of work experience, education comes first as a category; if you've been working a while, work experience should come first
  
• include things like volunteer work and activities if you lack work experience to buffer up your CV
  
• do NOT include languages you can't actually speak; if you list one, be prepared to have an actual conversation in it!
  
• spacing is important as it keeps the CV from being a giant wall of text
  
• use bold where appropriate, which is going to be headings and usually company names/positions
  
• use catchphrases and buzzwords; HR is almost conditioned to spot these, so they'll see them and be pulled into reading lines that contain them
  
• when describing a task you performed in a certain function, try to also include results in numbers if you can... such as "Led a marketing initiative that generated $250,000 in revenues"
  
• be sure to order your job description points in order of most important to least important underneath each job heading
  
• list computer skills, but only list the programs with which you are absolutely familiar
  
• only include references if you need to fill space, otherwise "references available upon request" should be appended to the end of your CV

oh man there's tons more, but essentially, you're cramming everything that makes you hire-able into a two-page document (IT SHOULD BE NO LONGER THAN TWO PAGES DAMMIT), so use every line and word wisely

supabeast

That’s not a resume, it’s a wall of text. It looks like you’re trying to cram in every possible detail in hopes that something draws attention. It’s not inviting and doesn’t look good. Pare things down and add margins or use two pages.

Also, use punctuation consistently. For example, you use dashes in the date range for Awards (correct) but you used hyphens for job dates (incorrect).

Shazkar Shadowstorm

gwuh, but what should I cut out
I'm having a hard time figuring that out
I shortened one of my bullet points by 5 or so words but didn't upload that... but other than that, I have no idea how to pare it down