Writing a resume can a stressful job for many people, and it is helpful to keep this in mind for those of us who teach this skill. Teaching resume writing is fairly straightforward; however, convincing people they can write their own resume takes some time and effort. Once they have made a few drafts and have internalized the format, writers should feel good enough about their abilities that they will be able to write their own resumes for the rest of their careers.

Explain the purpose of the resume. Too many people assume a good resume is going to land them a job. However, the purpose of a resume is simply to get them into an interview. Teach them that a typical resume only has about ten seconds to make an impression on a reader. Once they understand these two things, they'll be less likely to want to write superfluous pages of information.

Describe the advantages and disadvantages of the two basic resume formats. For the majority of job hunters, a chronological account of work history will suffice. This format allows the writer to highlight his work experience. However, for people who are new to the workforce, or for those who have a history of frequent job changes, a skills-based format may be advantageous. This format allows the writer to highlight his skills, taking the focus off the work history.

Provide your students with a basic template for a chronological work-history format resume, and ask them to fill in their information. Do the same with the skills-based format.

Explain how to edit a resume. Tell them to eliminate first person and add dynamic action verbs. Explain how job details should be about accomplishments, not simply responsibilities. This will be the largest portion of the teaching process, and a one-on-one instead of group approach will work best.

Ask students to create a basic resume on their own, using the template as a guide. Go through the editing process a second time, this time working on polishing the text and looking for typos and misspellings.

Suggest resources where your student can view sample resumes that are in line with their own job goals. Once they have the hang of creating a resume, they can experiment with different format variations.

Do not fall into the trap of writing the resumes for your students. Help as much as possible, but remember that they'll only learn if they have to do it themselves.