Resumes

Everything you need to know about Resumes

The first rule: A resume with typos or grammatical errors will kill your job prospects in every newsroom we know. Never send your resume to anybody without proofreading it and without first also letting a friend proofread it. (The same goes for your cover letters.)

The second rule about resumes: Many employers give them no more than a 30-second glance, so make sure your resume has impact. It must be neat, precise, concise and complete. It should convey to employers the skills you have that make you a candidate worth interviewing, and it must do so quickly. You don't want to give too much detail -- you don't have room -- but you don't want to leave employers wondering what you've done. Don't leave big time gaps. Some employers look for those gaps.

Which leads to the third rule: Make it one page. Yes, you've got life experience going back 10-15 years and it's valuable and you're proud of it. But in journalism, employers don't like two-page resumes. Your ability to make your resume one page is viewed as a reflection on your news judgment, your editing strength and your ability to be concise.

And remember that there is no single right or wrong format, so don't obsess about font style and size, whether you boldface or italicize this or that. Just make it neat and clean.

In the end, a resume should convey not just where you worked and the duties you performed, but what you accomplished in your jobs.

Career Services Assistant Dean Ernest Sotomayor, Associate Director Julie Hartenstein and Assistant Director Gina Boubion are available to critique and guide you in refining your resume. If you're a current student and need help, contact one of us to make an appointment. Below you will find additional links to stories and guides to help you prepare a good resume, and several samples that you can use as a guide.

On to some details on tuning up the resume...

First, some basic information about job descriptions

Tell them what they want to know: what you did, not just your title and work dates. Every editor knows what a cops reporter does, or a copy editor's duties, or generally what a desk assistant does, so don't spend a lot of time and space discussing details of the everyday duties, and don't use job descriptions so broad that they convey nothing. For example:
Reporter, Herald Square, Manhattan June 2005-June 2006
Wrote stories on general news, education

This says little about you and says nothing about whether you did all breaking news, enterprise, investigations, any major projects that you worked on that had significant impact like legislative reforms, etc. Of course, this has to be done succinctly, but you also want to put your experience in context.

Second, do you lead resume with "Education" or "Experience?"

If you have extensive experience in journalism prior to coming to Columbia J-School, you should lead your resume with a category "Journalism Experience." That is what they are seeking to hire, it's your strongest asset and what you want employers to know about.

If you are new to journalism and done very little freelancing, your studies at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, for now, will be your strongest tie to journalism so we'd advise that you list that at the top of the resume. As you launch into your first job and become grounded, that will change, of course, and you'll move education that down.

Categories, Headings: name, address, phone number, and e-mail

Your name should appear the same way on your clips and resume. While in school, you should use both your current and permanent addresses and phone numbers. Resumes are often kept for months by recruiters until they have an opening to fill, and if you can't be found, you won't be considered for the job. If you plan to travel and be without a permanent address for a while, at least list the contact information for someone like a parent or very close friend who can pass on your most current info to a recruiter. Always set up a permanent email account that you can access while traveling.

Position Desired/Objective

You'll find disagreement about whether or not you should list an objective, but most news employers will say it is not crucial. Be certain that when using an objective you convey the message you want understood. Objectives that are too vague or too specific can create problematic impressions. They should be included only if you are willing to tailor your resume for each application.

Also, when using an objective line, do not contradict your cover letter. For example, don't send a resume that says you want a job as a general news producer, then write in your letter that you want to be an on-camera reporter, or submit a resume tape featuring you in standup after standup or anchoring newscasts. Depending on how flexible you are, you might have to prepare different resumes for different jobs.

Here are some possible objectives and their potential pitfalls:

"Objective: To utilize my skills as a print or broadcast journalist."
This objective is both broad and vague. It gives the impression that you neither know what medium or what position you want. If you are applying for both print and broadcast positions, have resumes that are specific to each field.

"Objective: to be a feature reporter for a large metropolitan daily."
Since most entry-level positions are neither in features nor at large papers, an editor at a small daily may think you have no interest in a general assignment reporting position.

Your objective should say what you want to do (report, edit, produce) right now at the specific organization to which you are applying. If the organization offers news in multiple media, demonstrate that you know what they do and what you have to offer in your cover letter.

Education

You attend "Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism," not just Columbia University or Columbia Journalism School. List the formal, full name of the school. List all colleges you have attended in reverse chronological order. Include your major and date of graduation. Make sure the presentation for each entry matches (B.A. should line up with M.S., Bachelor of Arts with Master of Science, etc). Also include study abroad and workshops. "M.S. expected May 2006" is the most common way of listing your current degree prior to graduation.

Do not list high school education, but do list any special high-level training institutions or programs you might have attended, especially if it is relevant to journalism.

Experience

This is where you will tell about your professional career up to this point, and it may include both journalism and non-journalism jobs. You want to include all of it, at least since you left college, and don't be afraid to let potential media employers know about your background. If you have significant journalism experience, consider having two "Experience" categories: "Journalism Experience," where you list media employment, freelancing work, etc., and "Other Experience," for your jobs as a banker, lawyer, teacher, etc.

When you describe your non-journalism experience, tell an employer not just your title and duties, but as we noted above, try to convey what your work amounted to -- your accomplishments, the major impacts of your work, etc. Try to focus especially on the parts of your job that you think would be most relevant to a journalism job. For instance, highlight things like major research, special subject expertise, searching and using official documents, interviewing of clients or members of the public, writing experience (that might include research reports or newsletters, work with the web, deadline work, etc.

List your jobs in reverse chronological order with your dates of employment (failure to include dates doesn’t protect you from age discrimination; it makes you seem evasive). Include name, city and state of employer. If your journalism experience is in different types of media, you may want to break it into "broadcast," "print" or "online media."

Account for all of your time since graduating from college, but if you've been away from school for a long time, and in the years immediately after school you moved around quite a lot into parttime positions or temporary jobs that lasted a few months here and a few there, it is not necessary to list every one of those jobs. Consider creating an entry that might look like this:

1986-1993:
Worked as waiter, independent contract writer, temp agency employee, and continued occasional academic courses.

No one will hold against you a period of time in which you looked to find your bearings. And this will avoid the need to list a half dozen or so short-term jobs that are unrelated to your pursuit of journalism now.

Skills and Travel

Your advanced computer, multimedia, investigative reporting/database skills, video/audio editing abilities, and especially language skills can make the difference between you and someone with comparable experience who is without them. Avoid listing the everyday computer skills that are fundamentals: "Microsoft Word," "Windows and Mac operating systems," "Using the Internet." These are common, everyday applications and should be left off. However, be sure to indicate Web skills including HTML, Flash, Photoshop, proficiency in digital audio and video editing programs (like Avid or Final Cut Pro), computer assisted reporting etc.

Employers don't want to know about your summer vacation, but if your travels abroad included living overseas for a significant period of time, studies or training or work that might be relevant, it's not a bad idea to include them.

Foreign Languages

This could be the skill set that puts you in front of your closest competitor, so ALWAYS list your foreign language skills, no matter where you are applying. But don't overstate your abilities. Our rule is that if you can use a foreign language well enough to gather information or conduct interviews, and feel comfortable using the information in your story, then you're proficient.

Professional Affiliations

Membership demonstrates a commitment to journalism (eg. Society of Professional Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors, Society of Environmental Journalists, etc.) and further points to your special interests. And as some employers seek to make their staffs more ethnically/racially diverse, your activities and affiliations with these organizations can also be important.

Honors and Awards

Include them if they are for journalism achievement and those you think might be of interest to employers. Those from high school are no longer relevant.

Interests

This is an optional category. Include it only if you have done something unusual, noteworthy, or of interest to an employer. Be prepared to discuss it in an interview. For instance, one student came to Columbia with previous experience as a roofer, welder and boxer. Another student was an opera singer. Another was an avid outdoorsman. These tidbits paint a picture of a real person and employers enjoy reading them, even if they're are not relevant to the job. The boxer was interested in sports writing. The singer wanted to write about classical music. The outdoorsman wanted a newspaper job in the Pacific Northwest or Great Plains.

References

Either list them at the bottom of your resume, attach a page with their names, titles and contact information, or leave off any mention altogether. Do not write "References - available upon request." Even though many books on resumes will advise you to use this language, it strikes us as arrogant because it gives a prospective employer work to do. He or she should not have to contact you for information you can easily provide in the first communication. Be aware, too, that they may know people in the journalism school or people at the company where you worked, and sometimes they won't call the references you listed. Career changers who have very little or no journalism experience definitely should provide references who can discuss their work in journalism school. Some people list references on a separate sheet. (See references page.) This can save room on the resume and allows you to tailor your list of references to the job for which you are applying. But again, always try to get your resume on a single page.

Personal Information

Age, sex, weight, height, nationality, health, marital status, number of children, etc. are not listed on American resumes and photos/headshots should not be included. By law employers aren't allowed to ask about or consider these personal factors when evaluating you for a job. Don't use them and don't let employers try to compel you to provide this information during an interview.

Resume Reel/Audition Demo Tape/Websites

Those students seeking employment in radio and television will have the opportunity to put together a tape in the spring semester under the guidance of the broadcast and new media faculty and Julie Hartenstein in Career Services is also available for consultation. Career Services will hold multiple sessions with news directors, producers and broadcast executives who will offer advice and reel critiques towards the end of spring semester. All new media concentrators and many other students will create personal websites incorporating resumes and links to work that can be used as a multi-media presentation package for employers. Please consult other pages on the Career Services site for many additional resources about the preparation of reels and websites.

Presentation

Precise and Concise

For each entry, describe what you did in a manner that shows what you are capable of doing, but don't overdo the details. The writing should be simple and clear. Avoid unnecessary words: say "edited" instead of "responsible for editing." Avoid language such as "Oversaw" or "had responsibility for..." because they are vague. If you list a job as "Education reporter" you don't need three bullet points to say you "wrote about schools, students, and education issues." Use active verbs, "wrote," "researched" "created." Quantify your work. What size market was your television station? What was the circulation of your paper? How many people did you supervise?

Category Order

The rule for which comes first, the "education" section or the "experience" section, is to lead with your strongest journalism credential. If you have very solid experience in journalism, you lead with it; if pursuing graduate work here is the most important thing you have done in journalism, you should lead with education.

Traditional Paper Resumes

This is the basic resume that one sends to an employer with a cover letter in snail mail. It must be easy to read. Too many fonts or a tiny typeface make resumes difficult to follow. Use all-caps, bold face and italicizing to make titles, organizations and category headings easy to locate. Your resume must fit on ONE page; very rarely are additional pages warranted.

Cyber Resumes

Resumes are now made available to and used by employers in a variety of ways. You must choose a format that best suits your means of transmission and the needs of the news organization. Increasingly you will need to apply to jobs over the Internet or by sending a resume by email along with your cover letter and samples of your work that have been converted to PDFs or can be found at a Website. If you send a resume as an attachment that can't be opened, it won't be read. The most common and safest formats to create resumes are as Word documents or PDFs. Avoid special coding or special fonts that browsers will find difficult to open. Resumes prepared on MACs will often read as one page but when printed out on a PC will format differently so be sure to print out your resume on a PC to make sure it is consistent.

View 4 different resume samples here:

Sample Resume 1
Sample Resume 2
Sample Resume 3
Sample Resume 4

"As the world becomes increasingly digitized, piles of paper resumes will become computerized files.

"Electronic resumes, sent as plain text in the body of an E-mail message (not as attachments), go right in. (Resumes in word processor or encoded formats are a no-no.) Paper resumes must be scanned. The computer hangs onto a digitized picture of the resume, and creates another version of the resume, from which it extracts words and dates that can be searched over the Web by editors and managers across the country.

"To make your resume scanner-friendly, follow these steps that make your resume look sharp to the digital eye, without making it look dull to the human eye:

Use plain, white paper. Dark paper can make your resume near impossible to scan-- or even photocopy. If you want your resume's paper stock to be distinctive, stick close to white, but go with a slightly heavier stock or choose a distinctive texture. Do not choose a textured paper with colored fibers in it. That will drive the scanner batty.
Use black print ONLY, 12 points or larger. Colored inks, especially if they are light like a pastel, are not picked up by a scanner, so if your name is in colored ink, your resume shall remain nameless in the electronic file, so to speak. Generally, colored inks don't look very professional, anyway, and aging editors like type they can read. Don't use boldface or italic type. People generally don't mind this, but scanners have trouble with it. Instead, use columns and spacing to emphasize your key points or to categorize information.
Run type in one direction only (don't mix vertical and horizontal). Do not use underlines or borders. Extraneous features add little to a resume.
Do not use those cutesy little icons and pictures. They give scanners headaches and can make an editor gag."

Additional Resume Resources

Here is an assortment of additional articles with more on preparing a resume, including a series of pieces found on The Wall Street Journal's "Career Journal" site, http://www.careerjournal.com/.

More resources...

Last updated: 08-13-08

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