Resume Examples

[Capt MJ]

Google “one-page high school resumes for college admissions.” All kinds of sites and templates will come up. It won’t be the format itself that gets you in, but it will frame and present the info that you want people to know about you in a clear, clean, easily-absorbed-in-one-pass review by people who see thousands of these every cycle. No tiny or fussy fonts, no pushing out to skinny margins, no working to figure out what stuff means or finding unlike things in clumps. It’s got to be you on a plate, nicely arranged and worth looking at.

A site with “zety” in its name provides clear guidance and templates, among several. I’m with @MidCakePa - I’ve been a hiring manager and now consult in career transition as my third career, as an editor and writer of resumes for senior executives. It’s a similar process: candidates provide clean synopses of skills, abilities, experiences, achievements in a tight, pristine collection of words.

 

[OldRetSWO]

I’ve been reviewing resumes for 25 years as a “hiring manager” as well as a “secondary interviewer.” I can attest that the best way to guarantee that someone will NOT read your entire resume is to put it on two pages! Unless your work history is 20 years and you’re a senior-level person, there’s zero reason your resume should exceed one page (and that’s with minimum 11-point font and maximum 1” margins). The idea is for the reader to consume your resume, not drown in it. None of us wants to drown.

Same thing with bios which military folk are asked to provide, especially as we take command and gain rank.
I once had a soon-to-report CO who had sent ahead his bio which was FOUR pages long. The first impression
of that document was not good but thankfully, he turned out to be a stellar boss and mentor who was extremely
well connected and used his connections/access to help all of us.

 

[OldAFRet]

USMA has been very pro active since DS applied to WP SLE though application is not officially open. Recruitment has sent packet with very specific tips for pre candidates. One valuable tool is a resume example. The recruiter expressly requested applicants use the exact format for easy mass viewing Does USAFA offer or request this for candidates?

That's the answer right there, isn't it? If the SA has a preferred format, you need to dig it up and use it.

Barring that, you will, moving forward, need to learn to maintain multiple versions of resumes. Each time you apply for anything, your resume must reflect how you fit each and every requirement of the position description.

With minor deletions of school and team names here is actual CV from DS who received 2 SA appointments. Add name and address at top; most recent first.

It's hard to argue with MidwestDad's CV format seeing his son got 2 SA appointment offers. As others noted, a CV is usually longer than a resume (and in other countries contains a lot of info employers aren't allowed to ask in the USA). But, if it worked, it worked.

Summarizing it, I learned his son:
- Is a year round athlete participating in (mostly) real team sports. Track shows he knows how to run, but can be an individual sport. As an aside, if you are an individual sport athlete (swim, tennis, golf) only, you might send a message that you don't play well with others (JMHO).
- Is a church kid (and in this example, Catholic - don't know if you want to name your affiliation in your CV).
- Has had some sort of part time employment all through High School.
- Has academic letters and an NHS membership, which suggest he's a good student. Not sure of the GPA required for the letter though. Maybe just putting GPA would be better?
- Not much in the way of community service (that wasn't self serving). Fund raising for boosters which support his sports isn't really community service in my mind. The food pantry could be expounded on a bit.

I do a fair bit of reviewing candidates' resumes in my field. MidwestDad's son is no stranger to work, knows how to play well with others, and seems to be smarter than the average bear. I'd schedule an interview.