Recreation professionals' preferences for resume content for prospective graduate assistants

The purpose of this study was to provide prospective recreation graduate assistants recommendations how to write clear and concise resumes that would help them earn a graduate assistantship. After reviewing the literature, three categories of resume development were identified as important in evaluating what graduate assistants will need to include in a resume that would attract recreation professionals' attention during the selection process. The categories included demographic information, resume content components, and general information. No prior research existed for recreation graduate assistant resume content.The researcher created a survey based on three categories. The survey was a descriptive study using data derived from the participants' completed survey. Participants for this study (N=3 72) were recreation professionals who worked at National Intramural Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) affiliated schools and were directly responsible for the selecting and evaluating of graduate assistants. Research findings revealed that 70% of the participants viewed the resume as the most essential piece of written application materials. Participants consistently viewed practical experiences including professional publications written, professional conferences attended and internships as important aspects to include in a resume. This research also concluded that, due to graduate school requirements, current academic information such as major field of study, internship experience, and type of degree earned were highly rated as essential or very important pieces to include on a resume. Personal information such as a candidate's characteristics were consistently viewed as somewhat important or of no value to recreation professionals.School of Physical EducationThesis (M.S.