What should you put in a resume and how should you structure it?  Professors often get asked this question from students so below are some of my thoughts on the question for a non-academic position resume.

• General recommended layout (in order) for someone without a lot of work experience
  • Name and address
  • Professional Objective
  • Schooling
  • Computer Experience
  • Work Experience
  • Publications (if any - do not worry about it if you have none)
  • Honors/Activities
  • Professional societies belong to
• As a general rule of thumb, people with BS degrees should use 1 page, those with MS degrees can use up to 2 pages, and those with PhD's can use up to 3 pages.
• I suggest using bullets (rather than paragraphs) describing what you did in the work experience section and use active wording.
• Do not forget to put in consulting experience!  You can include any consulting courses here as well.   Depending on how much experience you have, you can put this in the work experience section and/or cover letter.  BRIEFLY describing specific consulting activities is very good to do.  For example, "Constructed loglinear models to evaluate the effectives of the Kansas Infant Toddler Program". 
• Click here to see my resume as it looked in Fall 1999 when I was applying for jobs in academia.  If I had to do it over, I probably would not use the purple in it!  My current resume (or Curriculum Vita - CV - as we call it in academia since it is a little different from a regular resume) is at www.chrisbilder.com/chris/Bilder_CV.pdf (via my CV web page on my personal website).  You may want to look at my current CV for the fonts and styles used in addition to the content.    
• Construct a website to "advertise" yourself.  This is the main purpose of my personal website at www.chrisbilder.com/chris.  The website mainly contains an expanded version of my CV.  Remember that there are no general page limits to online resumes so having a website can help squeeze in extra information!  I also like to put a little bit of a personal touch on the website in order to show potential employers that I am more than just a student (or now a professor).  This also helps potential employers when they are preparing to interview you.  If they see you have some common outside of work interests, they may bring this up during the interview (typically, this will make the interview easier).  Remember that employers are looking for someone who will "fit in" the working environment - not just someone who knows how to use a SAS procedure. 
   

So you have a resume - now what?  Find a job!  Take a look at the jobs web page for more information.

For additional information about resumes, talk to your major advisor or another faculty member.