Military to Civilian Resume Sample

Preparing Your Resume and Cover Letter: What They Forgot to Teach You in College

Congratulations! You have a college diploma in your hand that says you're ready to go out into the working world. You may have maintained a stellar GPA. You may have participated in groundbreaking scientific research. You may have written, produced, and performed an entire concerto. Whatever your program of study, you may feel like your college education has paved the way into the work force. That is, until you realize something: you don't know how to prepare a resume.

It's astounding how comprehensive your college education seemed to be, and yet it's likely you were never taught the basics of resume-writing. Presenting yourself to a potential employer by writing an excellent resume may be critical to your success. It may even be more important than your grades, extra-curricular activities, and your other achievements. Make sure that you include these crucial elements:

* Your personal info. Include your name, address, telephone number, cell phone number, pager number, and email. Most potential employers will try to contact you by your home phone. But just in case, it's good to leave a few different contact options. Never include your social security number, as some people mistakenly do on resumes or job applications. This information could be used to steal your identity and isn't necessary during the application process.

* Your educational history. You need not go all the way back to elementary school. Start with your most recent educational info: college. Details should include where you attended (every institution, if you attended more than one), its location, your graduation year, and your major/program. Next, list the high school that you graduated from. It is usually not necessary to list every high school, if you happened to attend more than one. Simply include the name of the one where you graduated and the year.

* Your employment history. How many of your past work places you include will depend upon how many there are. If you've had less than five different jobs in your life so far, list them all, and the duration that you worked at them. If you've tried more than your average share of jobs, you may want to list only the most recent ones. There is no prohibition against listing them all. However, if you did a lot of job hopping and some of your positions lasted mere months, including this information should be discretionary.

* Any volunteer work that you've done. This is important because it shows that you have other experience besides your last fast food job. Volunteer experience may be the key that sets you apart from other potential job candidates.

This is the basic information about yourself that every potential employer you contact will see. In addition to handing out your resume, you should include a cover letter addressed directly to the company you are making application to. The cover letter is extremely important, because it gives you a chance to share more than just the basics about yourself. Your resume contains general information; the cover letter contains information specific to that company. This is where you explain why you want to work for that particular company. It's your chance to persuade a potential employer that you are worth granting a face-to-face interview. There's a good chance that whoever is looking at your resume is also reviewing dozens of others. A persuasive cover letter may be the difference between causing an employer to examine your resume more closely or tossing it in the 'out' file. Address it directly to the person who will be reviewing candidates. If you don't know it, make an effort to find out.

Remember that being persuasive does not mean being long-winded. Busy executives won't have time to read a five page cover letter. Make it at least a page, but no more than two pages. Coupled with a well-written and concise resume, your cover letter will grab an employer's attention and make him or her want to take a second look at you.

Michael Fleischner is the Managing Director of Resumeedge.com which provides Resume Writing, Sample Resumes, and Cover Letter Services.

Learn to improve search engine rankings, click here...

MORE ARTICLES:

Finally Revealed: The Top 7 Resume Killers?
During my job search I read dozens of books and articles took programs and evensat at the feet of two of the most experienced Human Resource professionals. In afew moments, you will learn the real keys to standing out and rising above thenorm.

TalentDrive Brings Together the Art and Science of Online Resume Sourcing
Proprietary technology combined with expert analyst review fills a recruiting gap to deliver quality talent more efficiently.

Tips for Making Resume Cover Letters
Resume cover letters are extremely important, though many jobseekers don't fully realize it. A well-written cover letter can mean all the difference in the world, or at least become the deciding factor in whether your resume gets read or cast into the circular file.

Entering Business Aviation, Part IV: Crafting a Resume
Writing a résumé can be one of the most daunting parts of any job search. Quite frankly, it is one of the most important elements in helping you finding work.

Free Resume Examples: Use Them, But Dont
There are lots of free resume examples (or free resume samples) on the web.Try searching for "free resume example" at Google and take a look at the almost 5 million pages that come back (the less restrictive "resume example" gives you 7 million pages, if you've got more time on your hands).

Pair Your Powerful Resume with a Great Cover Letter
Every great resume deserves a great cover letter.A cover letter is crucial because it's the first thing the hiring manager sees.

MatchHire Streamlines Applicant Tracking with Resume Parser
Avidweb Technologies Inc., the foremost online recruitment company, introduced its much anticipated Resume Parsing Solution to their clients. The resume parser built into MatchHire's Recruiting Solution allows recruiters and HR departments to accurately and automatically capture candidates contact details and other information directly into their database.

Do You Need Help Writing Your Resume?
You probably already know that one of the main keys to getting a particular job is writing the resume which will make you stand out from everyone else, to the point where an employer will decide to hire you. However, some people do not have the most success when they try to write a resume on their own. Help writing resumes is hard to come by, if you do not know what you are looking for. Learn about some of the options that you have for getting help on your resume here.

Sample Resume Objectives: Good, But Summaries Are Smokin!
Since college I've been told that a resume ought to have an "objective statement" at the top. Maybe you've been told the same.

The Executive Resume - Moving Beyond Accomplishments
There is a major difference between conventional resumes and executive resumes. Accomplishments are usually the center point of a conventional resume (i.

Free Resume Template: Beware!
Downloading a free resume template can be so alluring. No work to do! You just download it, fill in the blanks, and get the job of your dreams!If you buy that, I've got lots of other things I'd like to sell you.

Electronic Resume Writing Tips That Boost Your Interview Appointment Success
Electronic Resume Writing Tips That Boost Your Interview Appointment SuccessBefore you write your resume in a word processor, print it, and hand out copies to prospective employers, you should consider formatting it for easy scanning and retrieval from a computer database.As you can imagine, dozens, maybe hundreds of resumes bombard employers for a position they would like filled.

Four Simple Steps To Better Results With Your Resume
Is every job description you read the same? No.Is every job you submit your resume to the same? Of course they aren't.

Ten Resume Writing Tips You Can't Live Without
For some job opening, employers receive hundreds and even thousands of resumes. When you are looking for a job, how can you best promote yourself? How can you convince a prospective employer to pick-up the phone and call you for an interview?Sought-after career coach and author of the critically-acclaimed book, The Dark Before the Dawn: 70 Secrets to Self-discovery, Theresa Castro states that you should take into consideration that your resume is the first exposure a potential employer will have of you.