AGU Resume Guide

by Peter Fiske

Resumes and Curricula Vitae

The rules of CV construction are probably familiar to most of you, since you come from a work environment where that document is the norm. Most research scientists, however, do not have any experience writing a resume and wind up constructing a document that looks very much like, well..., a CV. Even though we live in a free society there are some rules to resume writing. Adhering to these rules makes you look informed, serious and professional. Most of these "rules" are also simple common sense.

The main purpose of a resume is to get you an interview. It is very rare that someone is hired sight-unseen. The typical employer spends about 20 seconds on each resume. Stop now, put this booklet down and count to 20. That's it. That's all the time your resume has to stand out and make an impression. This may seem arbitrary and unfair but it is a fact of life. Research-trained scientists applying to positions that do not call for an advanced degree may elicit additional scrutiny, if for no other reason that the employer is probably wondering whether: (1) the resume was misplaced (2) the person knows what they are doing, or (3) a geeky scientist is really applying for this job.

In the past people have discussed converting a CV to a resume as if all that mattered was having a single page and the right font. No way. Depending on how far you are moving away from a career in research science your resume will bear less and less resemblance to your CV. Employers want to know about different things such as: How you made a difference in the organizations in which you worked How you interacted in a team environment How you applied creative thinking to problem solving What unique things you will bring to the company As a scientist, especially if you are getting or have a Ph.D., you will be attractive to employers because they will immediately assume that you are smart, but you may be unattractive because you will be an animal that they might not have seen before (less of a concern for geotechnical firms, but definitely an issue with computer/software firms). Your resume, like your cover letter, your interview, and every other part of your package of materials, must reinforce the preconception that you are brilliant. It must also immediately challenge preconceived notions that you are a loner, are impractical, and are uninterested in things besides science.

How to get started

Most people use a combination of these two styles. Work experience is listed, usually by job title and in chronological order, but this is followed by a description which emphasizes the skills used.

Basic Parts of a Resume

1. Name and Address

   This part is easy: put your name, address, phone number, fax number and E-mail at the top. (If you really want to show off, you can put the URL for your home page too!) If your resume is two pages, be sure your name is in the header of the second page.

2. Objective statement

   The objective statement is a one sentence summary of what you want. Obviously, this may change depending on what position you are applying for. The objective statement tells the employer at a glance:

   What type of position you are seeking
   Where you want to work (presumably in an organization similar to the one you are applying to)
   What aspect of this field you are interested in

   The goal of including this statement is to appear well directed to the position you are applying to. Clearly, if you have not done your homework and are incorrect about the position or the opportunities in the organization you are applying to, you will instantly rule yourself out of the competition. For this reason, an objective statement is somewhat optional and shouldn't be used if you are uncertain about the position.

   Above all, an objective statement shouldn't be too narrow, too broad or too vague. Saying something like "applicant desires a challenging position utilizing his skills and experience with

   the opportunity for advancement" would tell an employer that you wanted a job, any job, and that you have no clue what is going on. Not the best first impression to make...

   Here are some clear concise objective statements modified from resumes from the Damn Good Resume Guide by Yana Parker:

   "Challenging position as computer programmer or analyst incorporating skills in numerical analysis, resource management, and land-use policy"

   "Desire position in management consulting organization requiring outstanding verbal, analytical and team-work skills".

   "Position as analytical chemist in semi-conductor manufacturing company, specializing in transmission electron microscopy"

   I am of two minds about objective statements. They are surprisingly common on the typical resume, but must be crafted just right to really make an impression. If they aren't just so, they either anger people or waste their time. They also can take up as much space as a work experience item. I think that the objective statement should be addressed more fully in the cover letter. However, if you choose not to use one you should probably use a Summary statement

3. Summary statement

   Like the objective statement, the summary statement is one sentence. However, its purpose is to focus on the highlights of your qualifications. It usually contains some or all of the following: your most outstanding skills, years of experience, credentials, areas of specialization, etc. It can be combined with the objective statement (something I prefer) to say both what you want and what you have to offer.

4. Education

   The educational background of research-trained scientists is usually outstanding on paper. It is something that people will really notice. Having a Ph.D. from MIT in Geophysics, and graduating summa cum laude from Vasser College, will cause anyone to sit up and take notice. In fact any advanced degree in a resume submitted for a position for which an advanced degree is not the norm will be considered an asset. For this reason I put the Education section right under the Objective/Summary statements (if any). Put things like ___ cum laude in this section, but other academic and related awards I'd put in a separate section (more on that later). Just so everyone is clear on this, you should put the following in the Education section in reverse chronological order:

   Name of institution (Ph.D., Masters, Undergrad)
   Location of institution
   Year of graduation (don't bother with the month)
   Department or major (or dual majors) and academic honors (i.e., cum laude etc.)
   Any certificates of accreditation or minors

   Do not bother putting in:

   The titles of your theses (that can go in work experience)
   The name of your advisor (that too can go in work experience)
   Your GPA (if it is requested, often along with GRE/SAT scores, list it/them separately)
   Your high school

5. Experience/Work Experience

   This is the place to put down 4-6 experiences/jobs that highlight the set of skills that are most desirable to the employer. As stated earlier, these accomplishments should sound substantial and important. They should highlight your skills and talents. Most importantly, they should bring out the contributions that you made to the organization and show how you made a difference. With some categories this might be difficult (such as teaching experience), but in others, such as research experience, this can really be made to shine.

   Describing these things should involve using action verbs (see the list at the end of this document) in an active past or present tense. For example, rather than saying "was responsible for operation, maintenance, student training and certification of users for X-ray Fluorescence spectrometer 1992-1995" say "maintained and operated X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, trained and certified 44 students over 3 years." By using active verbs and using numbers, you highlight your accomplishments in seemingly quantitative ways. This latter point of quantifying your accomplishments is very important. It may not be possible with some topics, such as teaching experience, but at least talking about enrollment numbers helps.

   Your grad school research experience may be the first and biggest, but it shouldn't be the only one. Teaching experience can look good as a separate category, especially if you had real teaching duties as opposed to grading the problem sets from your advisors class. Summer work for companies or part-time work done while in school is great too. If you did something particularly notable in college, that can go in, especially if your work experience is limited. For example, I was the technical director of a theater on campus. With each of these things you should list the following first as a heading:

   Job title
   Name of the organization
   Location (city, state) of organization
   Time of employment (again, use only years -- nobody cares about months)

   I like this if it's all on one line, perhaps in bold running across.

6. Other sections

   You may want to include a list of particular skills if you have not already mentioned them in your description above. Computer skills and foreign language skills might go in this separate section. Depending on the job, you might want to mention particular software that you are familiar with. Since most of the "real world" uses C or C++ you should mention if you have some experience in these languages.

7. What not to include

   It used to be cool to add some personal information like hobbies etc. After all, maybe the reader is an avid hiker like you. Well, my friends, this is the 90's and personal information is not only extraneous, it can seem unprofessional. Skip the little section at the bottom of the resume that says you love to ski, hike, shoot large animals and collect spores molds and fungus. Also forbidden are the following:

   Date of birth
   Your marital status
   The number of children you have
   Salary requirements
   The names of references (see below)

8. References

   References should be listed on a separate page with their full name, job title, place of employment, relationship to you, full address, phone number, fax number and E-mail. Don't bother putting the statement "References available on request".

9. Final pointers, tips and advice

   Writing a bad resume is easy. Writing a good resume is hard. It will take time and many drafts. Because research scientists are often targeting several very different career paths simultaneously it is important to have several different resumes that accent different skills. It also goes without saying that resumes should look immaculate and be flawless in spelling and punctuation (spelling mistakes are a real kiss of death so, please, proof-read it and give it to your friends to read).

   Here is a summary of basics and pointers:

   • Support your objective/summary statement with your experiences
   • Make every word count. Use "I", "my", "a", "an", or "the" sparingly
   • Keep to one or two pages (one page resumes are not a "rule", but stretching a resume to two is usually painfully apparent)
   • No fancy fonts, strange designs or funny colored paper
   • Emphasize specific accomplishments, performance and quantifiable results. Avoid job duties and responsibilities
   • Lead with your strongest suit
   • Use action verbs in the past tense
   • Be brief, be positive, be specific and BE HONEST
   • Use numbers (i.e. 30 instead of thirty)
   • Don't make it crowded: 1" margin on all sides, nice spacing
   • between sections and experiences
   • Edit, proofread and proofread again. One mistake is all they need…

Action Verbs for Resume Writing

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