Resume

Before you begin actually writing your resume, it’s helpful to understand what content you’ll be including and how you will organize it (i.e., the categories you’ll use to present the material).

Here are the various sections of content that make up a strong resume, presented in the order they generally appear. Start thinking about—and briefly jotting down—what information you’ll include in each of these sections:

Contact Information

• Include all of your contact information: your full name, pronouns (optional), address (optional), phone number, and an email address. Your name should be bolded and larger than the rest of the information. It should stand out from the rest of your resume. 
• Spell out words instead of abbreviating them (e.g., “Avenue” instead of “Ave.”).
• It is optional to include an address. If you chose to include you may list your full address or part of your address (example: city and state).
• Include the email address you check most frequently.

Education

Include the University of Minnesota at the top. If you're a transfer student, you may also choose to list your prior institution. Make sure you detail what your degree and major are, which college/school you are in, and your expected graduation date. For schools, you no longer attend, list the dates you attended as a range. 

• Consider including your GPA if it’s above a 3.0.
• Spell out words instead of abbreviating them (e.g., “Bachelor of Arts” instead of “B.A.”).
• Include academic awards, relevant coursework, and study abroad programs.

Experience

• Document all paid and unpaid experiences that you’d like to highlight. Keep in mind that all experience is valuable, as long as you can communicate how the skills and competencies you developed relate to the position you’re seeking. For each position, include your job title, the name of the organization you worked for, its location (city and state or country), and the dates you worked there, as well as skills and competencies statements that explain your role. 
• Place your most recent and/or relevant experiences at the top of the section.
• Phrase past jobs in the past tense, current jobs in the present tense.

Do you have Military Experience?

Get advice for how to translate your experience on a resume here.

What If I don't have any or much work experience?

Don’t worry! As said previously, all experience is valuable, as long as you can communicate how the skills and competencies you developed relate to the position you’re seeking. A few ideas to help you brainstorm what to include:

• Watch the "I don't have any experience" video
• Watch the "Five ways to develop personally and professionally video"

If you need help identifying competencies or experiences you may be overlooking from your past experience, both our Core Career Competencies and this chart below may help ideas surface. See our Resume examples to get ideas for how to represent these experiences on you resume.

• Be accurate in naming any software or programming languages.
• In order to describe language ability, use words like conversational, proficient, and fluent to describe your skill level.
• Demonstrate your transferable skills (examples: communication, leadership, teamwork, etc.) through your skill statements under the experience section.

Optional: Summary & Qualifications

The summary & qualifications is a section near the top of your resume that highlights your key qualifications and skills for the position (or program) you’re pursuing. It should be no more than three to five bullet points and should highlight what is to come on your resume.

Not Recommended: Objective Statement

Students often ask whether an objective statement should be included on the resume. CLA Career Services advises against objective statements, as they typically don’t add additional value.

Once you’ve gathered the material for your resume’s content and grouped it into these categories, it will be time for you to go ahead and write your resume—in a compelling way, using active words and descriptions to describe your skills and experiences.

References

It is recommended that you keep your reference list as a separate document from your resume.

Get advice for who to include in your reference list and how to format. Sometimes when you apply for a job an employer will request your references as part of your application while others may wait until you are in the interviewing process. Always follow the directions of the employer.

Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Your resume once submitted will get a quick glance by the employer (on average 6 seconds or less) or be put through an Applicant Tracking System to be scanned for key words and qualifications. This is why it's important to make sure your resume is well written, organized, and tailored to the positions for which you are applying.

How Do I Write Compelling Resume Content?

The language and phrasing you use to describe your skills, Core Career Competencies, and experiences—along with what information you strategically decide to present—will largely determine whether your resume stands out from others.

Here are some tips to help you write compelling resume content.

Commit to Tailoring Each Resume You Send Out

Ultimately, you will want to revise your resume frequently, customizing it to each position you apply for (when possible, of course). Yes, this is more work than using the same resume for everything. But you’ll be one of the relatively few applicants who take this key extra step, which will automatically set you apart.

Pinpoint what each prospective employer is looking for in the person who will be hired for that particular job. Read the job listing carefully, and do some extra research to determine the skills, Core Career Competencies, and experiences you have that seem to be essential to that position, with that employer.

Do Some Prep Work Before You Start Writing (or Tailoring)

Whether you’re writing the very first draft of your resume or tailoring it to a specific position opening, do some prep work before you even begin writing/editing:

• Brainstorm a list of experiences you’ve had that demonstrate you have the skills and competencies for the position/field you’re pursuing. Be sure to include any unpaid/volunteer experiences.
• Create a list of three or four of your strongest characteristics that make you a good candidate for the job/field you’re pursuing. Think not only in terms of specific skills but also in the context of the Core Career Competencies that employers consistently seek in college students and recent college graduates.
• Think of several accomplishments from your previous experiences that illustrate each key skill or competency you’ve identified.
• Outline the training and education you have that qualifies you for the job/field you’re pursuing.

Use Action Verbs

• Using action verbs (e.g., “developed,” “coordinated,” “analyzed”) that address the employer’s needs work to describe each of your skills, competencies, and experiences in a way that sounds professional and responsible.
• Vary the words you choose to diversify your presentation and add depth, and pick ones that demonstrate responsibility (e.g., instead of “made up,” say “created” or “designed”).

Ask Yourself Questions to Tease Out Key Details of Your Experiences

Ask yourself the following questions about your skills, Core Career Competencies, and experiences:

• Who/for whom?
• What?
• Where?
• When?
• Why?
• How?

Use numbers to quantify your skills, competencies, and experiences whenever possible. Think about these questions as well:

• How many?
• How much?
• How often?

That said, you can also expand your concept of "results" beyond a quantifiable figure. Numbers are not the only way of emphasizing your achievements!

To help you assess the non-numerical results of your skills, competencies, and experiences, ask yourself this question: 

• As a result of my action(s), what happened to me?
• What about to my client/colleagues/boss/customer? Are others involved?
• What value did I add? 

Develop Compelling Skills and Competencies Statements

As you write your resume, you’ll be working to create statements about your skills and your Core Career Competencies that are compelling and specific, yet also concise.

It’s not the easiest thing to do! But keeping the following formula in mind will help:

• Compelling Statement = Action Verb + Details + Outcome/Results

Here’s a before-and-after illustration of this critical concept:

Additional Tips on Resume Content

• There’s no need for you to include personal pronouns like “I,” “me,” or “my” on your resume.
• Use the past tense to describe past experiences and the present tense to highlight current experiences.
• Most of the positions and experiences you highlight will have between two and five bullet points, with more emphasis on the more relevant positions/experiences.
• Find a balance between statements that are too short and too long. The majority should be one line in length. Remember: Your reader is likely going through lots of resumes!

Content is only a part of your resume, albeit a critical one. The way your resume looks is important too. After all: It’s human nature to be drawn to well-organized, visually appealing documents—and to be turned off by haphazard documents that are hard on the eyes!

Here are some tips for making your resume attractive as well as informative.

CLA Career Readiness Guide

The CLA Career Readiness Guide covers resume writing and a host of other career-related topics in depth. Access it online, or pick up a copy in CLA Career Services or in one of the CLA Academic Advising offices. 

Formatting Basics

• Watch our video on how to format and edit your resume
• Keep your resume to one page, and fill the entire page. Adjust the margins as needed to balance the page. If you are applying for a federal job or graduate school, a resume or a curriculum vitae (CV) are often longer than one page as they require more detail.
• Use a common font (e.g., Times New Roman, Calibri, or Arial) in 10- to 12-point size. Your name can go up to 18- or 22-point.
• Ensure that your resume’s headings stand out from the rest of the text, making them easy to find (through the modest use of bold, underline, indentation, ALL CAPS, • bullets, etc.).
• Use full-page underlines to make sections stand out.
• Use bullet points for skills and competencies statements to make them easier to read.
• Right-align dates (employment dates, graduation dates, etc.).
• Use consistent formatting and punctuation throughout.
• Balance text and whitespace on the page. Hold your resume at arm's length to look for areas that have too much whitespace or too much text.
• Use margins of a half-inch to one inch.
• Proofread! Ensure that your final document has absolutely no errors.

Layout Options

Use the CLA Career Services resume template and checklist to guide you through formatting your resume.

There are multiple ways to organize and lay out the content of your resume, but most students and recent graduates choose the chronological resume format.

• On a chronological resume, the "Experience" section lists your experiences in reverse chronological order, with the most recent experience appearing first. In addition to jobs, you include volunteer and internship positions—paid or unpaid. 
• The chronological resume layout highlights your experiences (and education) more than your skills.

Be careful when using resume templates

Templates from sources like Google Docs and Word are not known to consistently be readable by Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), which can significantly affect your application outcomes. If you do choose to use a template, make sure that it is clean and does not distract from your experiences.

Pros and Cons to chronological resumes

• Pro: Your experiences (jobs, internships, volunteer positions) and your educational background are emphasized. This is helpful if you've held multiple positions, especially if those experiences relate to the position you’re applying for. A chronological layout also allows you to show your progress/promotions in positions.
• Con: When you highlight your experiences over your skills, you may be emphasizing experiences that don't relate to the position you’re pursuing. Also, gaps in your employment history will be more noticeable. (Note, however, that employment gaps are common among students and recent graduates.) If your skills relate to the position more than your experiences do, you may want to use a skills-based resume layout (described immediately below).
• An alternative to the chronological resume format is the skills-based resume (sometimes called the combination resume). On this type of resume, you focus less on your experiences and more on your skills. You do provide a brief list of your experiences, but you first emphasize the specific skills you have—particularly those closely related to the position (or program) you’re pursuing.
• Pro: The skills-based/combination resume layout gives you a chance to highlight skills that the employer seems to be seeking in the open position. This is particularly helpful if your skills are more relevant than your experiences. A skills-based/combination resume allows you to list your most relevant skills near the top of your document. It can be a useful strategy for students who are newly entering the professional workforce, or for people who are transitioning to a new career field.
• Con: This format may be too long. It's also unfamiliar to some employers.

Other commonly used resume formats:

• Electronic/scannable: Some organizations request electronic resumes, which they then scan for keywords that match what they're looking for in a candidate. A scannable resume can be helpful, but you must know how to create an effective one and know how to use keywords. Keyword scans usually look for nouns, not action verbs. The organization’s job description explains what the organization is looking for and is a good source of the keywords you should use when writing a scannable résumé.
• International/Curriculum Vitae (CV): If you're searching for a job outside the United States, you may need to change the format of your resume or develop a much more extensive curriculum vitae (CV). Some countries require photos, handwritten cover letters, and a variety of formatting changes. Research the country or company norms.

Get Help With Your Resume

Visit our drop-in hours or our E-Doc service to get help with your resume.

Resume Examples

Sometimes it’s helpful to see an example or two of a well-constructed resume. Here are a few resumes you can look at for content, formatting, and layout ideas.

• Traditional Resume Sample
• Double Major Resume Sample
• Volunteer Work Focused Resume Sample

Resumes by career field, experience type, and/or level of school

• Resume Examples by Career Field, such as business, nonprofit & advocacy, tech, and more! Choose the career field you are interested in and click on the “Resume Examples” section to view.
• First Year Student Resume Sample
• Advocacy and Organizing Resume Sample
• Business Owner Resume Sample
• Caregiver Resume Sample
• Course Projects Resume Sample
• Consulting Projects Resume Sample
• Leadership Experience Resume Sample
• Pre-Health Volunteer Experience Resume Sample
• Established Professional Resume Sample 
• Research Assistant Resume Sample

Résumé Content Checklist

Be sure to refer to the Resume Content Checklist as you’re writing your resume, revising it, and finalizing it. The CLA Career Readiness Guide features this same categorized list of action verbs you can use. See page 72.