Resume for Kellogg's

1.What can the writer do to make the resume better tailored to the specific job being applied for?
The resume could have been tailored to the specific job more by stating the name of the company into your objective statement. Instead of saying, “a food manufacturing company,” you may have put Kellogg’s.

2.Is the layout and design pleasing to the eye? Make at least one suggestion for improving it.
The Lay out for the resume is visually pleasing. One suggestion would be to center your email address to make your resume more symmetrical. Another suggestion is to line up all of your bullet points down the page. Some were more centered than others.

3.Does the resume fit comfortably within the page (as opposed to being squished in or stretched out)? What can the writer do to improve it?
The resume comfortably fits within one page. You may want to consider adding more bullet points to your work experience. Recruiters may think experience is more important than some scholarships or honors you have earned.

4.Is it easily readable (no confusing fonts, clearly marked sections)? What improvements can be made?
Your resume is readable; however, you may not even need to put bullet points next to every professional experience you had. Human resources may think it is distracting and focus on that more than the experience you earned.

5.Does it use typography (including headers and bold and italics) appropriately and effectively?
Your bolded, large font name really stood out to me. It was effective to bold each heading section also. I also liked how you used a bottom and top border in order to block your contact information.

6. Is the most important information located on the left side of the page and near the top whenever possible? Identify at least one part that could be better placed.
You put your name and contact information at the top. Those are items that the recruiter would like to locate easily. However, you could have put your experience before your education. If the recruiter only views your resume for a short time, it is important for her to see what you have to offer the company.

7.Does the content of the resume support the objective (if there is one)? Explain.
The content of the resume fits the objective very well: Your skills and activities shows that you have been preparing for a job in this field for a long time.

8. Is the resume too short? Where can it elaborate? Job skills? Responsibilities? Education?
Your resume is not too short. However, I would elaborate on your job skills and take less focus off of your honors and activities. It shows that you are very dedicated to school and your major, however, I do not know if Human Resources will bother to spend time looking at that section as much as they would with experience.

9. Is material sequenced in order of importance and relevance?
At this stage of life (right out of college), I do think education before professional experience is the correct sequence. However, I am not a Human Resource employee and they may differ with that opinion.

10. Do bulleted items begin with action verbs? Are list items ordered in terms of importance?
All bulleted items begin with an action verb. I also agree that the ordered items are listed in terms of importance correctly.

11. Does the resume avoid generalities and focus on specific information and professional terminology?
There may be some forms of generalities; however, I have no idea what a food processor does. But it sounds quite fascinating.

12. Does the resume pass the Quadrant, Column, Squint, and Distance tests? Explain how the author might make improvements based on your test results.
This resume passes the Column test. Most bullet point sentences are similar in length and make it look very professional. The Quadrant test was past because the borders make it easy to divide the page in some way that it is eye catching. The Squint and Distance test was a little tougher because while looking at the resume farther away (in print preview) I was distracted by how long your achievements and honors section was.

13.What other observations can you make about the resume?
I can assume that you are very committed to school and your food science degree. You seem involved and hard working. Your impressive GPA and profession experience would make you a great candidate if I was the Human Resources Manger at Kellogg’s.

1. What can the writer do to make the resume better tailored to the specific job being applied for?
- There is no specific position being applied for. It is clear that you want to work for a food manufacturing company. Everyone wants a full time job though; you should give more insight as to where you want to start off your career by listing a specific job title. Also, listing the company’s name will make your resume very tailored.

2. Is the layout and design pleasing to the eye? Make at least one suggestion for improving it.
- Yes the layout is pleasing to the eye. I like how you used the table for your honors and activities. One suggestion is that your bulleted points in your experience section should be lined up. The bullet points for the last two jobs are more indented than the first one.

3. Does the resume fit comfortably within the page (as opposed to being squished in or stretched out)? What can the writer do to improve it?
- The resume fits comfortably within the page. It does seem stretched out in the experience section because you use full sentences that even take up two lines.

4. Is it easily readable (no confusing fonts, clearly marked sections)? What improvements can be made?
- Everything is easily readable. I have no suggestions for improvement.

5. Does it use typography (including headers and bold and italics) appropriately and effectively?
- The typography is appropriate. The only suggestions I have are my opinions. I don’t think your major needs to be in bold and I don’t think your e-mail address needs to be italicized.

6. Is the most important information located on the left side of the page and near the top whenever possible? Identify at least one part that could be better placed.
- For the most part, everything is located correctly. I would place your experience at Dr. Watkins’ Lab above your expereince at Sensient Flavor, Inc. Dr. Watkins’ Lab is where you have been employed the longest, where you have the most information listed, and where it seems you gained the most experience.

7. Does the content of the resume support the objective (if there is one)? Explain.
- Yes, your professional experience supports your desire of a position with a food manufacturing company. I would place something in your objective about wanting to be in the research and development part of the company

8. Is the resume too short? Where can it elaborate? Job skills? Responsibilities? Education?
- The resume isn’t too short. The only place I would elaborate is you experience at Dr. Bhunia’s Lab. You only have one bulleted item listed and if you are going to list a work expereince you should have at least two bulleted items.

9. Is material sequenced in order of importance and relevance?
- Yes and No. The bulleted items are in good order but I still think your expereince at Dr. Watkins’ Lab should go above your expereince at Sensient Flavor. But I didn’t work there so you may have gained more from your summer at Sensient Flavor.

10. Do bulleted items begin with action verbs? Are list items ordered in terms of importance?
- Yes, bulleted items begin with parallel action verbs which is great. The only problem is you used the word, “Assisted,” on 3 out of the 6 bulleted items.

11. Does the resume avoid generalities and focus on specific information and professional terminology?
- Yes, the resume utilizes specific and professional terminology. When explaining your work experience, the descriptions are very detailed and professional. You have to be majoring in food science to understand what you are explaining, which is a good thing.

12. Does the resume pass the Quadrant, Column, Squint, and Distance tests? Explain how the author might make improvements based on your test results.
- Quadrant: The only quadrant with more white space than the rest is the upper right. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal – your quadrants are pretty even.
- Column: You passed my column test; just move the bullets over, it will take a second.
- Squint: I don’t see how this test is that effective but I think you passed. I was first drawn to the experience section which is a very valuable asset of yours.
- Distance: You pass.

13. What other observations can you make about the resume?
- I think it would look better if you centered your e-mail address – either right under your name or right above the bottom line of your header. That way both of your addresses take up the same amount of space. Also, it doesn’t look right when you have the company name, the location, and the dates employed all strung together on one line. I would leave the location and dates employed separate from the company name.

Hope my comments help!

Ryan L. Ross