Resume Writing Tips

DO

The Basics

Provide your name, contact information, current address (including email address) and telephone number (best number to reach you) in the header.

Education

Include institution name, city and state.

Provide name of your degree and major and list most recent degree first.

Provide date (or expected date) of graduation.

Professional Skills or Summary of Skills

This is a great place to highlight your years of experience in a specific field, advanced skills, technical skills and other professional skills.

Be specific about your skills, and make sure you back them up in your job experience section.

Experience

Include all relevant full and part-time positions, self- employment, volunteer work, practicum, field and cooperative education.

Provide job title, dates of employment (include both month and year), company name, city and state.

List job responsibilities.

    • Use bullet points and start each bullet with an action verb (Power Resume Words) and use the right keywords based on the career field or company of interest.
    • Use present tense with current position and past tense with past positions.
    • If possible, use metrics, numbers, and percentages.
    • Be concise, but detailed.

Honors and Awards (if applicable)

Rank order by importance based on the career field or by dates (most recent first).

Professional Affiliations, Certifications,  and Activities (if applicable)

Rank order by importance based on the career field or by dates (most recent first).

LinkedIn Profile

Consider adding a link to your LinkedIn Profile in the header of your resume, along with your basic contact information.

If you choose to include it, be sure to fully develop your profile prior to listing the URL on your resume (Should I Include My LinkedIn URL on My Resume?).

Professional Appearance

Ensure the resume is well organized, error free, and free of abbreviations, acronyms, and slang.

Proofread it – one typo could cost you the opportunity to interview for the job – and if possible, have someone else review your resume.

Use a good printer and white paper (preferred).

DON'T

No pronouns (such as I, me, my).

No personal information (such as Social Security number, gender, marital status, health, age and photo) and do not include irrelevant information (such as political affiliation, religion and hobbies).

No fancy designs, graphics, images and fonts.

Do not misrepresent yourself (even small embellishments could cost you the job once discovered).