Gregory Koberger

RESUME CONSULTATION: Gregory Koberger

On average, employers spend less than 30 seconds reviewing a resume. To command attention, frame your skills and experience from the employer’s perspective. Here’s how to do it:

• Summarize what you have to offer with a headline, objective or summary statement.
• Demonstrate the impact of your work and your capabilities. Go beyond concrete details to provide a 10,000 foot view of the skills and attributes you can contribute to potential employers.
• Take an organized approach. Use a clear, consistent format and provide concise job descriptions that are easy to understand at a glance.

This resume consultation provides a 360 degree evaluation of your current resume—from fonts and format to content. Use this consultation as a guide as you revise your resume, then get a second opinion from an industry expert, professor, or trusted advisor to customize your resume for specific job targets. (Microsoft Live Office Workplace offers you an interactive workspace to store and collaborate on revisions.)

STRENGTHS:

• Branding on resume matches online portfolio. This is a slightly unconventional format, but works very well. Congratulations.
• You have one of the strongest online portfolios that I have ever seen. I’ve been in the business for over 10 years, and I am very impressed with how you have customized your portfolio for your audience. This is terrific, and you should make sure you highlight this throughout your resume and any communications with potential employers.
• Strong GPA combined with experience. You have a lot to highlight. (Congratulations, there’s a lot you can draw
  from to emphasize your experience in different areas.)
• Relevant experience with major. There’s an obvious connection between your internships and major course of study: this good.
• Format. This is a well written resume and has a nice format.

WEAKNESSES:

• Resume not developed from employer’s perspective. Employers scan for coursework, and technical skills. Place this information at the top so it is easy to find.
• Lack of skills section. You do a nice job explaining why you took the skills section out of your resume on your website. That being said, search engines often look at your resume before humans do—and there’s no guarantee employers will look at your portfolio. List technical skills that are relevant to position—and what you want to do—in “Technical Competencies” or “Education” section at the beginning of your resume.
• Despite your strong GPA and terrific experience, you don’t want to risk not having your resume screened out based on what’s not specified. This is not the place to be “contrarian” with employers.
• Don’t assume everyone speaks “RIT Language.” Avoid using acronyms—e.g. PFOS GPA.
• Adhere to “numbers rule”: Don’t spell out any numbers over 11—abbreviate.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

• Consider adding a summary at the top of your resume. Here’s an example summary:
  PROGRAMMING WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP

  B.S. in Information Technology interested in software development related co-op experience, with an emphasis in <>. Experienced web developer with expertise in <<insert languages or area of expertise>>.

• Increase relevance factor to employers: Add coursework highlights (that relate to positions), consider adding a section which details a course highlight (see e-book, Has Your Resume Graduated from College on the Microsoft? website), and consider listing GPA.
• Consider developing MS Word version of your resume to use when applying to positions online (some employers use scanning software that is non-pdf friendly). This is not always the case, but it can be a factor.

Overall, this is a great start. You have accumulated some very relevant experience for positions related to your majors and interests. Again, I strongly recommend that you call out URLs within the body of your resume to draw attention to examples of your expertise.

Suggest you revise your resume with these suggestions. Again, your electronic portfolio is amazing. Good luck!