Resume software and templates

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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

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

SPECIAL INTERESTS:

International students

Students with disabilities

LGBT students

Graduate students

Resume software and templates

Use Microsoft Word to prepare your resume; however, DON'T use the resume templates in Microsoft Word. Templates we have seen do not create effective resumes based on what we know about employers' opinions.

DO create your own simple Microsoft Word format, using a table with invisible borders, as explained and shown in the example below:

Page margins of 1/2 to 1 inch on all sides generally look fine.
Except for your name, which can be larger, font sizes of 10, 11 or 12 generally look fine. Note that Arial 12 and Times 12 are not the same size. If you have trouble getting your content on one page, use a smaller font, like Arial 10.
Create your heading (name, addresses, phone numbers and email). You can create a three-column, two-row table (with cells merged on top row) to organize your heading, as shown below, if you find this helpful.
For the body of your resume, create a table; one column for headings; another column for content; one row for each heading section.
You can resize and realign your content easily as you revise your resume. Using the table format means you don't have to individually tab each line of your resume.
Set your borders to be invisible: format > borders and shading > borders > none. You'll see them on screen as guidelines, but they won't print.
For assistance, use the "Help" function in Microsoft Word or visit the Career Services Computer Lab.

SAMPLE layout / format:

Name (centered or left justified; bold and larger than other text)

School address
1st line
2nd line
Telephone
Email address
(email address under your name looks fine also)

Set your table borders as "none" in Microsoft Word, so the borders will not appear on your resume document. The table format is solely to help you structure your resume and reformat easily.

Permanent Address
1st line
2nd line
Telephone

Objective	Your concise objective here
Education	B.S. (Major), June 2006 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) Blacksburg, Virginia GPA: x.x/4.0 Earned and financed 70% of tuition and college expenses
Skills	First skill Another skill Etc.
Experience	Employer Company/Organization, City & State location Job Title, Month/Year dates (DO use the bullet feature in MS Word to list each item) (DON'T try to manually insert bullets and manually add spacing to make your indentions line up)
Activities & Honors	(Leadership position in organization) (Award) (Scholarship) Etc.

The content of this sample is not intended to tell you exactly what to include or how to order YOUR resume. See Content / sections of your resume for guidelines on what to include in your own resume, and see resume formats and samples for various examples.

Also see:

Purpose of the resume

Vitae (curriculum vitae)

Length of your resume or vita

"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