Don't Forget the Basics
- Location: name, number, address, telephone, and e-mail address
- Objective: state both your long-term and short-term professional goals
- Competencies and Skills: this category should be carefully categorized to represent a full area of skills. You can list any communication skills, hardware/software skills, any research skills or more.
- Education: all universities attended should be listed including dates of graduation and academic honors
- Experience: Show any experience you may have relevant to the job you're applying for
- Activities: here you can show any volunteer work you've done, list any memberships in any professional organizations or any participation you have done in workshops or panels
These categories should be included on any resume, but not necessarily in this order. You can add any awards or honors you have received. You can also condense two categories into one to shorten your resume (i.e. Activities & Awards). Also, remember to list references if the job posting requires it. If not you should make a note "available upon request."
Word Choice
The words you chose to use may reflect your writing style in a more intelligent and professional way. It is best to be as specific as you can and use very few words on your resume.
- Use active, strong verbs. Good verbs to use could be: established, launched, represented, demonstrated, performed, facilitated, drafted, or obtained.
- Keep things clean: when using past tense, stick with past tense. When describing present work, do not use past tense. When capitalizing something in a list or bulleted format, capitalize all of the beginnings of the list or bulleted format. These are simple but easy mistakes you can avoid to keep your resume clean and impressive.
Order and Structure
It is important to order your work in reverse chronological order. List your most current position or activity first then go towards your oldest. Any bulleted points should be listed from the most important task or skill to the least important.
- Keep structure consistent and logical and try to aim for no more then a 1-2 page resume
- If your resume is more than one page, place a header on your second page
- Try not to use too many bullets, capitalization, or italics on long sentences. It is difficult to read.
- To emphasize important information, such as a name of a position, you can bold, italicize, or place increase in font size
- Chose your font size and type appropriately. The most common font size is 10pt and the most common fonts used are Times New Roman and Ariel.
Keep in mind who will be reading the resume and what kind of job you are applying for. You want to make a good professional impression- put time and effort into your resume. Keeping all of these things in mind should create a winning resume.
