Construction

Your résumé basically outlines information about you – your career objectives, education, prior experience, specific skills and expertise.  As it should have a professional appearance, use high quality 20-25 lb. bond paper in a neutral color (ivory, bone, gray, granite), an easily readable font style, such as Times Roman or Arial (10 – 12 pts.) and dark ink.  To make it attention grabbing, use an attractive layout with ample margins. Try to leave some white space by not crowding too much information into the résumé.  Use bolding, underlining, or italicizing to highlight those words or phases you want to stand out.  But, don't overdo it.  The copies should be crisply printed.  Remember, neatness counts!

Style

Your résumé should be an objective description, rather than a subjective evaluation, of accomplishments.  It should list your accomplishments by grouping them into sections with entries in each segment arranged in reverse chronological order (the most recent events first).  Use phrases that begin with action verbs (instead of complete sentences).  For example, start entries with words like taught, designed, managed, organized, planned, adapted, chaired, developed, prepared, implemented, supervised, etc.  Carefully proofread your résumé to make certain it is free of grammatical errors and misspelled words.  Ask friends and colleagues to critically review the document to insure perfect grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Structure

All data should be “chunked” into distinct sections.  As there is no “right way” to do this, you must look at your entries and decide what is the best format to present your accomplishments.  Use category titles that suit your list of qualifications.  Basically, your résumé should contain information grouped into these categories:

Heading – The identifying data appear at the top of your résumé.  List your name, address, and contact information, including your email address and web site for your electronic résumé, if you have one.

Objective – Clearly state a purpose for writing the résumé that conveys your personal goal (e.g. to obtain a special education teaching position in grades K - 6).  Indicate the specific grade levels and subject areas in which you are interested.  The objective should be relatively broad, but specific enough to describe the type of position you are seeking.   You may also include your desire to supervise specific extracurricular activities.

Specific Skills – List the particular characteristics that qualify you for this position, highlighting unique qualities and relevant job skills (e.g. fluency in a foreign language, computer skills, etc.) that make you best suited for the desired position(s).

Education – List in reverse chronological order the dates of attendance, graduation dates, schools attended, degrees, certifications, majors, awards, honors, etc.

Professional Experience – List and describe skills, responsibilities and accomplishments.  Include student teaching experience, field experiences, substitute teaching and any practica or internships.  The teaching experience can be full- or part-time, paid or volunteer.  Don’t forget to include other experience in working with children, for example, summer camp instructor or counselor positions, tutoring, Scout troop leader, and informal teaching situations such as working in recreation and after-school programs.  As a prospective teacher, all these experiences are pertinent.

Other Work Experience – If you are just starting your teaching career, it’s permissible to include other work experience in your résumé.  This will give an indication of your work ethic and past employment.  Your experiences may prove that you've developed leadership, organizational, or communication skills, plus show how you constructively spent your time and/or earned money for college.

Additional Information – Include college and community activities that support your commitment to education, membership in professional organizations, attendance in seminars, workshops, and conferences.

Concluding Statements – Make final statements, such as “References available upon request” and “Portfolio available for review” at bottom of your résumé.

Final Thoughts on Composing a Résumé

Although one of your goals is to emphasize those qualities that make you most suited for the desired position, don’t misrepresent yourself.  Be honest in describing your accomplishments. 

Don’t list your references directly on your résumé, but rather include a statement indicating that they are available.  Make sure that you have contacted each person that you plan to use for his or her permission.  When you contact them, you may also give them relevant information on your most recent accomplishments.

Do not include personal information about your marital status, age, family, health, weight, height, and religious or ethnic background.  This kind of information is irrelevant to your qualifications as a professional educator and should not appear on your résumé. There are also federal and state guidelines prohibiting employers from asking you questions related to these items.

If you have an answering machine picking up calls while you are searching for a position, make sure the message is business-like.  Principals and superintendents will be put off by offensive, irritating or cute messages.