APPLYING FOR A JOB

Once you are out of school or college your writing skills are more important than ever-and particularly when it comes to finding a new or a better job. Here's what you should put in a resume.

Probably nobody ever won a job solely through a letter of application, or a printed resume of his experience. But a well-written presentation of your work history can help to point out your qualifications to an interested employer. What's more, when you're competing for a job opening, a good written presentation can create a strong impression that may prejudice the interviewer in your favor.

A resume should be accurate, brief, and clear. It should put your best foot forward, tell the most important things about you that a prospective employer might want to know, and it should do these things fully but with no padding.

The most common type of resume is the chronological form that gives a list of your previous jobs, starting with the most recent and going backward in time to the beginning of your working life. Most detail should be given to your recent job, since employers are less likely to be interested in what you did ten years ago.

Young job seekers

If you're a young man or woman with little job experience, your problem will be to impress your employer with your potential, rather than with your past. To do this, you'll have to make the most o your scholastic and extracurricular activities. The first step is to list on a worksheet everything that might impress a prospective employer.

If you're fortunate, you'll have done some work - perhaps full-time during the summer, or part-time during the year, or both. Make a list of these jobs and give a brief description of them.

If you have majored in any subjects, which you may think may help you in your work, put those down. If you've won any scholastic or athletic honors, or have achieved any meritorious recognition, put it down.