Resume Writing Guide

So you’ve got great grades, you’ve honed your professional skills, and maybe you even hold a leadership position or two in your organizations. But now it’s time to share your skills and achievements with others and land that dream job you’ve had your eyes set on all along. The first step is crafting a great resume, so we’ve made this extensive resume writing guide to help you get there. By the end of this guide, you’ll be application ready!

Let’s talk format

Want to skip the boring debate on formatting? We’ve prepared you a great resume template perfect for beginners! Click the button below to download it as a Microsoft Word document and edit it as we continue through this guide.

Ideally, your resume should have:

• Black 12-point Time New Roman font
• White background
• One-inch margins
• Maximum of one page (remember, it needs to be precise because resumes are summaries of your work)

If you downloaded the template, the formatting has already been done for you!

Skip fancy colors, images, or elaborate designs unless the job you’re applying for strongly embraces creativity. In that case, Canva is a great tool for designing a graphically aesthetic resume. The focus of the reader’s attention is supposed to be the information presented in the text, not a fancy design, so don’t distract them from what’s really important! However, if you must use extra visual elements, make sure they enhance the information presented and don’t interfere with readability!

You should only CAPITALIZE, Bold, italicize, and underline important information when you really need to make something stand out. Don’t go overboard.

The sections of your resume should be distinctly separated and labeled so that the reader can easily find what they’re looking for. I recommend using lines or page breaks to separate major sections and bullet points to organize the information into subsections.

What information should I include on my resume?

(Click on the links below to jump between sections)

• Your full name
• Your address
• Your phone number
• Your email address
• A link to your online portfolio (if you have one)
• Your educational background
• Any honors/awards you’ve received
• Relevant coursework you’ve completed
• Your professional experience
• Your skills

Name

They need to know who you are. This is non-negotiable!

Address

Rather than including your entire home address, only include your city, state, and zip code so the employer knows your general location. You can include your full address, but many people are uncomfortable with sharing this sensitive information.

Phone Number

Your phone number is a must! Make sure you have an appropriate and professional voicemail message set up just in case you miss any important calls!

Email Address

Include your email address as some employers may prefer to email you rather than call. Your email address should be appropriate and professional (ex: jessiesmith@email.com instead of doglover12@email.com). School/university email addresses are great for this if you have one! Make sure to check the email you put on your resume often. If your school/university email address expires after you graduate, it is a good idea to create an entirely new email address with Gmail or Yahoo! Mail (which are free to use) that you will never lose access to.

Portfolio Website

If you have an online portfolio of any work you’ve done relevant to the job you’re applying for, be sure to include the link to it.

There are many benefits to having an online portfolio of your work. Use a professional portfolio website to showcase any of your previous projects that you’re proud of. Online portfolios are especially helpful for those in creative fields so that the reader can quickly and easily navigate to your past work. For example, if you study photography, an online photo album or if you do digital design, some samples of your best visuals. Make sure to keep it up to date and in sync with your resume.

LinkedIn Account

Linkedin accounts serve as great online portfolios. If you have a LinkedIn account, include a link to it on your resume so that the employer can view a more comprehensive list of your experience and achievements, and see if they know any familiar connections in your network.

If you don’t have a LinkedIn account yet, you should make one. It’s quick and easy, plus it’s a great platform for networking.

Pro Tip: Update your LinkedIn account regularly so that all of your information is in one place for easy future reference. This makes updating your resume and other documents super easy later on!

For those of you who are in or entering the computer science and IT industry, a Github account is perfect for showcasing your lovely (and hopefully clean and well-documented) code to possible employers.

Other great (and free) options for creating website portfolios with no coding knowledge required include Wix, Weebly, and WordPress.

Education

Include your major, minors, specializations, cognates, or other courses of study, the name of your college/university/school, the city and state it is located in, your expected graduation month and year, and your cumulative GPA.

Instead of including your class standing, (ex: freshman, sophomore, junior) include your expected graduation year (ex: 2024, 2025) because it will not change. That way if anybody goes back to reference your resume in the future, the information will always be accurate!

Honors/Awards

Mention any honors and awards you’ve received in a subsection. If you have extra space, you can include the year you received the honor/award and what organization awarded it to you.

Some examples of honors and awards you can include:

• Dean’s list or President’s list recognitions
• Scholarship or fellowship programs
• Honor societies
• Leadership positions
• Competitions you’ve won

Relevant Coursework

In another subsection, include a list of academic courses you’ve taken relevant to the job you’re applying for. For example, if you’re applying for a marketing internship, make sure to mention the names of the marketing courses you’ve taken.

Some examples of relevant coursework you can include:

• Introduction to Marketing
• Calculus I
• English Literature and Rhetoric
• AP Environmental Science

Professional Experience

This should be the largest section on your resume! I suggest choosing your three most relevant or newest work experiences.

Mention the name of the companies/businesses/organizations you did work for, the city and state they are located in, your job title, and the date you started working for them as well as the date you finished working for them (if you don’t remember the exact day you can use just the month and year). If you still work with them, put “present” as the end date.

Make sure your previous work experiences are ordered chronologically starting with your most recent job at the top of the section and ending with your oldest experience at the bottom of the section.

Professional experience is not limited to your previous jobs. You can also share your experience with clubs, fraternities, sororities, honor societies, and any community service organizations or charities in this section as well.

Pro Tip: Rather than just listing out the generic tasks/duties you completed at your past jobs, present any accomplishments you achieved with quantifiable numbers and statistics. For example, “made PowerPoint presentations” doesn’t sound nearly as impressive as “created effective PowerPoint presentations, increasing productivity by 35%.” Showing is always better than telling! Paint a picture for the reader to understand how you brought value to organizations in your previous experiences.

Skills

It’s absolutely vital to read through the job description of the position you’re applying for to get ideas for this section. For example, if the job description says that communication skills are important, be sure to include something like “refined oral and written communication skills” in this section.

Be sure to include a versatile mix of both hard skills (ex: Microsoft Excel, Programming in C++, tools, and technologies you have experience with) and soft skills (ex: communication, teamwork, time management). The difference is that your proficiency in hard skills is typically measurable whereas your proficiency in soft skills is typically immeasurable and more arbitrary. Many people refer to soft skills as “people skills.”

Some examples of skills you can include on your resume are:

• Tools and technologies you have experience working with
• Other languages you can speak, read, and write
• Software you know how to use (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
• Oral and written communication skills, teamwork, time management, and other people skills you have mastered-never underestimate the power of soft skills!

Relevancy!

You might’ve noticed that a recurring word throughout this guide has been “relevant.” This is because the most important aspect of your resume is the relevancy of the information it presents to the reader. Make sure that you adjust the information on your resume to be relevant for each and every position you are applying for to increase your chances of catching the reader’s attention and getting an interview!

It is a strong possibility for your resume to be run through and analyzed by an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) that scans for a specific set of keywords before it is read by a human (especially if the position you’re applying for is at a large company where there will be a high volume of applicants). Take your time reading through the job description, noting any relevant keywords that you think the applicant tracking system will be looking out for on your resume and be sure to include them!

Proofread!

Always proofread your resume before submitting it! Have your parents read it, then have your friends proofread it; even have your friend’s cat proofread it. Perfection is impossible, but with enough proofreading, we can get pretty close. Avoid typos at all costs and remember that consistency is key!

Wrapping it up

Keep copies of your resume in both Microsoft Word documents (.docx files) and PDF documents (.pdf files) so that you will always have a compatible format because some employers prefer one over another. Here’s how you can save your resume as a PDF file using Microsoft Word in just a few clicks (the process is identical on a Mac):

Phew! That was a lot, but congrats on your new (or improved) resume! I’m sure that all of your hard work has paid off and that it looks great!

Do you have any great tips or advice that weren’t included? Questions? Leave them in the comments below for everyone to discuss!