If you have a computer and are a typist, or if you have access to someone who can help you, it would be best not to do a generic resume, especially if you have several academic degrees and have had a number of previous employers. If you are just getting out of school with little work experience, a generic resume is fine. Your resume should be no longer than a page or a page and a half, typed in a # 12 font. Potential employers do not want to read a novel, they do not have time. Be succinct and brief.

List your name, address, phone number, cell phone if you have one and email, any way they can reach YOU for an interview. If you are working for another employer, you need to be careful about what you list. Do not list your birth date or your age, federal law protects this.

Next do you list employment or education? What is more important for the job for which you are employing? If you have been out of school for fifteen years, then list employment. If you have only worked flipping hamburgers, but just graduated from MIT, list your education.

List Academic experience accordingly:

Academic Experience

2004 North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina

Degree Earned: Bachelor of Science in Chemistry

2007 Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Degree Earned: Masters in Entomology

Then list employment experience as it applies to the job for which you are applying:

Employment Experience

September, 2004 – June, 2007 – United States Department of Agriculture

Delaware, Ohio

Job Duties: Lab Assistant to Dr. Joe Smith. The major project was the study of the disease of the xyz disease that is attacking three different species of the Ash tree in the state of Ohio and neighboring states. Time was spent in the field conducting studies and collecting samples and analyzing them in the lab.

If your Employment is more important, then switch the employment and education history. Do not include references with your resume, but you should include a note that “references will be furnished upon request”. If they request references, then you know they are interested. You should your reference letters ready to go.

Good Luck on how to find a new job.