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Resume Assistance

A resume is a reflection of your specific skills, abilities and accomplishments that allows you to "market" your knowledge and experience to an employer. It provides information that lets an employer know if you are a good match for the job. Remember, the main purpose of a resume is to get your foot in the door.

Workforce Solutions holds Resume Writing classes every week at no cost. Learn, in detail, what makes a resume great from one of our experts!

Resume Writing Tips
  • Be Honest

    Don't include anything in your resume that isn't true. Embellishing your work history is fine, lying is not.

  • Keep It Simple

    Remove personal pronouns, avoid wordiness, and don't get bogged down in details that are of no interest to potential employers.
    Avoid distracting fonts and colors. The most attention-grabbing resumes are easy to read.

  • Customize It

    Customize your resume to the job you're applying for.
    When detailing your work experience, describe the previous job duties that are most relevant to the role you're applying for.
    Pick out key words from the job posting and put them in your resume.

  • Draft It

    For your first draft, just put your ideas onto the paper. Don't worry about wording or formatting.
    Then organize what you've written. Change the order of things until the ideas flow from one sentence to the next.
    Next, go through each section and refine it all. Do this several times, taking short breaks in between so you can review your work with fresh eyes.
    Have someone review your work and look for spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes. You can also use a screen reading tool to help you.

Helpful Tools

  • Work In Texas includes an online resume builder. It also provides a convenient place to store your information, so you can keep track.

  • Weekly Resume Writing classes held at Workforce Solutions at no cost.

  • Resource Room

    The resource room at Workforce Solutions is full of tools to help you succeed in your job search. Our expert staff can help you navigate the Work In Texas website and find job openings suited to you, build your resume, and even print it on resume paper using our high-quality printer.

Parts of a Resume
  1. Identifying Information

    Include your name, current and permanent addresses, and phone number. If you have an email address, include it too.

  2. Professional Objective

    Prepare a concise statement indicating the field or position in which you are interested. This statement represents the theme of your resume, with the remaining information supporting your goal. If you are interested in more than one career field or position, you may need to have different resumes for each professional objective.

  3. Education

    List your post-secondary education with the most recent degree first. This can include:
    -Your college or university, degree, major, and graduation date.
    -Technical and skill certification details.
    -Your GPA- only if it is 3.0 or higher.
    -If you worked while receiving your education, the percentage of the education expenses you earned.

  4. Qualifications or Skills

    Briefly summarize the qualifications or skills you have gained from work experience and/or extracurricular activities that relate to your professional objective. This is especially helpful if your work experience is not career related.

  5. Experience

    The experience you list can include full-time, part-time, or seasonal employment, volunteer work, and internships. List your experience in order from most recent.
    Follow these guidelines:
    -List the name and location of your previous employers, the job title you held, and the dates you were employed. You do not need an exact date, you can just state the month and year. Keep this information in the same order throughout your resume.
    -If your work experience is career related (and you did not include a "qualifications/skills" section), state the positive aspects of your work, such as accomplishments, acquired skills, and job growth. Quantify with numbers, such as "cash sales of $9,000" or "supervised 4 clerks". This information should appear in a bulleted list, complete sentences are not required.

  6. Honors and Activities

    -List and honors which indicate your strong academic abilities, such as honorary societies, scholarships, awards, and dean's/president's list. Also include and honors related to character and/or community service.
    -Employers look for well-rounded individuals who involve themselves with extracurricular activities within the community. List offices, committees, and responsibilities using the same format as the "experience" section.

  7. References

    If you don't have space on your resume for references, it's a good idea to state "References are available upon request." at the bottom of your resume. Create a list of references with work addresses and phone numbers on a second page. Always make sure that you have permission from individuals before listing them as references. It's best practice to only list people that know you in a professional capacity, like someone you've worked or volunteered with before. Avoid placing family members and personal friends as references when possible.

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