The major consideration to make when developing a resume is this:

How long will my resume hold a manager's interest? (Or, How do I get my point across quickly?)

So where's the strategy behind all this? When you pick up a piece of paper, a leaflet, or something you're not really excited to read you'll tend to read the first line or two, skip a bit until something catches your eye, then skip to the bottom and read a line or two. So the idea is to put the right information in the right place so your manager's eye falls on the right spot every time!

So let's cut to the chase....here's how to do it. Start by considering the general resume outline that everyone uses - it looks like this:

OBJECTIVE:----- What it is you're looking for (usually very general to cover your bases).

EDUCATION:----- Your school credentials/associations and GPA.

COURSES:----- Courses that you think are important.

WORK EXPERIENCE:----- miscellaneous summer jobs, hopefully some Co-Op experience.

REFERENCES:----- Usually provided upon request.

So now take this format and compare it to the following one...which do you think is a more "active" outline?

SUMMARY:----- What it is you offer (very specific - your interests and strengths).

EDUCATION:----- Your school credentials/associations and GPA (if it's really good!)

COURSES:----- Only those technically relevant, or those which support your SUMMARY.

PROJECTS:----- Any projects; for school courses, independently, in your basement....ANY which support your SUMMARY!

CO-OP----- Any relevant co-op experience should be separated and outlined in detail - even if it was only for 2 weeks!

WORK EXPERIENCE:----- If your work was not related to what you want - don't outline in detail.

REFERENCES:----- Provide them now - why not cross that bridge first so the manager doesn't have an extra phone call to make! If your references are "sealed" then provide the references' names, phone #'s, and Career Office contacts.

Next you need to be sure that all your sentences use active verbs. For example you could say: "Did research of material for a key project." when it is clearly more active to say "Performed research on key material" or even simply "Researched key material". Check out this partial list of suggested ACTIVE words that look great on a resume!

Accelerated Accomplished Achieved Adapted Advanced Administered Arranged Built Conceived Constructed Correlated Demonstrated Designed Detailed Developed Devised Directed Discovered Earned Eliminated Ensured Enforced Established Evaluated Exceeded Excecuted Expanded Expedited

Formed Formulated Founded Generated Guided Headed Implemented Improved Increased Innovated Initiated Inspired Installed Integrated Interpreted Interviewed Invented Justified Keynoted Launched Led Licensed Mastered Mediated Motivated Negotiated Nominated Operated

Ordered Originated Overcame Performed Pioneered Planned Promoted Proposed Provided Recommended Reconciled Redeveloped Reduced Reinforced Researched Reported Served Simplified Solved Strengthened Structured Succeeded Transformed Unified Validated Verified Won Wrote

Here's a test to show you what we mean...Scroll Down until the bar below is somewhere near the bottom of your screen then Click Here!

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Win a Million Bucks the easy way! Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Big Dogs are always right!!!!!Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah

In case you don't buy that.....again, Scroll Down until the bar below is somewhere near the bottom of your screen then Click Here!

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Win a Million Bucks the easy way!! Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Big dogs are always right!! Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah

OK, now you're not so interested in the "Big Dog" anymore! And you may as well forget about the "Million Bucks"!

The most important thing to remember is that each job-lead you get is important, and even if none turn into a firm job offer, there may be something to be gained anyway!

Where do you get leads? You can start in the usual places like newspaper ads, local jobfairs, or on-campus recruiting...and of course the World Wide Web.

The Internet is one of the best resources available. It can provide leads to current hot-job postings and hot companies that may not have hot-jobs posted right now.

Why is that helpful? Because you can use these companies as leads and because few others will, you'll have a step up on the competition! (Of course, the following approach can work with currently-hiring companies too, but you'll have the usual competition.)

How do you approach a company for a job opening when they're not hiring? Do research - find as many names in the company as you can and try to locate a Manager who's job is somewhat related to what you're looking for (this isn't critical, a helpful manager will probably pass you along to the right person).

The Approach: Call the manager and introduce yourself, mentioning your name, school, and major. Mention you've done a little reading on the company and that you understand this person is a Manager of XYZ Widgets - then, in your own words, say: "in such a position would you have any advice for someone new to the industry....perhaps where to look for a challenging entry level position?"

If the manager asks for your resume, or if the company you're talking to is currently hiring, you'll need a Letter of Introduction, usually referred to as a Cover Letter. This only needs to be a few sentences long. Any more and your points will be lost! Keep in mind that in the usual situation your cover letter will be used to quickly determine which position you're applying for before the page is turned to your resume. It is a good idea to follow up with the company to whom you've sent your resume to be sure they received it in legible format - email and faxes are not infallible! Also you can take that opportunity to use the "approach" outlined above but from the perspective that you had already applied and were simply looking for advice on strengthening your job-opening network in order to cover your bases.

There are only a couple of differences between a telephone interview and a face-to-face interview so after going over these tips we'll move right into the actual interview.

Before the interview go over your resume to be sure you can remember all the fine details, if not you'll need to refresh yourself! No "er, um, uh" allowed!

Never slouch in a chair while interviewing on the phone, sit upright, stand, or even walk around if possible. Your voice will sound clear and resonant.

Try to be somewhere quiet while talking, background noise will confuse the conversation.

Try to sound excited, especially if you're a naturally soft-voiced person - speak up! Even though the other person can't see you, gesture with your hands as you normally would. Your conversation will sound more natural.

The main goal of an interview is to generate an offer! Even if you realize half way through the interview you're not very interested in that particular position, keep everything positive! Why?

When you get an offer it is your option to accept or not, before that it's the company's decision!

The manager may be so impressed with your interview that he/she recommends you to other hiring managers in the same company, or even a friend at another company! A better opportunity may come up!

You may get a less-than-fascinating offer and decide not to accept it, but with tactful handling you could turn it down and still interview with the company again in the future for a more exciting position.

When you actually confirm your interview try to get the following information:

Your contact's telephone numbers - in case you have car problems or need to reschedule later.

Directions to the facility - especially important if the company has more than one location!

A schedule (although sometimes this is set up spontaneously) or at least who you can expect to meet.

Web URL, or source where you can do more research on the company.

Things you want to say, talk about, or bring up at some point: (Use your own words, managers read this stuff too!)

Ask each person you meet: "I've done some research on your company but can you tell me more about how things work here?" Each person will tell you about the company from their perspective and you'll know exactly which areas each person finds interesting and focus your answers in these areas!

Ask each person you meet: "What skills will a successful candidate have?" Each Manager will have a specific background in mind. With this you've learned what skills you have in common with each Manager's priorities! If a manager says we're really looking for someone with skills A, B, and C you know what to talk about! If you don't have skill C, don't panic! Instead of saying "I'm a fast learner" say "OK, I don't have skill C, but here's an example of where I've learned a new skill rapidly." - give a short example!

At the end of each "session", right when the Manager says "Oh look at the time, let's move along to the next Manager" even as you walk to the door you need to ask the Manager "Before I move on, do you have any questions I can answer, or concerns about my background?" This gives the Manager a last chance to get that one lingering question out in the open!
Although you may be nervous, don't forget to thank each person for their time. Since you've invested your time in the process too, you should feel free to ask when you can expect to hear something (NOT "How did I do?"...as this puts the manager on the spot).

Salary topics like "What is your salary expectation?" or "We'd like to make an offer, what's it going to take?" DO NOT give a number or a range. Once you give one it may as well be in stone, too high and they'll walk you out, too low and you'll be wanting a raise in the first week!

Say "Salary is not the main issue here, what is more important to me is the job, company, environment, technology, market, etc, etc...." Really use your own words on this one!!

If the Manager doesn't buy it? "So what must we do so bring you on board?" Be honest! Say "I would prefer not to give a firm number or range which may eliminate me from consideration. Instead make me a competitive offer and I'll be here after graduation." It sounds committal but really depends on what the offer is - but it still sounds great to a hiring manager! And you'd better believe that hiring companies are much better prepared than you are to guess what a competitive offer is in their marketplace. Not only that, but if they have to guess, they'll err to the high side because they'll want to ensure your acceptance!