Resumes

An effective resume will help you get your foot in the door of an organization

Your resume is your professional marketing tool:

  • Highlight your most relevant skills, qualifications, experience, accomplishments and knowledge to prospective employers.
  • Demonstrate your fit with a position by tailoring your content to the needs, concerns and expectations of your prospective employer, in order to be invited to interview for the position.

According to recent research, employers generally decide within six seconds whether your resume will go into the YES, NO, or MAYBE pile. To make the cut, your resume needs to present compelling information in a clear, easy-to-read format.

General Guidelines

Look

  • Your resume must be grammatically perfect!
  • You must maintain consistent formatting in organization, presentation, mechanics, and style.

Length

One page or two?

  • Your resume should be as long as necessary to include relevant experience for the position for which you’re applying.
  • Consult with your advisor about resume trends they are seeing in your target field.
  • Create both a one-page version and a longer version for flexibility.

Style

There are three basic resume styles used to apply for most private and many public sector jobs:

  • Chronological This most widely used resume format lists your education and most relevant experiences (both paid and unpaid) in reverse chronological order with the most recent first to demonstrate upward growth in skill and knowledge.

  • Functional/Skill-based In the format you create skill categories. It’s the least preferred by employers because it lacks context, but is still useful in select cases. Consult with your advisor if you think a functional resume may be appropriate for you.

  • Hybrid This style combines the previous two and there are two ways to implement this style:

  • Review your most relevant paid and unpaid experiences for themes, then create 1-3 skill categories and list experiences in reverse chronological order within the categories, OR

  • Use a Summary of Qualifications section at the beginning of your resume to highlight your relevant skills and knowledge. The rest of your reverse-chronologically ordered resume then becomes the supporting evidence to back up your summary.

Summary of Qualifications

The Summary of Qualifications is like an elevator pitch for your resume, placed at the very top beneath your name and contact information. The rest of your resume should provide the supporting evidence. It may not be appropriate for everyone, so check with your advisor first.

  • Include statements related to your experience, credentials, expertise, skills or anything that makes you qualified to work in the field.
  • Be as specific as possible—generic statements such as “Excellent verbal and written communication skills” are not as effective as statements such as “Successfully garnered $200K+ through grant proposals.”

Education

For most students and recent graduates, listing education before professional experience makes the most sense. This gives a potential employer an immediate context in which to place you, i.e. “this candidate is just about to complete her graduate degree. That’s why she’s applying for this position.”

  • Include your GPA only if it is 3.5 or above on a 4.0 scale
  • List study abroad experiences to emphasize your international, language, and intercultural skills
  • Include relevant courses only if they highlight skills particular to the position

Professional Experience

  • Include all relevant jobs, internships, and substantive volunteer opportunities
  • Use accomplishment-focused language in your bullets, i.e. “Created viral social media marketing campaign that resulted in a 28 percent quarterly sales increase.”
  • You might include notable but nonrelevant experiences in a section titled Additional Experience to set it apart from your applicable skills.

Additional Sections

Depending on your target field, you may wish to include one or more of these additional sections to your resume:

  • Academic and professional research
  • Awards
  • Relevant coursework
  • Conferences
  • Projects
  • Activities
  • Certifications

Samples

These are sample resumes tailored to the common Institute fields: