A. Accessing the Optimal Resume System/Creating Your User Profile 4

Creating Your Resume
Using Optimal Resume
A Step-by-Step Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

B. Setting Up Your Resume Template in Optimal Resume Builder 7

C. Customizing Your Section Titles 9

D. Changing Information in Your Resume Header 10

E. Populating the EDUCATION Section 11

F. Populating the CERTIFICATIONS Section 13

G. Populating the RELATED EXPERIENCE Section 14

H. Populating the WORK EXPERIENCE Section 16

I. Populating the ACTIVITIES/ACHIEVEMENTS Section 19

J. Populating the BACKGROUND SUMMARY Section 20

K. Spellchecking Your Resume 24

L. Viewing & Printing Your Resume in Word 25

M. Stylizing Your Resume 28

N. Downloading Your Instructor-Approved Resume to Your Career Development Folder 33

O. Submitting Your Instructor-Approved Resume to Career Connect 34

P. Guidelines for Updating Your Resume in 8th Quarter 38

Appendix 1. Editing Marks 42

Appendix 2. Calculating Your Attendance Percentage 43

Appendix 3. Action Verbs 44

Appendix 4. Sample Resume Styles Available in the Optimal System 47

A. Accessing the Optimal Resume System/Creating Your User Profile

Access the Student Portal. On the left side of the screen, click on Career Services/About Career Services.
Click on this icon to access the Optimal Resume site:

[NOTE: You can also select “Optimal Resume” in your “My PT”I dropdown list.]

Once you enter the Optimal Resume site, click the “Create New Account” button.

In the Validation window that appears, go to the Student Users section and enter optimal1 as the validation code for Student Users. Then click the “Continue” button.
You are now able to create your User Profile.
In the Contact/Login Information area, edit the profile information listed there.
Fill out ALL asterisked (required) fields.

· Double check all information to make sure it is accurate.

· Name:

- List First Name followed by Last Name

- Add a period after your middle initial, if you are listing one

- Avoid nicknames

· Email:

- Use your PTI email. (You can later go to your PTI email to forward your mail to an account you check on a regular basis).

· Password: (5 to 10 characters)

- Use a password that you are likely to remember, like your standard password for your PTI login.

· Address:

- List your CURRENT address (where you will be living at the time of your internship)

- Do not abbreviate. Spell out Street, Boulevard, Township, Apartment, etc.

· Phone:

- Choose your most reliable phone number
(make sure you have a professional-sounding voicemail message)

- Use one of these formats for your phone number:
(412) 555-1212 or 412-555-1212 or 412.555.1212

7. Scroll down to read the Terms and Conditions at the bottom of the page.

8. Click the check box next to the statement “I have read and agree with all Terms and Conditions.”

9. Click the “Create Profile “button on the bottom right. You are now registered in PTI’s Optimal Resume system.

10. You are now ready to start creating your resume.

B. Setting Up Your Resume Template in Optimal Resume Builder

After logging into the Optimal Resume Builder, you will be taken to the Document Center.
In the “RESUMES” area, click on “Create New Resume.”

In the “Name this resume” field, type in your resume file name, using the format below. Then click on the “Start Resume” button.

Program Code + Last Name + First Name + Resume
[Ex.: CADM Smith John Resume OR SSA Rogers Joseph Resume, etc.]

4. To start with a PTI-based template rather than working completely from scratch, click on the “Continue” button in the “Browse Section Sets” block.

5. By default, the Resume Category (Students/Recent Grads), Resume Type (PTI Resume) and Resume Sections for the PTI-style template (Background Summary, Education, etc.) are listed first so they are automatically selected. Simply click on the “Continue” button to agree to these defaults.

C. Customizing Your Section Titles

1. The section titles listed on your resume are typical of PTI students. But you can customize your section title listing in numerous ways:

· Delete a section title: Go to the SECTIONS area on the right side bar and click on the trash can next to the section title.

· Reorder your section titles: Click on “Reorder” and drag a title to a new location.

· Add a new section title: Click on “Add Section.” Then select the type of section format you need (General, Experience or Hybrid). Your instructor can help you decide which format will work best for the information you want to add to the resume.

· Change the name of a section title: On the resume area itself, click on the title name to open up fields pertaining to that section. The first field listed is “Section Name.” Simply rename the section in that field.

For example:

- You might want to change “Activities / Achievements” to just “Activities” or “Community Service”

- If you have “Related Work Experience” you might want to change “Work Experience” to “Additional Work Experience”

- You might want to call your “Background Summary” section “Professional Profile” or “Qualifications Summary”

D. Changing Information in Your Resume Header

1.
To change any information located in your header (name, address, phone, email), simply move your mouse to the line you want to change (which will become highlighted) and click.

2. Make your changes in the fields of the window that pops up.

3. Then click Save to return to your resume view.

E. Populating the EDUCATION Section

1. In the resume area in the center of your screen, click on the “Education” title.
The Education fields will appear.

2. To populate this section with all of your relevant Education data, click on the Examples button.

3. Find the specific listing that pertains to your major. For the most part, the majors are listed in alphabetical order, but there are a few that are scattered throughout the list, so keep searching.

4. Once you add your Example, review the information and personalize it to your experience. DO NOT JUST ACCEPT INFORMATION THAT IS INSERTED – MAKE SURE IT REFLECTS YOUR BACKGROUND!

NOTE: You can reorder the Education listing, putting Degree/Graduation Date above School/Location, if you like. In that case, bold the degree and not the school. Just be consistent with the formatting of all schools you list.

Adding Additional Schools to Your Education Section

1. To add another school below PTI, simply press an extra Enter (or two) below the PTI information. Use the same format as the PTI listing.

2. Guidelines for whether to add another school or not:

· Standard high school diplomas or GEDs are NOT listed on a resume. You would only add schools beyond PTI if you had related training in high school/vo-tech or attended another college prior to PTI.

· If you decide not to formally list another school, you could still refer to this training in one of your Background Summary statements.

· Use the same format as your PTI listing.

· You do not have to include subheads of details about additional schooling (Related Coursework, Computer Applications, etc.), but you can if you think it is not evident in your degree title or if the coursework is very different from your PTI training.
NOTE ABOUT LISTING COMPUTER APPLICATIONS: If you have some additional computer applications that you learned from a school outside of PTI, you may want to combine ALL computer applications in one listing and put it in its OWN section below Education. This way you won’t have to duplicate listings or make an employer read two different lists to get a sense of your computer knowledge.

Examples of Additional School Listings:

Vo-Tech Schools

John D. Rockefeller IV Career Center, New Cumberland, WV

Certificate of Completion, Cisco Systems Network Academy, June 2008

Greater Altoona Career and Technology Center, Altoona, PA

Certificate in Commercial Art, June 2007

GPA: 3.76

Related High School Training

Moon Area High School, Moon Township, PA

Diploma with Emphasis in Computer-Aided Drafting

Hopewell Area High School, Hopewell, PA

Diploma with Coursework in Networking and Computer Programming

Post-Secondary Schooling

Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA

24 Credits in General Studies, September 2007-May 2008

Univerity of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA

Coursework in Electrical Engineering, January 2007-April 2009

United States Army, Fort Sill, OK

Certificate in Meteorological Maintenance Repair, July 2004

F. Populating the CERTIFICATIONS Section

NOTE: Only include a Certifications section if you have formal certifications that are relevant for your resume. Generally, that would be certifications related to your field or first-aid/safety related certifications that would be helpful in any field.

1. In the resume area in the center of your screen, click on the “Certifications” title.
The Certification fields will appear.

2. First click on the Examples button to review the sample certifications we have loaded there. After adding an example, edit the text to suit your needs.

3. If your example is not listed or you need to add another one, simply type your text in the open field.
Be sure to follow the format listed in the Examples section for certifications. (Certification Title, Organization Name, Date)

4. With some certifications, a date is not necessary. Discuss this decision with your instructor.

G. Populating the RELATED EXPERIENCE Section

NOTE: Include a Related Work Experience section if you have experience (paid or unpaid) that is relevant to your field. Even if the experience is not directly in your field but somehow enhances your understanding of your new industry, put it here! For example…

· If you did construction work and you are an Architechtural CAD major

· If you were in Electronics Sales at Best Buy and you are an Electronics major

· If you were the manager of a video store and you are a Business Administration major
with a concentration in Management

1. In the resume area in the center of your screen, click on the “Related Experience” title.
The Related Experience fields will appear.

2. Fill out these fields:

Employer Name: Official name of the company you worked for (or “Self-Owned Business”
or “Self-Employed” or “Various Personal Clients,” etc.)

Employer Location: City, State (use the 2-letter state abbreviation – PA, OH, WV)

Job Title: Title that best describes your position (even if it’s not your official title). Try to reflect any management, team lead or training experience in your title. Do not have more than a two-position title. For example, Hopsital Aide/Trainer is ok, but Shift Supervisor/Trainer/Closer/Cashier is too much.

Date Range: List the Month and Year that you started and ended your employment. If you are still there, write it as “Month Year to Present” or Month Year – Present. Always be consistent in how you treat the date field for each job.

Job Description (open field): Include a description that highlights your key skills as they pertain to your new career. Click on the Action Verbs button to find powerful verbs to enhance your description.

Job Description Examples for the Related Experience Section

If you have Related Experience, you should include a job description. To help you formulate this description, there are examples included in the system that you can tailor to your needs:

H. Populating the WORK EXPERIENCE Section

1. In the resume area in the center of your screen, click on the “Work Experience” title.
The Work Experience fields will appear.

2. Fill out these fields:

Employer Name: Official name of the company you worked for (or “Self-Owned Business”
or “Self-Employed” or “Various Personal Clients,” etc.)

Employer Location: City, State (use the 2-letter state abbreviation – PA, OH, WV)

Adding Additional Jobs or Employers to Your Work Experience Section

1. On the right sidebar, under Work Experience, click on “Add/Delete Employer/Job.” (shown in RED type)

2. This opens up a smaller window where you have the option to click on “Add Employer” (to add a new organization) or “Add Job at this Employer” (to add another job at the same organization).

3. After clicking on the option you need, fill out the fields listed. Again, no job description is needed for an added position—unless you wrote a description for a previous job; then you must be consistent.

Deleting a Job or Employer

1. On the right sidebar, under Work Experience, click on “Add/Delete Employer/Job.” (shown in RED type)

2. This opens up a smaller window. Find the job or employer you want to delete and click on the trash can associated with that line.

Reordering Jobs or Employers

1. Your jobs should be listed in reverse chronological order (most recent to least recent). Unfortunately, the system lists your jobs and employers in the order you added them.

2. If you need to flip the order of a job, go to the sidebar on the right and click on “Reorder”
(shown in RED type).

3. A new window appears, listing all of your resume sections and items in each section. To flip the order of a job, go to the Work Experience listing and drag the name of the employer (or job) above or below another employer (or job) in the list.

I. Populating the ACTIVITIES/ACHIEVEMENTS Section

1. This section lists all of the items that demonstrate your extra involvement in school, organizations or the community, as well as recognitions for performance.

2. The name you assign to this section depends on the type of items you will be listing. Here are just some of the names you could consider:

· Activities – Use this section name if every item in the list is an activity (sport, club, church group, etc.). You can also include community service work under an “Activities” title.