Resumes

Getting started: research the job and your experience

Research the job and organization before writing.

Read the job ad, company website, and any field-specific resources to identify what the employer values, what skills the role requires, and what keywords appear often. Use that information to decide which experiences, skills, and accomplishments to emphasize on your resume. The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a great online resource.

Create a personal inventory.

Keep a master list of your work, volunteer, leadership, coursework, projects, skills, accomplishments, employer names, dates, and reference contact information. Then choose the items that best match each job. For example, a retail job might show customer service, sales, communication, problem-solving, or teamwork skills.

Drafting Your Resume

Choose content that helps the reader quickly see your fit for the role. Prioritize skills you can use in the position and accomplishments that show the impact you have had in previous roles, classes, or communities.

• Skills: the specific things you know how to do you’ll bring to this role
• Accomplishments: positive impacts you’ve had in previous workplaces

Create entries that highlight the information relevant about you that aligns with the job posting, demonstrates your qualifications, and showcases your fit with the company.

• Relevant experience: include job title, organization, dates, and 2–3 bullets that describe responsibilities, skills, and accomplishments. Start each bullet with a strong action verb.
• Relevant coursework: if you have limited experience in the field, include 1–2 courses, projects, or school-sponsored experiences that show relevant skills.
• Volunteer experience: include community service or long-term volunteer roles when they show skills, responsibility, or experience related to the job.
• Leadership: include roles that show responsibility, initiative, collaboration, event planning, mentoring, decision-making, or other skills relevant to the role.
• Skills: list relevant, specific skills such as languages, software, lab techniques, coding languages, certifications, or tools used in the field.
• Accomplishments and awards: include academic honors, athletics, scholarships, workplace recognition, publications, presentations, or other achievements relevant to the role.

Writing Tips

• Use action words that are specific and that convey skills and accomplishments. For example, “communicated with stakeholders” is vague because it refers to a lot of different types of actions. “Persuaded stakeholders to adopt policy recommendations” is specific and a reader can visualize the skills entailed in this experience.
• Use the employer’s keywords. Keywords are the qualifications, skills, and experiences the employer names in the job ad. If a posting mentions “SEO” and you have that skill, “SEO” should appear on your resume. Use the Find function in MS Word to check whether important keywords appear.
• Write concise, high-impact bullets. Each bullet should show what you did, how you did it, and why it mattered when possible.
• Use active voice so your role is clear: “Managed a team of four tutors” is stronger than “A team of four tutors was managed.”
• Start each bullet with a strong action verb and keep verb tense consistent. Use present tense for current roles and past tense for previous roles.
• Focus on what you learned, improved, or accomplished—not just generic duties. Instead of saying that as a barista you “made coffee,” show transferable skills such as customer service, speed, accuracy, teamwork, training, or conflict resolution.

Design and Formatting Tips

Resume Format

Choose a format that highlights your strongest qualifications: chronological resumes emphasize work history, skills-based resumes emphasize transferable skills, and combination resumes include both.

Design Considerations

Design should make your resume easier to read, not just more attractive. Use space efficiently, keep fonts and spacing consistent, and choose a level of creativity that fits your field. When in doubt, ask someone in the field or consult use online resources from the Carson College of Business or the Academic Success and Career Center (ASCC).

Accessibility

Make sure your resume is accessible. Use Word styles, run the Accessibility Checker, maintain strong contrast, and avoid templates or layouts with nested tables or unclear reading order.

Keep in Mind

Tailor your resume for every job. Prioritize relevant information, be honest while confidently showing your strengths, omit references unless asked, ask a professional or faculty member for feedback, and aim for a polished one-page resume that uses space well.