A good resume is the first step towards your dream job—Are you ready to take that step?
Before you set your sights on landing the perfect job at the perfect company, your interim goal is this: landing an interview.
Your resume is literally your first impression on a prospective employer and should accentuate your best abilities within the context of the job you apply for. FYI, recruiters spend no more than 6-8 seconds on a single resume before deciding if you’re worth a call. Harsh, I know.
Look at your resume. Would you look at your own resume beyond a mere skim? If you answered, “No,” it’s time to revamp.
Your resume should always contain the following 5 sections:
- Your Name – Top of the resume. Big letters. Boldface.
- Your Contact Information – Your phone number and email address, and maybe a complementing LinkedIn link.
- Summary – Yes, you do need a summary. Two to three concise sentences about your career or education background, career goal, and best skills will suffice.
- Education – College attended (with years), degree, major (minor, and any concentrations); career-relevant certificate programs you’ve completed can be here as well. Your high school education is unnecessary especially if you’ve completed higher education.
- Experience – All relevant work experience. Let me repeat, Leave your high school job in the past where it belongs.
- Skills – Show employers that your hard and soft skills qualify you for the position, per the job description. Be truthful about what you are actually proficient in. Excel pretenders, I’m looking at you. (More on that later.)
These non-essential sections may be included, as long as they are relevant:
- Awards/Achievements – As Queen Bey once said, “If you got it, flaunt it.” List here any professional accolades or awards you may have received throughout your career.
- Volunteer Work – Any volunteer experience can enhance your marketable skills if you don’t have a ton of work experience or have gaps in your resume. Use your judgement to discern whether your volunteer work is relevant to the job.
Pick one of these 3 main resume structures:
- Chronological
- Focus: Work-based experience
- Format: Reverse chronological order with the current or most recent position first
- 5 main sections
- Users: Professionals of all levels
- Functional
- Focus: Relevant skills and adaptability
- Format: Professional skills listed above experience, includes a Summary of Qualifications
- 6-9 main sections
- Users: Entry-level applicants with less formal work experience or those looking for a career shift
- Hybrid (Combination)
- Focus: Professional development as a whole (Experience and Skills equated)
- Format: Order incumbent on a candidate’s judgement of whether “Experience” or “Skills” are more central to a particular role
- 5 main sections
- Users: Candidates looking to advance their careers via promotion
Pro Tips:
Create one master resume. Save one elaborate master resume of your entire professional history. This copy is just for you, so don’t worry about length.
Make a new resume for each application. Customize your “Experience” and “Skills” sections per job to show that you fulfill the specific requirements desired for that job. While your resume should align with the description, do not copy and paste verbatim. Time to dust off your old thesaurus!
Know your audience. A traditional resume is the way to go for most applications; however, if you are applying for a position in content creation, design, or social media, it may be advantageous to show off your talent on a creative resume.
Do not lie. Just don’t, okay? Embellishing ≠ Lying, BTW. Your employer will find out sooner than later that you are in fact, not advanced or even proficient. Do not claim to know something you don’t, no one likes a poser. (Read: Leave Excel a l o n e.)
Keep it short.
Resumes should be one page long; simplify when possible. Use bullet points to list relevant tasks in order of significance—no more than two lines per bullet (Afterall, brevity is the soul of…self-marketing, or whatever The Bard said)
Do not list your references.
Not even “References Furnished Upon Request” because that consumes precious space for “Experience” or “Skills” or literally anything else.
Do not include your hobbies or niche interests.
Recruiters do not care that you enjoy cooking, reading, and traveling along with the rest of the planet. This is self-marketing, not your autobiography.
…And just like that, we’ve covered the basics of everything resume! If you’ve learned one thing from me about the utmost self-marketing tool, please let it be: relevance is key. Good luck!
First timers: Know that your first resume will not be your absolute best—that’s ok! Perfecting the art of resume writing takes time, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to make adjustments.