A resume is a crucial document everyone should know how to write. A good resume should be a short yet informative summary of your experience, skills and education. It should be pleasing to look at and lead interviewers to focus on aspects you want. You should also tailor your resume for each company you are applying at, highlighting the most relevant part of your skills or experiences.
It is not recommended to use a template when writing your resume as templates make it harder for your resume to be scanned and analyzed by a computer. You should also not list any personal information (age, gender, sexuality, height, weight, religion, martial status) nor should you use “I” in any sentences, as it comes off as unprofessional. A resume is a brief summary so you should eliminate all unnecessary words (a, the) and you should not write in full sentences. If you are a recent collage graduate then your resume should be confined to one page for the sake of brevity. Use italics, underline and bold for emphasis and use bullet points for listing under a heading description, such as Skills. Proofread your resume even if the word processor lists no errors and get at least one person to read it and give feedback.
How you should start is by writing your name, preferably in bold uppercase, and your full contact information (phone number, email address, and home address if specifically requested). Follow it up with a list of your past experiences and education in reverse chronological order, starting with the most recent first and going down from there. Your experiences could be your past work experience or non-work experiences that are relevant to the field you are applying to, such as internships, full-time or part-time positions, volunteering and community service. For your education, include your school name, city, degree, major and the date or honors was or will be given. Typically, there is no need to include your high school. After listing your previous experience and education, you can then list any certifications, skills, awards, interests, courses, affiliations and, if applicable, any special projects or research.
Courses in this case means highlighting any educational courses you have taken that you deem relevant to the job you are applying for, you can use this section to fill out space if you don’t have much experience. Skills that employers tend to look out for are language skills, computer knowledge or technical skills. List professional certificates or licenses with the dates received and use categories to highlight your achievements or accomplishments, such as sport trophies, scholarships, leadership roles in organizations, awards, etc. For your interests, only list them if you are especially knowledgeable.
Each of your resume will be separated by headings and as such your headings must be be specific and eye catching. A section labeled Honors and Awards will make a potential employer assume that the applicant has received honors and awards, catching their interest. Since computers are used for everything these days, some employers might scan for Computer Skills in bold headings. The headings your write is important as they can be tailored to specific occupations and you can place the most important experiences first. If you have worked in the field before, name the field in your heading, e.g. Translation Experience or Programming Experience. Other headings can be Fieldwork, Volunteer Activities, Internships, or Summer Employments. You should order your headings so that the most important and relevant information is posted early on the resume.
Applicants that get interviews are those that have demonstrated that they both have the skills and the experience to do the job. Merely claiming that you have the necessary skills is not as convincing as demonstrating that you have used those skills. In order to do so, you have to avoid using passive verbs and use action verb (created, published, researched, wrote). Be specific, do not just type “assisted” or be vague “followed the teachings of a mentor”, say exactly what you did. For present jobs use present tense and for past jobs use past tense. You should include numbers and percentages whenever applicable and always put your most important accomplishments up first.
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