"MCLA’s location provided me with endless opportunities to gain professional experience in the arts. I had a lot of fun working as a tour guide at MASS MoCA and in the education department at the Berkshire Museum, which allowed me to figure out what kinds of jobs I would like and to meet a lot of interesting arts professionals along the way. MCLA’s small size helped me develop close working relationships with my favorite professors who always took time to advise me on academic and professional concerns. I really felt like they were with me all the way."
Monica Henry ’07 Education Coordinator, Clark Art Institute
Resume Building
Writing Resumes and Cover Letters
What is a Resume and how is it used? A resume is a marketing tool. You use it to sell yourself to a potential employer. It shows your achievements, attributes, strengths and cumulation of expertise. It never contains negative information or weaknesses. The primary purpose of the resume is to obtain an interview.
Resume Content
Do Include:
Do Not Include:
Name, address & telephone number
Education:
degree, name of institution, city, and state, major(s),minor(s), date of graduation.
Experience:
job titles, company name, city, state, responsibilities achievements, employment duties. May include volunteer experiences, field experiences, co-ops, internships, and summer employment.
Activities:
professional, educational, or civic organizational involvement and leadership responsibilities.
Computer Experience
Reference List:
This should be on separate sheet. Note on resume "References available upon request."
Salary expectations:
This will be discussed in a later interview or in a job offer setting.
Nonrelevant personal information:
age, sex, marital status, race, religion, national origin, political affiliation, social security number, or health status.
Photograph
Lies, exaggerations,or misrepresentations
Optional Categories:
Job Objective Travel Honors & Awards
Relevant Course Work Publications & Patents Accreditation & License
Languages Military Experience Professional Training
Appearance
Attractive and easy to read: Use capital letters, bullets, underlining, highlighting, appropriate margins, and spacing
Consistency in graphics
Use block form: Having plenty of white space
Concise: One page recommended for the new or recent college graduate
Free of spelling, grammatical, and typograpical errors.
The words that you use to describe your experience, accomplishments and other categories should conveyskills that you have developed and what you have to offer an employer. To do this you need to use strong powerverbs and self-descriptive words. This will help to get the potential employer's attention but beware of sounding boastful or arrogant when using these words. In addition to using power verbs make certain that you use concise phrases, instead of complete sentences, and quantify as often as possible.
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