A resume, a French word meaning to summarize, is the one requirement seemingly universal when applying to jobs. They’ve been handwritten, typewritten and now templated in almost every word processor. Yet, the resume has always provided one thing: anxiety. So we decided to take out the anxiety associated with the whispers and rumors of what should be on a resume by asking our career experts. Here’s what they had to say:

Burning Questions

: Experts tackle the most common queries
• Should a resume be one page: Yes
• Should there be an objective on a resume: No
• Should your GPA be included on a resume: Depends

What should be included in a resume?

Students must realize that their resume is not a comprehensive overview of everything they have ever done. It should be a focused documents highlighting relevant information about their qualifications (education, experience, skills, qualities/characteristics), illustrated whenever possible through real examples and accomplishments. Your resume has to tell your story in terms that are relevant to your audience, and you get one page to do this.
– Matt Berdnt
Director of Communication Career Services at the University of Texas-Austin

Resumes should have bolded headings and bullet points describing what you did in your previous positions. The writing should be formal and appropriate. For example, if you worked as a server in a restaurant, do not write “Served customers food.” You should be a little more descriptive and precise. Don’t underestimate the value of any job you have held. If you were a cashier and closed out a register, you were given the responsibility of the most important aspect of a money-making enterprise. It wouldn’t be too much to say that you were “in charge of businesses daily receipts and accounting”.
– Steve Miller
Internship coordinator and coordinator of undergraduate studies for the Rutgers University Department of Journalism and Media Studies

Resumes that try to provide too much information risk not being reviewed by busy recruiters. Make your resume brief and to the point. If necessary, provide additional information in a cover letter.
– Charles Harris
Director of Career Services and Multicultural Affairs at the University of Florida’s College of Journalism and Communications

You can take a chance submitting two-page resumes. If your experience is great and well-presented, an editor wouldn’t eliminate you from the running just because of a longer resume. But every two-page resume Ed’s seen had careless errors in it or, at the very least, obvious opportunities where they could have been shortened.
If you’re interested in getting your two-page resume down to one, try this:
• Put commas in between each of your job responsibilities, so the description looks like a paragraph instead of a bullet-pointed list.
• Tinker with the margins. Leave some space at the bottom, but you only need to leave a bit on the sides, and even less at the top.
Read the entire post on ED 2010.

Resume pitfalls

Do not include information that would detract from the professionalism of the resume (i.e., a too-cutesy or too rude e-mail address, nicknames, etc.). Do not include SAT or ACT scores. If the resume is to be used for the second job post-graduation, do not include your college GPA. (Phi Beta Kappa should be mentioned, however.)
– Nancy Waclawek
St. Petersburg Times

Details we don’t need are: subbed in for sports clerk two nights per week, etc… Make it either specific to what you’re applying for (writing, photography) or generic as in “occasionally worked as clerk in various departments”
– Lynn Kalber
Director of Administration/Newsroom at the Palm Beach Post

Don’t use template resume programs. They leave too much space within the page and do not give the user the opportunity to make sufficient changes. Intern and job applicants would be better off going on to the Internet and looking at resume and cover letter examples and tailor their work to those. A good HR person or editor will recognize a template resume and may perceive this to be an act of laziness. You should type in resumes on your search engine. It will enable you call up many Web sites that will provide you with guidance and direction.
– Steve Miller

Consider these things before sending out your resume

Check your resume for typos, misspellings and grammatical errors. Check all addresses and phone numbers for accuracy. Review your voice-mail message to be sure that it is professional. Be sure to include the most recent cell-phone number and e-mail address
– Nancy Waclawek

Understand the purpose of a resume. It is not meant to get you a job. It is meant to tell prospective employers enough about you so that they’ll be intrigued, see a place for in their program, look at your work and consider you. The resume is preliminary. It is square one
– Joe Grimm
The Detroit Free Press Recruiting and Development Editor and author of Breaking In: The JobsPage.com Guide to Newspaper Internships

What employers are looking for

Editors and gatekeepers want to know whether you can write a story or cut some tape. On the other hand, you are a college student and employers would like to know how you handle the various pressures of the classroom and on campus media at the same time.
– Steve Miller

The resume should be a summary of education and work experience, focusing primarily on the college years. Include high school work or academic experience or honors when they are extraordinary and would positively impress a recruiter.
– Nancy Waclawek

Scrutinize everything you intend to include in your resume. Ask yourself – is this really relevant to my target reader? If it’s not, it probably doesn’t belong on your resume.
– Matt Berndt

Although it is extremely tough to secure an internship or job with little experience, students do overcome this obstacle by the following: community service, leadership positions in organizations and being very thorough in networking with journalism related organizations. It may also help to take a wide variety of courses that can help show exposure or knowledge.
– Charles Harris