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Critique my Resume?

DemerdarDemerdar Registered User regular
edited September 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
Hey I'm a Mechanical Engineer graduating in May looking to get into graduate school and hopefully obtaining a research position so I can go for free.

So, critique my resume if you would!

resume.png

y6GGs3o.gif
Demerdar on

Posts

  • RenegadeSilenceRenegadeSilence Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I went to a career fair today, mine is on the bottom to give you a frame of reference.

    I was told that course not needed, if they are interested in it they'll ask. I found out that was pretty much true. The only way I would keep it is if you took any classes that weren't required of your major, which none of those look like they are.

    I'd get rid of the additional experience part, that seems like stuff you would elaborate on in a interview. Replace it with a computer skills section.

    Are you involved in any extracurriculars? Receive any scholarships?

    If you have some kind of career center I would recommend going over there for them to critique it.

    http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/3171/aaaaww.jpg

    RenegadeSilence on
  • Lux782Lux782 Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Demerdar wrote: »
    Hey I'm a Mechanical Engineer graduating in May looking to get into graduate school and hopefully obtaining a research position so I can go for free.

    So, critique my resume if you would!

    resume.png

    My advice would be to remove education listing from the top and put work / research experience up top. You have some really awesome things going on there and that is much more interesting then some school. (Also I applied for a Software Engineering job on the DCT but didn't get it, I was very sad). Next I would reorganize your education to be smaller. Something like... (I used tables in my resume which made for some excellent formatting. )

    School Name, Location, Years
    Degree, GPA

    Relevant Course work should be the last piece of information. Awards should be listed second, Additional Experience either 3rd or 4th depending on your thoughts. Your objective is rather simple and I would suggest either removing it or adding to it. No more then 2 lines in length.

    I think the rest is personal preference (layout and such).

    Hope that helps.

    Lux782 on
  • Marty81Marty81 Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    If this is for a grad school app, education goes at the top. You could list your major GPA along with your overall GPA if it's higher. Remove the relevant coursework. That's already on your transcripts, and you can work them into your personal statement. Other than that, not bad, but it's your personal statement and your letters of rec - not your resume - that will ultimately make or break your application.

    Marty81 on
  • RenegadeSilenceRenegadeSilence Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Lux782 wrote: »
    My advice would be to remove education listing from the top and put work / research experience up top. You have some really awesome things going on there and that is much more interesting then some school. (Also I applied for a Software Engineering job on the DCT but didn't get it, I was very sad). Next I would reorganize your education to be smaller. Something like... (I used tables in my resume which made for some excellent formatting. )

    School Name, Location, Years
    Degree, GPA

    Relevant Course work should be the last piece of information. Awards should be listed second, Additional Experience either 3rd or 4th depending on your thoughts. Your objective is rather simple and I would suggest either removing it or adding to it. No more then 2 lines in length.

    I think the rest is personal preference (layout and such).

    Hope that helps.

    I wouldn't move your education listing down you have a solid GPA and that will be enough steam to carry you into your work experience. GPA is a deciding factor and there probably is some cutoff for most graduate schools, I do agree that section needs some tidying up though. For example you don't need "current year" because most people will be able to derive that from your graduation date.

    Also, another reason why I wouldn't move your experience up is because you started most of those positions this year, the main issue you have is that you don't seem very involved on your campus.

    RenegadeSilence on
  • EskimoDaveEskimoDave Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I'm a believer of the whole 'references available on request' thing as a given and doesn't need to be stated.

    EskimoDave on
  • ImprovoloneImprovolone Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    First I'm going to quote me from another thread.
    I read Knock 'em Dead Resumes (awesome book, they also have a great one on over letters), have gotten a lot of input from others, and ultimately came away with a good idea of how to write a resume. I've even gotten compliments from people who see it. I've gone ahead and edited the resumes to be pretty anonymous so that I can post them here.
    24y30y1.jpg


    2drt6dh.jpg
    (some entries aren't aligned anymore, what with the anonymizing I did)
    The first one is my go to layout and, depending on the job, I tailor what information I give and in what order it is given. The second one was made especially for a very specific job with very very specific requirements across a wide spectrum. I prefer the header on the second one much more. I wound up with about 8 different versions of resume 1 with different personal statements and what not.

    Notice the specific detail in job descriptions, that it fills the white space without seeming too full (the second one is border line, but they really needed a ton of info), the lack of "references available upon request" (but always have a separate reference sheet with you), the lack of a mission statement (instead we have a personal statement), the lack of dates on the second layout (not only are dates not important for that to a degree, but it would also work against me given a lot of this was done while in school, thus making me seem young before you meet me [which I am, but I wanted to avoid that]) and since it bears repeating, detail.
    I'm 23, never had a full time job, and recently graduated from college with a degree in Theatre (ensue the HR lulz). It's all about choosing the right words, fluffing but not lying, and recognizing the skills that you have and presenting them in the best way possible. You do have skills, and defining them is really something you can do better than us. What I love about my first layout is how I've worked in a skills section that allows me to go into with just enough depth to what my experience is outside of Job X.

    Second, I'm not to talk directly about your resume. A lot of these comments will probably reference my resumes posted above.
    Drop the objective, they know what your objective is by giving them the resume and talking to them. Replace it with a title of position. Your education and header take up a fuck ton of room; condense it. It is about a third of the entire resume length wise. That is fucking ridiculous. Your education section also takes up a lot of room I would drop the dates because it seems like you've only done stuff recently. This may be true, but the goal is to avoid anything that might be negative from coming up. Obviously if they ask you tell them and make sure to have prepared a good reason for why you've only done stuff recently. 100% of your research experience is during the same exact time period.
    Notice in my layouts I have different version of skill sections, you need a skills section. Not only will it let you showcase more of what you can do, but it will also fill up space (which you're going to have a lot of). Remove "references available upon request". It is assumed you have those so you're just wasting space. Of course, always have a reference sheet with you if they do ask. You use cliche words. This is a tough one to change, but there is a reason you should want to...

    Your resume has no personal voice. It doesn't sound like an individual wrote it, it sounds like a machine churned it out on your behalf. Everything from the words to the descriptions to the layout screams "nothing to see here, move along". Technical resumes are by their very nature going to be different from the stuff I've done, but you still need to make yours represent you.

    Improvolone on
    Voice actor for hire. My time is free if your project is!
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