For Luis

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY DEFINED

A qualifications summary is the first major section of a résumé. It appears after the heading containing your personal information (name, address, telephone, and e-mail) and the section containing your career objective—the position you want.

For those writing their first résumé, we usually suggest using the heading, “Qualifications” or “Qualifications Summary.” However, other frequently used titles for this section include: “Profile,” “Professional Summary,” “Overview,” “Synopsis,” and “Management Profile.”

The qualifications section highlights the “best stuff” you have going for you. By this we mean that your strongest qualifying training, skills, and experience are summarized in order of importance—your strongest first, then your next strongest, and so on. The qualifications summary section provides an overview or summary of the distinct qualifications you bring to the potential employer. If you do a great job of summarizing your key qualifications in this section, an employer will probably want to read the remainder of the résumé to get more details on your background, and then call you to arrange an interview. If the qualifications you listed are general, non-existent, or poorly described, your résumé may be disregarded.

An example of a qualifications summary for an applicant seeking a position working for an electric utility company is provided next.

TOMAS C. RODRIGUEZ

4951 9th Street, Madera, California 93638 • (559) 412-8642 • t.rodrig@sbcglobal.net

Career Focus

Engineering Estimator, Pacific Gas & Electric



Qualifications Summary

EXPERIENCE

• Four years’ experience performing electronic repairs, computer operations, utility maintenance, troubleshooting, problem solving, and customer service.

• Trained and practiced in using AutoCAD, DART, and GIS to prepare estimates for construction projects.

• Experienced in reading schematics, flowcharts, GPS devices, and P&IDs.

• Familiar with California Regulations (GO-95, Raptor) relating to impact that utility structures create on our environment.

DEGREES & CERTIFICATES

• Associate of Science Degree, Electrical Systems Technology, Highest Honors, 2009.

• Certificate in Building Automation pending—one course required for completion.

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Proven ability to relate well to peers, supervisors, and professional staff members.

• Noted for punctuality, excellent attendance, and being detail oriented and well organized.

• Enthusiastic, conscientious, and commended for assisting coworkers and department regarding safety and community service programs.

• Consistently pursue additional knowledge and training in electronics and computer hardware and software.

WHAT ARE YOUR STRENGTHS?

Your strengths will usually be found within education and training (including skills acquired), employment, professional achievements and affiliations, honors, awards, military experience, leadership training, languages, computer literacy, and special projects that you have completed. At the end of this chapter you will find an exercise that will help you identify and list your strengths. Be sure to complete the exercise after reading the instructions for each category within this chapter; it will make writing your résumé a lot easier (trust us!). In Chapter 3 you will take the most significant strengths you have listed for education, training, employment, special projects, honors, organizations, computers, languages, and government service, and concisely place them in the qualifications summary of your résumé.

Now we are going to focus on each of the sections that are normally included in a résumé. After reading about the type of material to be included in each of these sections, identify and list material from your own personal experience (your strengths) in the area provided in Exercise 2.1 at the end of this chapter.

EDUCATION

In most instances, education and training will be one of your strengths. And for your first résumé, education will probably be your greatest strength. The focus of the education section in your résumé is twofold: 1) to list the degree(s), certificate(s), and honors that you have received during your formal education; and 2) to state the specific skills and knowledge you have acquired from the educational program(s) and training that you have completed. Place this material in the designated area on the form in Exercise 2.1 at the end of this chapter.

EMPLOYMENT

No doubt you have worked in either part-time or full-time positions during high school and college. It is essential that you list your employment, even if it was unpaid and not related to the job you are currently seeking. Nearly everyone has worked for someone else—with or without compensation. If this is not the case, immediately go to a teacher, career center, counselor, or mentor and find out how to get some OJT (on-the-job training) in your community. You need to have work experience. The experience may be paid or volunteer. You may work for only a few hours a week, but it is very desirable to obtain experience in a job similar to the one that you eventually want to obtain. Place all your employment experience in the appropriate area on the form in Exercise 2.1.

SPECIAL PROJECTS

Ask yourself if you have completed any of the following at work or at school:

1.   Initiated a project. Examples: reorganized the stock room; suggested a method to determine how customers initially chose the services of your present employer in order to evaluate advertising effectiveness; suggested a new time-saving form; or developed a method for notifying patients via e-mail regarding their next appointment—thus substantially reducing postage costs.

2.   Developed time-saving methods. Examples: while delivering customer orders, picked up merchandise from suppliers; devised a shortcut to reduce the time it takes to weld a cabinet; or programmed all office phones to autodial the most frequently called suppliers.

3.   Taken a leadership role. Examples: became an officer in a student organization; agreed to serve as chairperson for the United Givers Plan at work; or was selected by a teacher to make a presentation to businesses in the community.

4.   Saved your employer money. Example: suggested a way to ship merchandise to customers that provided over the current method of shipping goods.

5.   Stood out among your peers. Examples: had the highest sales for a three-month period; assisted a customer who later complimented you in a letter to your employer; or received an earlier-than-expected pay increase.

List any special projects in which you have participated on the Exercise 2.1 form.

HONORS/AWARDS

If your school, peers, employer, or community have honored you—recognized you in some way—it is special and should be included in your résumé. Thus, if you made the dean’s list at your college, graduated in the top 25 percent of your class or program, received a bonus at work, were asked to become a team leader or lead a project, or were designated as employee or student of the month, it is important to an employer and should be noted on your résumé. Place these in the appropriate section of Exercise 2.1.

PROFESSIONAL AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

It is important to identify relevant professional and community groups of which you are a member. These can be school or college affiliated chapters of these organizations. Why are these affiliations important? They show that you are committed to your career choice and desire to become more knowledgeable through membership in and attendance at trade or professional meetings. Examples of professional organizations include the American Paralegal Association and the American Student Paralegal Association, Alpha Gamma Sigma, and Phi Beta Lambda. Labor unions sometimes provide education and training for student members. If you have participated in an apprenticeship program, be sure to list it. Being a member of a community organization such as public television, Toastmasters, or the American Heart Association is also positive and should be listed on your résumé. It is even more significant if you have taken an active leadership role, chaired a committee, or served as an officer in a professional organization. List any memberships and activities on the Exercise 2.1 form.

COMPUTER LITERACY

Today, everyone needs to be computer literate. Being computer literate means being reasonably well skilled in the use of the Internet, e-mail software, and office applications—these are basic to being literate in today’s workforce. If you don’t have these skills, it is essential that you begin to acquire them immediately.

You should state your computer, Internet, and software skills on your résumé. The operating systems with which you are familiar should be identified. Basically, there are three: Windows XP, Apple/Macintosh, and Linux operating systems. There are some others that are used by computer pros, and if you know how to use them, list them also if you are applying for a position that requires sophisticated computer knowledge. If you are applying for an accounts receivable position, it would be essential to indicate that you have knowledge of bookkeeping/accounting software, such as Excel, Peachtree, Lotus 1-2-3, QuickBooks, etc. The more programs you know, the more valuable you are to an employer. To list a program doesn’t mean you have to know every aspect of the program. Being familiar with its major functions is okay. If you have worked in an office that used customized software for that particular industry, go ahead and list this software—it shows you are adaptable and can learn new programs quickly. If you have acquired skills in programming, repairing, networking, assembling, or troubleshooting computers, list these also.

LANGUAGES AND CULTURE

What languages do you speak (besides slang and text messaging)? If there are significant numbers of Laotians in your community and you speak Lao, it is a plus. Put it on your résumé—it may give you an edge in your job search. In addition to speaking other languages, you may have lived in a country or territory that provided you with special knowledge of the culture or practices within that country. An example would be someone who spent five years living in Mexico working for an airline. If this individual applies for a position with an airline that has routes to Mexico, it would be beneficial to state that he has knowledge of that country’s language, airline industry, and cultural practices.

GOVERNMENT AND MILITARY SERVICE

If you have been a member of the Job or Peace Corps, served in the military, or traveled extensively, you may have acquired skills or knowledge that would be valuable to an employer. Today, many young people have served in the National Guard or performed full-time military service. No doubt training was acquired during their military service that might be transferred to a civilian occupation. Some examples include an EMT (emergency medical technician), or jobs in transportation (dispatcher, driver, forklift operation/ repair) and finance (auditor, payroll, accounting).

The key in determining whether to list Job Corps, military, or travel background is whether the knowledge and skills you acquired are relevant to the position for which you are applying.

STEPS AFTER COMPLETING EXERCISE 2.1

Congratulations on finishing Exercise 2.1. You have just taken a huge step in completing your résumé. Feel free to go back and add items to the various categories that you listed. You will probably need to come back to this form two or three times in order to remember most of the relevant items for each category.

Now, we urge you to ask your parents or a brother, sister, or close friend to look at this exercise and see if they fully understand each of the accomplishments and activities you listed. Can they suggest additional items to add to any of these categories? Use their input to expand the accomplishments you listed.

Eischen, C. W., & Eischen, L. A. (2010). Identifying your strengths to construct a qualifications summary and superior résumé (pp. 11-15). Résumés, cover letters, networking, and interviewing (3rd ed.). Canada: Southwestern Cengage Learning.