CS 385.04 Week 1 Post-Class 2 Pre-Class: A resume draft

Links: [Course Home] [Schedule] [Moodle]

This assignment is due at the beginning of class on August 29.

Description

Your goal this week is to create a very rough draft of your resume. We're not going to worry about format or wordsmithing the content just yet; the goal is to just get the relevant facts listed. We'll follow up in subsequent weeks.

You should submit your assignment as a single PDF via Moodle. Corrupted or unreadable files will not receive any credit, and submissions in formats other than PDF may lose points.

Readings

Check out the resume guide at CareerCup and some (very impressive) sample resumes from Carnegie Mellon students. CMU is arguably the top CS program in the country, and many students enter their program with significant prior experience, so don't freak out.

Advice

With resumes, the rule is "show, don't tell." When a technical manager reads your resume, they will assume that all your verifiable facts are true (the important ones will get fact-checked later), but they won't put much stock in your opinion. So 3.4 GPA? They believe you. "Implemented system that allowed us to take data 40 times faster?" That sounds specific. "Excellent communicator and great with people"? They're going to disregard this as not evidence-based AND possibly think less of you for making such an unsubstantiated claim. They will also assume the worst about any standard information you omit. No date for your associate's degree? You probably got it in 1942. No GPA? You probably have a 0.26. Strange work history gap between 2013-15? Probably poaching endangered elephants in Namibia. Etc. No matter how bad you think an issue is, you're better off addressing it.

Always, always concentrate on what you can bring to the employer, not what the job will do for you or why you'd enjoy it.

Not fair? Yeah, nothing about this process is. You're trying to appeal to a busy person who has too much to do and is trying to make a good hire, not extend the utmost in fairness to each and every stranger who applies. In fact, the only fairness you are owed whatsoever is to not face discrimination because of your membership in a protected class (gender, race, etc.). Everything else, however trivial, is legal. It helps to understand this so that you can be strategic and not take things personally.

Assignment requirements

Must be 2 pages or fewer

A real resume for an entry-level position should only be 1 page. This is a hard and fast rule. However, you're welcome to submit up to 2 pages if you're having trouble paring down the content yourself.

Must contain the following elements

Education: for all colleges you've attended, provide the following:
- Name and location of school
- Degree received or expected, including the date (e.g. BS in Computer Science, expected May 2018)
- GPA: You can just put "X.XX" for this assignment, since your peers will eventually critique your resume. On your real resume, you should definitely include your overall GPA if it's above 3.0, and you might want to consider including it even if not. If your major or your SSU GPA is significantly higher than your overall GPA, you can include that too.
Coursework: list a few of the most interesting/relevant/specialized classes you've taken
Skills: list the programming languages and specialized tools you've used. A few tips:
- Don't list stuff like Microsoft Office; the assumption is that a CS major should be able to pick it up, and employers will get concerned about your ability to learn on your own if you include it. The one exception mayyyyyy be Excel if you're extremely proficient and it's clearly related to the job.
- If you are much more comfortable with some languages/tools than others, it's helpful to separate them into categories. "Proficient" and "familiar" are useful words here. Never, ever use "expert" unless you could go toe-to-toe with people who write compilers for the language. It's viewed as a provocation.
Experience (in reverse chronological order): If you really, truly don't have any, make up something. Make sure it is whimsical and completely outlandish, so that you're not tempted to leave fake stuff on your real resume. (e.g. "Managing director of Unicorns and Dinosaurs at Galacticorp"). For each job, real or fake, this is what you need to provide:
- Exact job title (for paid position), company, location, and dates (month/year)
- A bullet or two describing (in factual terms) your job duties and accomplishments
- Volunteer and part-time positions are fine! Just be sure to make the nature of the position clear.
Projects: describe a couple of cool CS projects you've done. Coursework is totally fine.

May contain the following elements

An objective or summary. This is a very polarizing topic. I personally think it's silly, but some hiring managers I respect like to see one.
Extracurricular involvement and leadership
Awards and scholarships
Hobbies. Including them is a gamble: some people will view them as unprofessional, while others might be like "Sweet, someone to windsurf with!"
Non-mainstream accomplishments. This is another gamble. For example, if you're a semi-pro video game player, some people will value your dedication and achievement, while others will be afraid they're hiring a video game addict or someone whose boundaries are off. DEFINITELY leave off non-mainstream hobbies unless you've done something extra impressive.

Must NOT contain the following elements (for US jobs, and thus for this assignment)

Directly stating age, gender, or race. It's OK to indirectly disclose these things, but only in the context of your accomplishments, like receiving a scholarship for Latinx students or being a leader in WICS.
Extraneous information about your national origin. It's fine (though by no means required) to say "US citizen," "US permanent resident," or "authorized to work in the US" plus your visa type. Only provide what an employer would need to know.
A picture of you

These elements are totally standard in most other countries, but they make hiring managers very uncomfortable in the US.