Barwon Sports Academy

What is a Résumé?

• A record of your academic/work history
• Also called Curriculum Vitae
• Wikipedia describes it as:
  A resumé, also known as a curriculum vitæ (CV), is a document that contains a summary or listing of relevant job experience and education, usually for the purpose of obtaining an interview when seeking employment. Often the résumé or CV is the first item that a potential employer encounters regarding the job seeker, and therefore a large amount of importance is often ascribed to it.

How is a Résumé Used?

• It introduces you to people who, without ever having met you, will make a decision about your future
• It is posted, dropped in or uploaded to potential employers

What makes a good Résumé?

• A clear document that gets favourable attention

A Good Résumé …

• Is easy to read
• Looks good
• Has proper spelling and language
• Is free from mistakes
• Inspires and sells
• Is comprehensive
• Is consistent in formatting

How to Impress

People scan before they read.

…You’ve only got a couple of seconds to get their attention…

If there are hundreds of people going for the same job, how will yours stand out?

• Do not add your photo (unless you are looking to go into modelling)
• Tailor the information to the job/industry
• Keep important information at the front
• Have a ‘clean looking’ (uncluttered) résumé

Creating a Résumé

• Use a template or wizard
• Use others’ expertise if possible
• Use an agency if necessary

Categories: Contact Details

• Your address and phone/email numbers
• Do not use an email address such as ‘hotbunny92’. This does not impress potential employers
• If you give your mobile number, make sure you have a good answering message (nothing silly) and that you listen to your voicemail messages

Categories: Objective

• Is very useful for career entry positions
• Starts with ‘To…”
• Should be a selling statement, eg:
• “To win over customers and be a valued employee by providing excellent customer service as a food attendant.”
• “To be the best graphic designer in my field.”

Categories: Education

• If you are still at school, list your school and academic achievements
• If you are not strong academically focus on your sporting achievements
• You only need to mention your most recent or current year
• If you are at university, denote the course as ‘x% complete’
  Eg: 2008 Bachelor of Education (Physical Education) (20% complete) University of Ballarat
        2007 VCE, Geelong High School
  
  Once you have  a tertiary qualification your secondary education can come off your résumé – unless you went to a school that you deliberately want to play up!

Categories: Work History

• Use what you have - work experience, paid employment, voluntary work
• If you have been working for some time, then break up the above work options into different categories
• Your history should be listed in reverse chronological order, that is, from most recent to earliest
  
  Eg:
  Rebel Sport        2007 - present
  Sales Assistant
  
  McDonalds Australia     2006 – 2007
  Crew Member

• Each job should have:
  
  • Employer
  • Dates employed
  • Work title
  • Responsibilities
  • Achievements (if applicable)
• Responsibilities should be listed with most relevant or most important at the top
• Eg, if you are going for a sales job, you might put your customer service experience ahead of anything else you’ve done
• Don’t assume that everyone knows what your role involves/d
• Achievements are special, measurable and verifiable
• If you won ‘Employee of the Month’ then that is an ‘achievement’ worth noting

Categories: Personal Attributes & Strengths

• Choose from the list provided the attributes that describe you best
• Choose your strengths

Referees

• These are people who can be contacted by phone. Written references are no longer used much.
• Make sure your referees approve of their name and phone number being given
• You can use senior teachers as referees