Rate my résumé

6. What made the résumé interesting? Did the person do anything unique to make their résumé stick out?

Mattson: Her multiple language skills and leadership in sports shows she is accomplished and willing to take charge.

Eubank: Certainly the Ultimate Frisbee stands out. Language skills are also potential differentiators from other candidates. The internship experience with OSHA might also play well if this is an area she wants to pursue.

7. What do you think of how education is presented?

Crawford Hentz: The education section needs to be rewritten to be more standard. The standard construction would be something along the lines of:

BA, International Relations 2008

Name of the University

I also think that based on reading her background information, it may be a good idea to list some coursework in the education section (not called "related coursework" please! — just call it coursework). In this way, some of her educational background in international issues may snag a recruiter's attention better than just the listing of the degree.

Also, currently her largest section is the Ultimate Frisbee section. While I think that student leadership experience is important, the internship experience and newspaper experience should be weighted more heavily with bullets.

Mattson: I would like to like to see more activities during college and not just sports.

Eubank: OK but I'd like to see more activities and GPA or honors if possible. What, other than the Frisbee activity, made this candidate distinguish herself?

8. What do you think how work experience is presented?

Mattson: The résumé lays out the experience the candidate acquired while in school, but she should develop more result statements with her accomplishments. For instance, she could include how many stories she wrote or how large was the database she managed.

Eubank: I think the internship description should have more emphasis on the management task and less mention of administrative tasks. I would cut the second bullet, unless the candidate is looking for an administrative job, which I doubt. I think that she might consider placing the computer skills above the language skills but again, it all depends on the situation.

9. What do you think of the language used?

Crawford Hentz: She can use much more powerful and precise wording in the descriptions of her activities. For example, "managed overall membership of the coalition …" should be articulated more clearly. As an intern, it is unlikely that she was managing the coalition membership, so leading with that tends to dilute the next parts. However, if what she was doing was maintaining the coalition database, responding to member inquiries, filing, faxing and photocopying, that's fine, too. Her first bullet should be the "sexiest" part of her job — if that was writing articles and press releases she should lead with that. Talk about the articles' audiences (internal or external), where they were published, etc … In terms of press releases, talk about if they were boilerplates or custom pitches and to what media outlets.

Similarly, look at the words used throughout the résumé. We see the terms "a small extent" under "language skills"; we see "acclaimed independent newspaper" rather than "daily collegiate newspaper with circulation of XYZ"; we see "ensure the restaurant ran smoothly" "along with "keeping up responsibilities" rather than "seated guests and managed wait list for busy family restaurant in XYZ town;" and we see "committed player on one of the top teams."

Mattson: The use of language is very good and I like that action verbs are included.

Eubank: Good — no problems or issues.

10. Overall, how does the résumé flow from section to section?

Mattson: I would move activities up front after education since there is not a lot of work experience. In the activities section, the sports accomplishments reflect her dedication, show an ability to make improvements, and highlight her leadership capabilities.

Eubank: The flow is fine.