{"id":287,"date":"2025-09-15T13:32:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T13:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/chapter\/12-1-resumes\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T14:19:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T14:19:43","slug":"12-1-resumes","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/libraryresources.nse.org.ng\/professionalandtechnicalcommunication\/chapter\/12-1-resumes\/","title":{"raw":"12.1 Resumes","rendered":"12.1 Resumes"},"content":{"raw":"
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Kessler, Low, and Sullivan (2019) explained that employers value students who gain prominent work experience during summer before their senior and junior years. This information aligns with many college programs now requiring their students to complete internships, thus making resumes and employee documents important.<\/p>\n

A resum\u00e9\u0301 is the central document of your job application because it is what employers focus on most when judging an applicant\u2019s suitability for a position. Does the candidate have the right combination of skills to do the job? Did they acquire skills with the right combination of education, employment, and other experiences? Are they able to put a document together in a clear, concise, correct, organized, and reader-friendly way? The goal of the resum\u00e9 is to convince the employer to include you in the small selection of candidates they will interview to find the right person for the job (Smith, 2019).<\/p>\n

To have any chance of attaining a suitable position, actively apply to job postings and make your applications stand out with superior quality, knowing that your application will be just one of dozens, perhaps even hundreds, vying for interview spots. When an employer goes through the pile of applications that make it past the electronic filters, the resum\u00e9s targeted specifically at that job make the generic ones look amateur and underdeveloped. Along with those marred by glaring errors, generic resum\u00e9s are the first to go into the shredder. They annoy hiring managers because they mean more work, but they\u2019re easy to spot and reject when the goal is to thin out the pile.<\/p>\n

A targeted resum\u00e9\u0301 is the result of the job applicant tailoring their resum\u00e9 to present nothing more or less than what the job posting asks for. An employer\u2019s job posting is a wish-list of all the skills and qualifications that would set up the applicant for success in the position advertised. It also informs the selection criteria the employer applies to every job application. This way, every application is measured objectively for how well it reflects what the job posting asked for, as well as how current and well-presented it is. The employer expects each section will prove that the applicant is perfect for the job, as well as meet general expectations for quality of writing\u2014clarity, conciseness, correctness, and accuracy\u2014as well as document readability and organization.<\/p>\n

Think of your resume as a strategic way to represent yourself; a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 can<\/p>\n\n