STYLE–Chronological

• Unless you have a very good reason, don’t use anything but a chronological format.
  • A variety of styles—create your own instead of using a template on Word
  • No complete sentences
  • No “I”
  • Be honest—Resume fraud has reached epidemic proportions, and employers are using more rigorous screening techniques.

CONTENT

• Identifying Information
  • List your name, addresses and telephone numbers of your present and permanent address, and your e-mail.
  • Use a larger font size for your name.
  • Career objective
    • Your career objective should indicate
      • the type of position you desire,
      • the kind of ministry or organization for which you want to work and
      • possibly a couple of skills you will use.
      • Example:  Seeking a position in youth ministry with a church that can use an individual with a strong work ethic and a desire to lead teenagers to faith in Christ.

Education or Experience dilemma—Present information first that is the most impressive and/or most important to the job for which you are applying. Typically, college students begin with education.

Education

• Education should be listed in reverse order with the last college you attended listed first. Do NOT include high school.
• List college, city and state, and degree you received.  Check the catalog to verify correct wording of degree.
• If the resume is for part-time work or internships prior to graduation, use the inclusive dates of attendance at the institution.
• Include teaching practicums, field experiences, or internships.
• If you are responsible for 20% or more of your college expenses through scholarships, grants, loans, or work, place this information at the end of education section.

Experience

• Experience should be listed in reverse order with the last job you held listed first.
• List organization, your title, city and state, and inclusive dates of employment for each job.
• Under each listing, use bullets and active verbs to describe duties.
• Include full- and part-time jobs, self employment.
• Use past tense for past jobs and present tense for present jobs.
• More recent resumes I have looked at use active statements that show results
  • Developed a new filing system that reduced paperwork by 50 percent.
  • Handled all customer complaints and resolved all product order discrepancies.

Other

• You may have an additional section that is specific to you.  Options could include
  • Scholarships and Awards
  • Interests and Activities
  • Professional Affiliations and Activities
  • Volunteer Work, etc.

DELIVERY

• Keep your resume to a page, if possible.
• Balance material
• Use standout headings
• Allow adequate white space
• Choose easy to read type.  You may vary fonts and sizes.
• Use quality paper.  Acceptable colors are white, cream, gray, or light pastel.  Show sample.
• Do not include references on your resume—do not even add references furnished upon request.  Submit on a clean sheet of matching paper or carry them with you to the interview
• Avoid personal information. However, ministry resumes often require age and marital status.
• Must be perfect!  A misspelling can be the kiss of death—right in the circular.