View of Career Services Building from southeast Career Services @ Virginia Tech
Career Services Building (0128)
Corner of Washington Street & West Campus Drive
Blacksburg, VA  24061
phone 540-231-6241     fax 540-231-3293       www.career.vt.edu
location | office hours | walk-in advising & appointments | contact us | our staff | events | career fairs | A-Z index
Career Services is for all students: freshman, sophomore, junior, senior,
and graduate level, at
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Our Mission and Core Values 
FOR:   Students  |  Graduate Students  |  Employers  |  Alumni  |  Faculty & Staff  |  Parents
Explore Careers & Majors  |  Externships  |  Internships  |  Co–op  |  Job Search  |  Plan for Grad School
 
You are here: Career Services > For Students > Job search > Resumes and vitae > Purpose of your resume
 
JOB SEARCH TOOLS & SKILLS:
Resumes and vitae
Cover letters & other letters
E-mail
Telephone
References
Researching employers
 
FINDING JOBS & EMPLOYERS:
How VT grads did it
Who hired VT grads
How to start your job search
Pros & cons of ways to job-hunt
Advertised jobs
Unadvertised jobs
Networking
VT CareerLink
CareerSearch
Hokies4Hire & the On-Campus Interviewing Program
Job listing web sites
On-line job search advice & privacy protection
 
MEETING EMPLOYERS:
Handshakes
Career fairs / job fairs
Employer info sessions
Interviewing
Interview attire
Business casual attire
Dining etiquette
 
DECIDING ON A JOB OFFER:
Salary, benefits, negotiating
Responding to job offers
Acknowledging a job offer
Deadline extensions
Declining
Accepting
Contracts
Relocating
 
SPECIAL INTERESTS:
Diverse students
International students
Students with disabilities
LGBT students
Graduate students

Purpose of your resume
A resume is a brief, concise document that presents, and effectively sells, your most relevant and positive credentials for employment, admission to graduate school, consideration for a scholarship or fellowship, or other professional purpose.
A vita, or curriculum vita, is a more extensive document typically used by those with graduate education who are pursuing positions in academia or research. See more about vitae (curriculum vitae).
An effective resume gets you an interview, not a job.
An employer will usually spend 15 to 20 seconds reviewing your resume, so the content of your resume must be clear, concise, and targeted to the type of job for which you are applying.
If your resume has a typo or grammatical error, it will probably jump off the page to an employer, and this is a way to weed you out of a candidate pool. Your resume may be the only chance you get to make an impression, so make it a good one.
 
Also see:
Resume formats and samples
Resume software and templates
Vitae (curriculum vitae)
Length of your resume or vita
Content / sections of your resume
"Should I include my GPA?" and other FAQs
Most frequent resume mistakes
Scannable resumes
Resume critiques
E-mailing resumes
Printing, photocopying & mailing resumes and vitae
           
© 1996-2006 Career Services