CREATING PSYCHOLOGY-BASED RESUMES

A resume is an invaluable tool when looking for employment.  First and foremost, a resume should accurately describe its author.  Experiences and skills listed on a resume should present the person in the most positive light possible.  Second, a resume must be tailored to the desired position.  One must choose wisely what content to include, and what content should be left out.  Finally, a resume should be neat, free of spelling and grammar errors, and pleasing to the eye.

The following instructions have been prepared to assist Psychology majors at Worcester State College in creating a resume.  In section 1, assistance is given in creating a list of all skills and experiences that you have acquired throughout your education. Section 2 describes how to focus your resume on a specific position, with advice on selecting specifics from your pool of experiences to fit your job objective.  Section 3  describes how to present the content in the most attractive and favorable manner, with a list of action words you can use in describing your previous job responsibilities.  Section 4 gives instructions on creating a resume in Microsoft Word's Resume Templates.  The final section consists of three resume samples that can be used to prepare yours.

Section 1:  Creating a Pool of Experiences and Skills

Set aside some time to adequately develop a list of skills and experiences that you have accrued.  These instructions will often refer to categories of experience.  A category of experience can be thought of as all of the relevant skills and experiences that you have had within a specific group.  For example, employment, volunteer experience, education, and personal qualities can be though of a separate categories of experience.

Obtain several sheets of paper.  Devote one side of each sheet to one category.  For example, use one side of a sheet of paper for employment history.  Write down every item within the category that you can remember.  For every position, include an extensive list of skills acquired and responsibilities held.  Do not be selective at this point.  Often people will exclude something from their lists because they think it is insignificant.  Many times the content that is thought to be insignificant can be reworded and framed into a very impressive item.

Employment History: Include all jobs that you can remember.  For each position, include the company name, location, duration of employment (start date and end date), job title, specific responsibilities had, and specific skills developed.

Education:  Include the institution where you are studying or received your degree from (Worcester State College), the type of degree earned (BS for Psychology Majors), your major (Psychology), any concentration (i.e., Mental Health Services, Developmental Processes, Industrial/Organizational, Health), also include any second majors or minors.  In addition, include any fieldwork experience that you have (for example, conducting interviews, field observations, developing a treatment plan, etc.).

Volunteer Experiences: Like the employment history section, include all volunteer positions that you have held as well as any skills that you developed.  It is less important that you have specific start and end dates for your volunteer positions.  In addition, it is not necessary to include locations of the organizations where you performed your volunteer work unless most or all of your experience is from volunteer work, then this section should be as detailed as the employment history section.

Personal Qualities:  Include any positive personal qualities that you perceive as valuable to your desired position e.g., writing skills, good organizational skills, friendly and outgoing personality, leadership abilities.

Section 2:  Focusing your Resume on a Specific Position

You now have a pool of experiences that you can use to make an informed decision regarding which of your experiences and skills are most relevant to the position you are applying for.

The next step in this process is identifying your objective.  Your  objective is more or less what position you are trying to obtain.  It could be a specific position within a specific organization, a specific position within any organization, or a general field in which you desired employment. For example:

Objective:  To obtain a challenging position counseling children with emotional and behavioral challenges.

Once you have defined your objective, review your pool of experiences and skills and identify the ones that are relevant to your objective.  Transfer these all of these items onto a separate sheet of paper.  This sheet of paper will be referred to as the resume focusing sheet.  

Section 3:  Presentation of Content

Once you have identified the items that should be included on your resume, you must expand the items by adding descriptions using action words.  This can make the responsibilities had and skills obtained more impressive.

Action Words to Describe Your Experiences

accessed	cooperated	facilitated	maintained	re-aligned
adapted	coordinated	focused	managed	supported
addressed	counseled	fostered	mediated	re-defined
administered	created	gained	merged	reorganized
advertised	defined	generated	monitored	reported
advised	trained	identified	motivated	researched
analyzed	designed	implemented	negotiated	reviewed
applied	developed	improved	operated	revised
appraised	directed	increased	organized	scheduled
arranged	discovered	influenced	outstanding ability	selected
assessed	documented	informed	participated	self motivated
assigned	earned	initiated	performed	serviced
assumed	edited	innovative	pioneered	skilled
authored	eliminated	inspected	planned	streamlined
calculated	encouraged	inspired	possess	structured
categorized	enforced	instructed	presented	substantiated
challenged	ensured	interacted	projected	suggested
com-municated	established	investigated	promoted	supervised
completed	exemplified	lectured	proposed	supplemented
constructed	expanded	liaised	proven ability	recommended
consulted	dexpedite	lobbied	provided	demonstrated
				volunteered

Some of these words should be included in the descriptions of your experiences.

Example:

Employment             1997-Present         The Bridge of Central MA      Northboro, MA

History                Residential Counselor

Provided counseling and crisis intervention services to adolescents with emotional and behavioral difficulties.  Implemented behavior modification and treatment plans.  Performed clinical assessments for incoming clients.

(* Italicized words are words that are included in the above list.  They shouldn't be italicized on your resume.)

Your work history, volunteer experience, and internships should be listed in this manner.

Education

You have several options when describing your educational experience.  You can include a relevant course work section that lists courses related to the positions you are applying for.

Example:

Education:                    BS        Worcester State College      Worcester, MA

                                    Major:  Psychology     Minor:  Sociology

                                    Graduated: Cum Laude

Relevant

Course work:     Behavior Management Techniques, Seminar in Mental Health Services, Psychology of Exceptional Children and Youth, Child Growth and Development, Psychology of Adolescence, and Seminar in Clinical Psychology.

Or you could list relevant skills from courses taken.

Example:

Education:        BS        Worcester State College            Worcester, MA

                       Major:  Psychology           Minor:  Sociology

                       Graduated: Cum Laude

• Knowledge of developmental processes of both average and exceptional children.

• Ability and experience in implementing behavior management plans.  

• Skilled at using various counseling techniques.

• Knowledge of mental health systems.

It might be helpful to consult the course descriptions in the WSC academic catalog if you can't remember specific focuses of the classes that you have taken.

Section 4:  Using Microsoft Word's Resume Template     

Now that you have the content of your resume written, you should go to a computer with Microsoft Word on it.  The resume templates in Word can produce very nice looking resumes.

1.      Select Programs from the Start menu.

2.      Select Microsoft Word.

3.      Click File, then New.  Click the Other Documents tab.

4.      Double click on the Resume Wizard.

5.      You will see a Title Screen.  Click Next.

6.      You have the choice of Professional, Contemporary, or Elegant.  The style you pick is a matter of taste.  There is a small picture of the different styles when you select each one.  Also, Sample Resume 1, included at the end of this document was done in Professional.  Sample Resume 2 is Elegant style.  Sample Resume 3 was done in Contemporary.

7.      Click Next.  You now have the choice of four formats.  Entry Level is for those who are new to the job market or have limited job experience.  Most college students should select this one.  A Chronological resume highlights accomplishments in chronological order.  A Functional resume is for professionals whose education and accreditation are of primary importance.

8.      Click Next.  Provide full name, mailing address, phone number, fax number, and email address in the corresponding boxes.

9.      Click Next.  Examine the categories that you have created for your resume.   You must select these categories on the list.  Don't worry if a category that you need is not listed; you will have the option of creating individualized categories in a moment.  Don't forget to select the Objective category if it is on this screen.  It is very important to include this one.

10.  Click Next.  There are more categories to choose.  Select any others that pertain to your resume.

11.  Click Next.  At the bottom of the screen is a box that lists all of the categories that you have so far selected.  If you still need a category that isn't there, type the category's name as it should appear on your resume in the box at the top of the screen.  If you do type in a new category, click Add to add it to the list.  You can also highlight any category and click "Remove" to remover it.  You can create subcategories such as "Relevant Course work", "Related Field Work", or "Research Activity".

12.  Once all of the desired categories are in the bottom box, you can reorder them.  If you click once on any category and then select either Move Up or Move Down, that category will switch places with the category in the position either above or below it.  Reorder the categories until they are in the order that you want displayed on your resume.  Tip:  Objective should always be the first category on the list.  The following category should be the category should be the category that is most impressive or most related to the position you are applying for.  Most likely the second category should be Education.  The categories should be ordered from top to bottom in importance, with the top being the most important category and the bottom being the least.  Also, if you decided to included a "Personal Qualities" section, that should be the last one, since it is the least experience-based.

13.  Click Finish once your categories are in the desired order.  Word will produce the framework for your resume.  You can edit any of its content by simply clicking on it.  There will be some program codes that instruct you where to type certain information.  Click once on each code and type.  The text you type will replace the instructions.

14.  Click File then Print to print your resume.  You should use cotton or another high quality resume or business paper for your resume and cover letter.

15.  Click Save from the File menu to save your resume.  Make sure you specify that you'd like your resume to be save on a disk if you are using a computer on campus.  The hard drives on the computers on campus are periodically cleaned of student files.

16.  Always have somebody else proofread your resume for format, spelling, grammar, and clarity and type of content.  Perhaps you could ask a professor in the Psychology Department who is familiar with your field of interest to edit your resume on its content.

Good Luck!!