yeah wordiness is definitely something i need to work on. I need to learn the art of being concise. Good suggestions guys. So far, my headings are:
Objective
Education
Undergraduate Research
Research Presentations
Work Experience
Volunteer Work
Memberships & Affiliations
Skills
Boy, this sounds like a CV to me.
Resumes are supposed to be targeted to the position you're applying for. Some people tweak the verbiage for each application they put in. I have heard over and over resumes are supposed to fit on one page - although many are now two pages. A CV is a list of accomplishments over your professional & academic career (they are often used in academia).
My resume has the following:
Name, contact info
Objective
Work History (this is my beefiest section, I have 9 years' work experience)
Education & Certifications
Volunteer History
Rule of thumb on resumes is experience within 7-10 years (unless something outside that timeframe is really really important, like a degree); CVs list everything. Resumes are often accompanied by cover letters, too, so you get to supplement with a narrative in these cases.
For my pharma school application CV, I took out the Objective section (although I could see the argument for leaving it in), changed the formatting (so my contact information was slightly less prevalent) and fleshed everything out a bit more, especially the education & volunteer sections. A PTCB certification is not applicable to a job in loan processing, so I had to add that back in. I listed all of my academic honors under my degree, although people usually list this separately (it looked lonely when I split it out). I also took out a lot of the banking business buzz words I used in the resume (since that's the last position I applied for).
Since my work history is a strength, I put that first on my CV. The Education section looked marooned when I put it at the end, so I put my volunteer history after it. A lot of writing a resume or a CV is in the formatting - it should be easy on the eye and let the interviewers find the things important to you easily. Make their job as effortless as possible.
Sometimes it helps to look at examples, or get someone more experienced to look at it. I had some relatives who have done hiring in the field of banking help me - this especially helped with coming up with some of the terms / buzz words employers are looking for. Do you have someone in your network that could help you write a pharma school resume? I second the suggestion to check with your school, but I ran into a dead end there because my CC didn't have anyone in the career development department who knew much about writing a resume targeted to a health profession (small department).
Even though I'm saying it last, it's probably the most important thing - Resume writing is not an exact science. If you think it is important to the person who is reviewing your application, put it in! There is no absolute right or wrong answer.
Still debating on taking out the skills section. Should work experience (which includes pharm tech job) go under education? I feel like undergrad research should go under work experience cuz it was directly part of my degree. but it may not get as much priority as the pharm tech job
No, work experience should be a separate section. I think the skills section would be up to you, if you have specific skills that uniquely qualify you - google some examples to see how other people put it on there. I think the education section should be pretty pithy:
Education
School of Hard Knocks, Downtown, AK, 2000-2005
B.S. in Street Smarts, concentration in Common Sense and Smackdown
Research Experience
Undergraduate Research: Department of Conventional Wisdom, Street Smarts, and Common Sense, School of Hard Knocks, 2003-2004
- Observed behaviors of downtown denizens in their natural habitat
- Generated survey to investigate attitudes and assumptions held by downtown denizens to research possible causes of spontaneous streetcorner song & dance
Work Experience
Legal Drug Deal Assistant, Homie's Clown Supply Depot, Downtown, AK, 2005 - Present
- Primary customer service representative assisting with filling and distribution of legal drug deals
- Responsible for training, merchandising, ordering, and inventory
- Leader of store's Payment Enforcement Squad
