Marketing

Tips for preparing an effective ISM resume

There are a lot of opinions on how to create your resume. Everyone has their
own biases when reviewing resumes. A resume that looks great to one employer
can end up quickly in the trash when reviewed by another employer. The goal
of your resume is to get you through the first screening and into an interview.
You want to say the right things clearly while avoiding anything that will
be someone's pet peeve. Recruiters are trying to sift through the stack of resumes
to come up with the small set of potential emloyees to invite for an interview. Make sure you don't give the recruiter a reason to screen out your resume.

The following advice is based on interviews with employers of ISM graduates:

Length: Your resume should be one page, period. No ifs, ands or butts. There may
be a fair number of recruiters who won't mind more than one page, but there will be
a very large number who will toss your resume just because you couldn't fit it on one
page. And don't try to get your two pages worth of material onto one page with font
and formatting tricks. Recruiters may be your parent's age, and their
eyesight is not what it used to be. Don't remind them of this fact.

Objective: Everyone wants "a challenging position in a learning environment where they can apply their well-developed skills in a dynamic environment to help the company achieve strategic goals." Some recruiters won't mind this feel-good type of objective, but you will also annoy quite a few with it. Make your objective clear. Are you looking for an internship or full-time position? When? Do you only want a procurement position, or are you more open?

A good objective would be "Seeking an internship position in procurement for summer 2008."

By the way, you can tell your parents that employers no longer care how long it takes you to complete your degree. They will care about your GPA.

GPA: Recruiters need to see your GPA. If you don't put it in your resume, they may assume that it is lower than it actually is. The majority of companies hiring ISM students require a minimum 3.0 GPA, but some will take students with something less. If your GPA is not above 3.0, work to get it there. In the mean time, find something good to say like "2.85 overall, 3.3 in 2006-2007" or "2.85 overall, 3.2 in major."

Work Experience: If you are looking for an internship, employers won't expect you to have had work experience in the supply chain field. What they would like to see is that you have worked and know how to be a good employee--be responsible, show up on time, stay late until a critical task is complete, etc.

Student's frequently understate their work experience.

• Were you responsible for training new employees?
• Did you supervise the opening or closing of a restaurant?
• Did you make a suggestion that improved a process?

Use the form Situation-->Action-->Results to describe your work.

References: You should be able to provide references, but don't put them on your
resume. Instead, prepare a second sheet that resembles your resume and list 3 - 5 references. Provide this to recruiters only when asked.

You should look at your resume as advertising space, and you want to put the best material on there you can. Work experience, volunteer work or study abroad experience is more important a list of references.

Hobbies and Interests: Don't go overboard with these, but put them down. If you happen to have the same hobby as your recruiter, it may cause them to look more favorably on you. It also can provide an ice-breaker for your conversation.

It helps to have people review your resume. A professor or advisor can give you some feedback. You can also get help with your resume from an advisor in Career and Student Employment Services. They have drop-in advising in 2131 Schneider Hall.