Update

Structure + Formatting

• Each section should be organized in reverse chronological order.
• Place important information toward the top of the document, because HR managers often scan resumes quickly. These sections include Education, Relevant Experience, and/or Leadership Experience.
• Within your bullets, organize these descriptors so that the most relevant appear first.
• Use numbers instead of writing them out, for example, use 5 instead of five.
• Familiarize yourself with the structure of accomplishment statements (bullet points). They tell your story and highlight your skill set.
• If you include relevant coursework, ensure that the courses listed are relevant to the position. Irrelevant courses or standard courses expected of a student with the stated major should not be listed.

Must Dos

• Review your accomplishment statements closely for a strong action verb, what you did, and 1-2 of the following: why you did what you did, how you did what you did, for whom, outcomes of your work and/or impact of your work.
• Use past tense in your accomplishment statements (bullet points) unless you are currently involved in the experience.
• Review and improve your action verbs. View the table below for examples. Check out this list of action verb options.

Examples of good, better, and best action verbs.

Avoid

• Don’t include tables to organize the document.
• Avoid personal pronouns in the resume.
• Avoid colors. If you do use color on your resume, ensure your primary font color is black.

Tips

• Keep your resume to one page in length. If you must go to 2 pages, ensure that you can fill both pages with experiences relevant to what you are applying to.
• Decide if a summary statement is helpful for your resume.