Resume Assistance
Resume Purpose
A good resume summarizes your accomplishments, your education, your work experience, and should reflect your strengths in a concise, coherent manner. Through your resume, you typically have about 30 seconds to convince a potential employer that you warrant an interview. A resume will not get you a job. It is intended to provide a professional summary of your skills, education and experience. Think of your resume as a "business card" or the "highlights" of your professional achievements. Your resume serves as a topic outline for an in-person interview; guides the conversation to the points you want to stress about your background. Because of this, you do not need to include all of the information about your background on your resume. Your resume is, simply, a snapshot of your accomplishments, education and work experience. Think of it as a way to give the interviewer information to ask questions about; from there you can expand on the information.
Resume Preparation & Guidelines
Here are some key points to keep in mind as you develop your resume:
- Do not include an objective statement. Space is limited so use it wisely. We won't present your resume to any position that you are not qualified for, or haven't expressed an interest in.
- Include a summary. A summary is a well written concise paragraph that focuses the reader's attention on your most important qualities, achievements, and abilities.
- Keep resume length to one page (if you cannot get all of it onto one page, go to two pages, but NEVER more than two pages).
- When you are selecting a font for your resume, the font size should be between 10 and 12 to allow for readability (don't make section headers bigger.) Your name (which should be placed at the top of your resume) can be slightly larger.
- Use a font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri. Black is the only acceptable font color.
- Do not be afraid to change the margins. This will often adjust the information to fit far better on the page (do not make the margins smaller than 0.5)
- The information listed (specifically experience and education) should be in reverse chronologic order (the most recent first).
- Set off your accomplishments and work experience in a "bullet" format.
- Your accomplishments should be quantifiable and each accomplishment should be supported with tangible results. For example: "Achieved a 98% completion rate, 13% above normal." Use your evaluations to find some great accomplishment bullet points.
- Never use pronouns such as: I, me, my, our. Never speak in the first person.
- List GPA only if it is 3.0 or higher.
- Personal information is not information for a resume (age, health, marital status, etc.).
- No need to put "References Supplied Upon Request" or include reference at the end of your resume. Of course you will supply outstanding references when requested.
- Spelling and grammar on your resume must be correct and consistent. Double and triple-check to make sure you have no grammatical or punctuation errors. Triple Check Spelling!
- Do not use military jargon. Do not use abbreviations or acronyms. Write your resume so any reader will understand what you are trying to convey.
- Your email address should be professional. For example, JohnSmith@email.com. Not, harleydude@email.com.
- Check the tense. If you are listing information about a past position, it should all be in past tense. Additionally, if you are listing information about a present position, it should all be in present tense.
- Should be formatted consistently in use of italics, spacing, capital letters, bullets, boldface, and underlining.
- There should not be any date gaps on your resume. You need to adequately cover all time periods specified on your resume.
- Pictures or icons are not acceptable on professional resumes.
- Resume paper should be a neutral color, preferably white or off-white.
- Do not use text boxes when formatting your resume. Use a standard MS Word document.
- Remove any hyperlinks on your resume (ex. when your email address shows up blue and underlined, right click and select "remove hyperlink")
- Make sure you can backup what you include on your resume.
Chronological Resumes
You should typically use a chronological resume if your professional experience and your professional timeline are relatively easy to follow. This format lists your professional experience in reverse chronological order, so a potential interviewer, military or non-military, can easily follow your professional timeline and get a good overall understanding of what you are quali?ed to do in a very short period of time. The sample chronological resume format in this section should serve as an excellent starting point when developing your own chronological resume.
Sample Chronological Resumes
We invite you to browse the samples below and download the sample that is closest to your background. Personalize it with your own experience and send to your Recruiter for review.
Electrical Operator / Technician
Mechanical Operator / Technician
Electronic Technician
Skills Based / Combination Resume
You should typically use a skill based / combination resume if you have more than 15 years of professional experience. You may also want to consider this style if you have a very diverse professional background and are trying to tailor your resume for a specific industry or position. This format starts with a professional summary and highlights of key professional attributes that you want to emphasize. The skill based / combination format allows a potential interviewer to view your background in an easy to read format that emphasizes the skill sets that you are trying to convey. The sample format below should serve as an excellent starting point when developing your own skill based / combination style resume.
Key points for a skill based / combination resume:
We invite you to browse the samples below and download the sample that is closest to your background. Personalize it with your own experience and send to your Recruiter for review.
- Ensure your summary paragraph accurately outlines your professional experience.
- Carefully select the three to four skills that you will list and detail the achievements that support each skill. Highlight those skills that are most relevant to the employers that you will be targeting. The first skill set listed should be your strongest and the one that you want to emphasize the most.
- Your achievements supporting each skill set should be specific, concise and quantifiable where possible.
- Your Employment Chronology section should not contain any gaps in your timeline.
Sample Skills Based / Combination Resume
If you would like to use a Skills Based / Combination Resume, feel free to download this sample, personalize it with your own experience and send to your Recruiter for review.
Action Verbs for Resumes
Refer to this list for suggestions of strong, action verbs to use in your Resume.
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ACCOMPLISHED
ACHIEVED
ACQUIRED
ACTIVATED
ADAPTED
ADJUSTED
ADMINISTERED
ADVERTISED
ADVISED
ALLOCATED
ANALYZED
APPLIED
APPROVED
ARRANGED
ASSEMBLED
ASSISTED
BALANCED
BOUGHT
BUDGETED
BUILT
CALCULATED
CATALOGUED
CHAIRED
CHANGED
CHECKED
CLEANED
COLLABORAED
COMPLIED
COMPLETED
COMPOSED
COMPUTED
CONCEIVED
CONCEPTUALIZED
CONCILIATED
CONDENSED
CONDUCTED
CONSTRUCTED
CONSULTED
CONSUMED
CONTRACTED
CONTROLLED
COORDINATED
CORRECTED
COUNSELED
CREATED
DECIDED
DEFINED
DELEGATED
-
DETERMINED
DEVISED
DIRECTED
DISTRIBUTED
DROVE
DUPLICATED
EDITED
EDUCATED
EFFECTED
ENLARGED
ENLISTED
ENSURED
EQUIPPED
ESTABLISHED
EVALUATED
EXAMINED
EXECUTED
EXHIBITED
EXPANDED
EXPEDITED
EXPLAINED
FABRICATED
FACILITATED
FAMILIARIZED
FED
FINALIZED
FINANCED
FORMULATED
FORWARDED
GENERATED
GOVERNED
GRANTED
GUARANTEED
GUIDED
HANDLED
HEADED
HELPED
HIRED
IDENTIFIED
ILLUSTRATED
IMPLEMENTED
IMPROVED
INCREASED
INDEXED
INDOCTRINATED
INFLUENCED
INFORMED
INITIATED
-
INSTALLED
INSTITUTED
INSTRUCTED
INSTRUMENTED
INTEGRATED
INTERPRUTED
INTERVIEWED
INTRODUCED
INVENTED
INVESTIGATED
LECTURED
LED
LOCATED
MAINTAINED
MANAGED
MANIPULATED
MARKETED
MEASURED
MINIMIZED
MODERNIZED
MODIFIED
MONITORED
MOTIVATED
NEGOTIATED
NOTIFIED
OBSERVED
OBTAINED
OPERATED
ORGANIZED
OVERHAULED
OVERSAW
PACKED
PATROLLED
PERSUADED
PHOTOCOPIED
PLANNED
PREPARED
PRESENTED
PRESIDED
PROCESSED
PRODUCED
PROGRAMMED
PROMOTED
PROPOSED
PUBLICIZED
PUBLISHED
PURCHASED
QUANTIFIED
-
RECOMMENDED
RECORDED
RECRUITED
REDUCED
REFINED
RELATED
REORGANIZED
REPORTED
REPRESENTED
RESEARCHED
RESOLVED
RESPONDED
RESTORED
RESTRUCTURED
RETRIEVED
REVIEWED
REVISED
SCHEDULED
SELECTED
SERVED
SET UP
SHIPPED
SOLD
SOLVED
SORTED
SPECIFIED
STAFFED
STANDARDIZED
STARTED
STRENGTHENED
STRUCTURED
STUDIED
SUPERVISED
SUPPLIED
SUPPORTED
SURVEYED
SYNTHESIZED
TAUGHT
TRACKED
TRAINED
TRANSFERRED
TRANSLATED
TRANSMITTED
TRANSPORTED
TYPED
UPDATED
UPGRADED
USED
Chronological Resume Worksheet
Many transitioning service members struggle with where to begin developing their resume. It really can be as simple as the worksheet below. Start by filling in the basic items. With the help of the Orion Recruiting Team, we can take this basic information and develop a solid resume.
While completing this worksheet, pay special attention to the accomplishments. Most candidates reiterate responsibilities in this area. What will truly make you stand out in the market will be a track record of performance supported by consistent accomplishments in every billet.
Read through your evaluations for the following:
- Rankings, especially those against your peers or peer units. If you can consistently show you were rated in the top 25% or better, these are strong numbers to show.
- Quantifiable numbers, such as maintenance readiness rates, or unit evaluation scores. While the reader may not understand what deployment readiness means, they will definitely understand concrete numbers such as "98% readiness rate, highest in the unit."
- Outstanding comments from evaluators can also be strong accomplishments to list, even if a number is not attached.
- Try to show where you have improved a process, saved time or money, or overcame obstacles to achieve success.
Once you have completed this worksheet, either scan or utilize our downloadable sample resume, type up a rough draft and send to a recruiter for review and further development.
Resume Changes
Resumes are living documents that change on a regular basis, especially with the highly opinionated nature of the topic. Make sure that you practice solid file management. If you make changes to your resume, please send us an update so that we are using the most current document.
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