Resume
A resume is a document typically required for employment and professional applications.
The Resume
Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?
Pick-up lines. You love them, you hate them, or you just think they’re a cheesy waste of time. Whatever your opinion is, it’s undeniable that pick-up lines are useful ice-breakers, overcoming that awkward hurdle of starting a conversation. And, if you play it right, you could get a date out of it!
Applying for a job is just like starting a conversation with someone you don’t know, but instead of silly pick-up lines, we use professional resumes to begin the conversation. Your resume is one of the first things an employer sees from you. Do you come across as intelligent, experienced, and dedicated? If yes, congrats! You just got yourself an interview.
Nowadays, many employers use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to sift through the hundreds of resumes they receive. The job hiring game is now played a little differently with an ATS, but the majority of rules still apply. Just remember that it’s not a person reading your resume anymore—it’s a computer program. A computer doesn’t care how your resume looks and it will read every word on your resume. Watch out for typos!
What should you include in a resume?
Contact information. This is a must, for obvious reasons. Your name should stand out—write it in large font near the top of the page. Consider adding gender pronouns (i.e. “She/Her”), which is becoming an industry standard. Nearby, list your professional email and phone number. You can also include your LinkedIn profile (this is becoming more common) and/or your personal website. There usually isn’t a need to provide your physical address.
Education. When you gain more experience in your field, you must put your work experience section first, but as a student, your education is probably your #1 asset for the moment. In this section, you list your college, major(s), minor(s), and your expected graduation date. If you think your GPA is good enough to show off, you can include that as well.
Work experience. Prove that you know your stuff! This section includes jobs you’ve had, places you’ve interned at, or anything else that has helped you develop industry skills. Include the years you worked at and a couple bullet points detailing the accomplishments or skills you gained from each occupation.
Other sections as needed. Depending on what field you are going into, you might consider adding any of these sections: Skills, Profile/Personal Summary, Languages, Interests/Hobbies, Awards and Recognitions, Publications, and References.
Know your audience
Before you start drafting a resume, check out the job description, the company website, other resumes in the field, or anything else that will give you a better understanding of who exactly you are talking to and what they are looking for. Is the job asking for someone with communication skills? Lots of work experience? A good work ethic? Use keywords from the job description to enhance your own resume.
Tailor your resume to each job.
Your job-hunting can be much more effective if, instead of sending the same resume to lots of different employers, you send each employer a resume specifically focused on their needs. An easy way to do this is to have a master resume that lists all of your work experience, volunteer experience, schooling, etc. Then, drawing from your master resume, you can create simpler, targeted resumes that highlight your relevant skills and qualities for each individual job application. Because a software program is scanning your resume, you’ll want to include the specific action verbs listed in the job description. This way, they’ll know you tailored it specifically to their job application!
Make your word choice engaging.
Using “Responsible for…” over and over again isn’t just vague—it’s boring. Switching out your passive verbs for more active ones will add color and variety to your descriptions. Also, using quantitative numbers (10% increase in sales, 20 students tutored, 30 hours spent volunteering) helps to measure and illustrate your skills.
Relevant and organized.
Make sure you are always listing the most relevant information first: the first third of the page should have your most prominent achievements, and the first item in a list should be the most important. For anything you list by date, like previous jobs or volunteer positions, use reverse chronological order. Don’t use outdated information—high school was a long time ago!
Show, don’t tell.
You might be sick of hearing it, but “show don’t tell” is just as important for resumes as it is for any paper. When writing descriptions of past jobs or experiences, prioritize describing how you gained a skill over what the skill is. For example, instead of simply saying, “Fast learner,” you could say, “Learned to code C++ in 6 weeks.”
Be an artist.
Considering how quickly employers skim through applications, it’s important that your resume is both informative and visually appealing. Use a professional and readable font, like Times New Roman, Arial, or Helvetica. Minimize the white space around your resume—if you have too much emptiness, an employer might wonder if you are lacking something. And things like bold or underlined text, lines, icons, colors, or pictures can help you stand out, but always keep it simple and clean. Before adding any visual elements, though, make sure you aren’t applying through an ATS; if you are, stick to the basics so the computer can read your resume without issue.
You’re a student—and that’s ok.
Sometimes students struggle filling out a resume because they don’t have any work experience yet. That’s fine! First off, employers, especially those managing entry-level positions, realize that you don’t have a lot of experience and will judge you accordingly. Secondly, you can still use your classes to bolster your resume. In your education section, list some of the relevant courses you took and describe the skills you gained from each course, just like you would for a job or internship.
Cover Letter
Feeling overwhelmed? Have a consultant look over your resume! Here are some questions you might consider asking:
- What do you notice when you quickly look over the resume? What draws your eye?
- Are my descriptions too wordy? Do they sufficiently explain my skills and abilities?
- Are there any typos or grammatical errors?
- What is the weakest part of my resume and how would you fix it?