Parts of a Resumé

A resumé is only as good as the sum of its parts.  Having an all-around impressive resumé requires each section to be solid and well-composed, illuminating your qualifications as the golden answer to the needs of the company you are applying to. A resumé is typically comprised of five main elements: work history, professional objective, qualifications, relevant skills and training, and education. Below you will find a short guide to composing each seperately.

Work History

Write out all of the companies you have worked for, your position within the company, and a list of your responsibilities as performed in that job.  Try to remember everything you have done, you can filter out the bits that will be most relevant at a later point.  The most useful way to approach this section, and your general resumé-writing, is to create a "master list" of past employment from which you can select the most relevant items for each job or industry you apply to.

Objective

This section is debatably optional, but it is wise to compose one to have handy.  To write your job objecive, think very honestly of what you want to do and in what capacity.  Where do you want to end up in ten years? Do you know how to get there?  Writing a good objective indicates a specific ambition to your employers, evidence that the job you are applying for matters more to you than providing simply an income.

Relevant SKills

Here is part of the meat of your resumé.  To create this section, distill the grouping of skills you developed at your older jobs into a pool of experience relevent to the job you are looking for now.  Look at the responsibilities listed under your work history, and create a list of skills you gained as a result of having these responsibilities. 

Qualifications

The qualifications you will list on your resumé are a more clinical selection of skills and experience.  This is where you include the things you are capable of doing that are relevant to the open job.  These include proficiency in various types of software, earned credentials, awards, and hard skills developed at other jobs that are immediately relevant to your success in the industry you are looking to apply to.

Education

This is a fairly obvious category—list the schools you attended and the dates and years of your attendance, as well as the degrees earned at institutes of higher learning.  You may also include information here regarding your participation in honors societies, sports, academic clubs, and leadership positions you have held while in school.