Resume Writing Workshop

Transform your resume into a powerful tool that will help you get interviews. This course is invaluable to anyone who wants to improve their resume as it will introduce you to different formats, help you make the most of your work experience, and discover how to use reference to your advantage.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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Learning method

Self-Guided

$190

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

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Instructor-Moderated

$175

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Starting September 11 | October 16

Details + Objectives

Course code: rww

Create an effective resume or improve the one you already have. Transform your resume into a powerful tool that will get you interviews. Learn different resume formats and the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Make the most of your work experience and discover how to use references to your advantage. This course includes the use of online resumes and is invaluable for anyone who wants to create their own resume, or learn how to write resumes and cover letters for profit.

What you will learn

Learn about the different parts of a resume and their purpose
Discover your own unique features and benefits
Learn about resume rules and how they affect the development of a resume
Learn about different types of resumes and discover the one best suited to develop your own individual resume
Develop a cover letter and put the finishing touches on your resume

How you will benefit

Learn new styles and resources for creating the best possible resume
Access an instructor that is ready to answer any questions, give positive suggestions and encouragement
Create an up-to-date, concise, and polished resume
Use your newly created resume as a powerful tool that will impress potential employers

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

This lesson will discuss what a resume is and why you need one. Then, it will go over the six sections of a resume: Heading, objective, education, work experience, special skills, and references, and you'll learn how job seekers utilize each one to market themselves to prospective employers. The lesson will also discuss some other resources on the Internet where you can look over sample resume headings and objectives.

In this lesson, you'll outline the skills that you've developed in five areas of your life—work, education, internships, volunteering, and extracurricular activities. Then, you'll edit those skills down to the ones that are most relevant to employment, and choose an important skill for each area. Next, you'll come up with personality traits and narrow those down to the ones that are useful in a business setting. The lesson will ask you to list the three accomplishments that you're most proud of, and the skills that you used to make these goals come to fruition.

This lesson will cover the rules of resumes. For instance, a resume should be only one page, and it should be laser-printed or typeset by a professional printer, and it should be printed on bond paper. You'll also learn what not to include on your resume, and why it's perfectly acceptable to use the word "I" on your resume if you so desire. The lesson will conclude with a discussion about Truth in Resume Writing. Through example, it will demonstrate how to portray job duties in the best possible light without getting yourself into trouble.

In this lesson, you'll learn about the most popular style of resume—the chronological resume. In this type of resume, you'll list work experience in reverse chronological order. Your current or last position is listed first in the work experience section of your resume. The lesson will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this type of resume and show you how to minimize a gap in work history. Although many people will have a few small gaps in work history, having too many gaps or gaps that are too large will put prospective employers on alert.

This lesson will go over the other two resume formats—the functional resume and the hybrid—the combined resume. Although not as popular as the chronological resume, these resume formats do fulfill a need for some job seekers. Employees who are following a new direction in their career, or who don't have much experience for a particular position, may choose a functional format. You'll learn the differences between functional resumes and chronological ones, and as part of the lesson, you'll look at four people's chronological resumes and practice converting them into functional and combined resumes.

In this lesson, you'll concentrate on your resume. The lesson will discuss how to set up the heading of your resume and the options you have available to you when you're doing so. Then, you'll look at some sample resume headings. You'll learn how to write a persuasive objective for your personal resume and then learn about career profiles and summaries of qualifications. The lesson will also go over examples of objectives, career profiles, and summaries. Finally, you'll look at the education section of your resume and learn what's included in an honors section.

In this lesson, you'll learn about references. You'll begin by looking at examples of two reference letters written by two different individuals. Then, the lesson will discuss how to request a reference letter and show you some samples of them. You'll learn about the different people you can request a letter from and take a look at the difference between a regular reference and a sealed reference. After that, you'll look at a sample reference sheet that you can use as a model to construct your own. The lesson will finish up with some examples of how you can refer to your references on your resume.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to turn job descriptions into advertising copy. Your resume is an advertisement for a product, and you are the product, and your potential employer is the customer. You need to express the features (actual description of your product) and the benefits (how it will help or aid the customer) of the product. You must be as persuasive and specific as possible when describing your features and benefits. Finally, the lesson will discuss company job descriptions and why they're important to you.

In this lesson, you'll learn all about technical resumes (resumes for engineering, data processing, and other technical and management careers). The lesson will discuss how these resumes differ from traditional resumes. You'll learn about buzzwords and find out how to use them effectively on a technical resume. Then, you'll learn some writing tips for technical resumes and go over a recommended technical resume format. You'll finish up the lesson by looking over some examples of technical resumes—one chronological and one functional.

In this lesson, you'll learn the three methods that employers use to locate a job candidate on the Internet. The lesson will discuss resume banks, search engines, and newsgroups. It will explain what you need in order to get Internet access, and the three versions you'll need in order to post your resume on the web. The lesson will also go over keywords and other online resume tips and explain why you need to protect yourself on the Internet, as well as ways to accomplish this. Finally, there will be a discussion about how to post your resume.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to write an effective cover letter. The lesson will explain what a cover letter is and when you'll need one. Then, you'll go over the different parts of a cover letter and look at several examples of them. Finally, the lesson will discuss the follow-up sentence that you might include in the closing of your cover letter and why it's important in your job search.

The final lesson is all about the new resume that you've been working on throughout this course. You'll take one final critical look at it: Is your name centered at the top of the page? Is it highlighted by a larger font, bolding, or underlining? Is your objective highlighted, along with your education, college, and work experience? Were you consistent with font sizes, capitalization, spacing, and punctuation? Is everything lined up vertically? The left-hand side of your resume should be lined up vertically, but the right-hand side should be ragged. Is your resume perfect with no typos or spelling errors? By the time you finish this lesson, your resume will be ready to present to prospective employers!

Instructors & Support

Stephanie Donaldson

Stephanie Donaldson has been writing resumes for the past 20 years. Stephanie earned a bachelor's in English from St. Lawrence University and a master's in business administration from Clarkson University. She has held management positions in the hospitality, paper, and seminar industries. For several years, she was employed in the Marketing department at the American Management Association. For the past decade, she has served as Director of Continuing Education at two colleges. In addition to owning her own business, Stephanie often lectures on Marketing and Business Writing to small business owners. She has taught Resume Writing Workshop for over 10 years and has helped nearly 2,000 people in the U.S., Canada, and Australia to improve their resumes.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

Experience with any version of Microsoft Word.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Reviews

As someone who just started a new job helping unemployed individuals search for work, this class has provided invaluable information and has increased my knowledge to better serve my clients. Thank you!

I decided to take this course because my resume is outdated, stale, and unpolished. Already this course has introduced me to new styles and resources I wasn't aware of. Thanks Stephanie for making this easier and immensely more productive than I thought it would be or could be.

I felt this was a relatively painless way to end up with a completed resume. I also think this class is much better than reading a how-to book because the information is up-to-date, plus if you have lots of questions like I did, the instructor is right there to answer them. I also really appreciated the instructor's positive messages and encouragement!

I found this class very useful. The instructor presented the material in a straight-forward and easy-to-digest manner. I really feel ready to present a new resume to potential employers.

I thought that this course was awesome! It helped me with so many questions that I had in regards to my resume! Plus, any questions that I had the instructor always answered them right away and gave me suggestions on how to improve my resume. It was a very helpful class and I can't wait to start sending out my resume with confidence!

My resume is now much more effectively put together, more concise, better looking, and more easily read than before. Thanks for the information that allowed me to fix it up.

Thanks, this really helped! I even have an interview already!

This was a GREAT workshop. The lesson material was very well presented. The supplemental information was extremely helpful and I will be able to use many of the sites in the future. I'm very glad I made this investment. I am now more sure of how to present my "proposal" to prospective employers.

Working in an employment office - this has been very helpful to me in working with applicants who are doing resumes. Thank you. The web sites were good for me to refer applicants to.