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Résumé sections:

The first step in building a great résumé is to analyze how your skills, experiences and personal attributes fit the job requirements.

To do this, you must first understand what the employer is looking for. Job descriptions provide candidates with information on what they need to be successful in the job. They outline any required experience, education, knowledge, technical and transferable skills well as personal attributes.

Info

Be sure to read the job description thoroughly.

You’ll want to list these requirements outlined by the employer in the job description, in a chart within a column entitled What the employer wants.

Finally, identify evidence of how you meet the job requirements. This can come from various experiences such as: volunteer work, part-time jobs, extracurricular activities, personal projects and online courses. You may want to list this evidence in a second column of the chart entitled  Evidence I have it.

Case study: Navid Pishva 

In 2010, Navid moved to Canada from Iran to complete his M.Sc. in Computer Science at the University of Toronto. Directly after obtaining his master’s degree, Navid started his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo with the long-term goal of becoming a professor. However, during his doctorate, Navid began to second guess his original career aspiration — he enjoys many aspects of the university setting but does not want to devote most of his time to research.

He is especially interested in continuing to work with students since his teaching and supervision experiences have been highlighted during his Ph.D. He decided to explore non-faculty positions at universities after defending his dissertation. In addition to Navid’s specialized technical knowledge, as a graduate student and teaching assistant, he developed many skills sought-after by employers: project management, persuasive written and oral communication, teamwork, problem solving, group facilitation, mentorship and leadership.

Motivated by his personal experience transitioning to a new culture, Navid also volunteered as an international orientation facilitator, where he engaged with and supported first-year international students during their first week at UW. In this role, he further developed his interpersonal skills and collaborated with campus partners. Navid is also knowledgeable on the range of student services offered at UW, which he gained through his personal experiences as a university student and volunteer.

Given his broad range of skills and his interest in student services, Navid has decided to apply for the position of coordinator of student engagement programs at XYZ University.

Navid has begun to fill out his charts based on the job advertisement below:

Expand
titleSee the full job advertisement: Co-ordinator of Student Engagement Programs at XYZ University

Employer: XYZ University, Student Success Centre

Job Title: Coordinator of Student Engagement Programs

Location: Toronto, ON

The coordinator of student engagement programs oversees the delivery and evaluation of transition programs offered through the Centre including: the Leadership Program; Society of Off Campus Students and a member of the Orientation Planning Committee and numerous Orientation working groups.

The Society of Off Campus Students and Orientation Planning Committee are critical pieces that support first-year students as they adjust to their new university home. The Leadership Program provides leadership training of students and campus leaders while instilling the importance of leadership skills as lifelong objectives.

The coordinator encourages students’ participation in the full range of XYZ’s programs that allow engagement and collaborates with campus partners who offer such programs. The primary role of this position is to encourage student engagement through university programs and also promote and assist students in active engagement throughout the larger community.

Qualification

Required Education: Bachelor's degree in an appropriate field of study

Preferred Education: Master's degree in an appropriate field of study; Masters of Education or Higher Education preferred

Experience

  • 2 – 3 years in a university (or related) experience

  • Strong experiential background in student life issues and student development

  • Strong knowledge and experience with experiential learning, specifically service-learning (locally and globally)

  • Experience with direct supervision of staff (student-aged preferred) and/or student supervision

  • Experience in student services or residence life

Skills & Expertise

  • Ability to work independently and as part of a team

  • Strong public speaking and public relations skills

  • Effective oral and written communication

  • Strong problem solving skills and demonstrated initiative in developing new and improved services to meet the challenging needs of students and staff

  • Proficiency with relevant computing applications; general computer literacy and an appreciation of the potentials of technology

  • Able to interpret basic student research data and extrapolate, quantitative research skills an asset

  • Some experience with quantitative or qualitative data analysis (i.e. SPSS) preferred

  • Ability to facilitate strong relationships with community partners

  • Familiarity with the range of student services at the university level, including knowledge of the literature related to successful student transition to university and knowledge of student orientation programming

  • Expertise in administration, organization and project management

  • Ability to collaborate among several campus and community partners

  • Ability to relate to students in a matter which builds trust and confidence with the student body and among leaders

  • Excellent interpersonal skills and empathy

  • Self-confident, outgoing and personally engaging

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Experience 

What the employer wants:

Evidence I have it:

  • Two to three years university (or related) experience

  • Experience as a graduate student and teaching assistant working with students for many years

  • Experiential background in student life issues/student development

  • International orientation facilitator volunteer in UW’s Student Success Office

  • Supervision of staff and/or student supervision (preferred)

  • Supervised undergrad RAs in the lab

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Education 

What the employer wants:

Evidence I have it:

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s in “appropriate” field of study

  • MSc (Computer Science)

  • PhD (Nanotechnology)

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Knowledge 

What the employer wants:

Evidence I have it:

  • Strong knowledge of experiential learning, specifically service-learning

no evidence

  • Familiarity with range of university student services (e.g., student transition and orientation programming)

  • Personal experience as student accessing services

  • International orientation facilitator volunteer in Waterloo's Student Success Office

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Technical skills 

What the employers wants:

Evidence I have it:

  • Some knowledge of quantitative/ qualitative data analysis (i.e., SPSS); ability to interpret basic student research data (preferred)

  • Extensive quantitative data analysis skills obtained through coursework and theses

  • Proficiency with relevant computing applications/general computer literacy 

  • PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Outlook, website design, programming languages, statistical software, etc.

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Transferable skills 

What the employer wants: 

Evidence I have it:

  • Ability to work independently

  • Worked independently as a PhD and MSc student 

  • Ability to work as part of a team/ collaborate with campus and community partners

  • Collaborated with colleagues as a researcher 

  • Worked with industry stakeholders on various projects  

  • Ability to relate to students in a manner which builds trust and confidence

  • Interpersonal skills/empathetic

  • Built rapport with students as a teaching assistant – tutorials, office hours, emails, discussion boards (won TA award)

  • As a volunteer orientation facilitator, worked directly with international students adjusting to life at UW

  • Public speaking skills

  • Research presentations in courses, at brown bags, defense, conferences, etc.

  • Tutorials as a TA

  • Oral and written communication skills

  • Successful grant applications

  • Publications in academic journals

  • Problem-solving skills

  • Helped students develop their problem solving skills

  • Demonstrated initiative in developing new and improved services to meet the challenging needs of students and staff

no evidence

  • Ability to facilitate strong relationships with community partners

  • Built relationships with industry partners on various projects

  • Organization and project management

  • Managed multiple research projects as grad student (balanced this with courses, teaching, extracurricular commitments, etc.)

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Personal attributes

What the employer wants: 

Evidence I have it: 

  • Self-confident, outgoing, personally engaging 

  • Outgoing and enthusiastic personality evident through my interactions with students