Resume Writing Tips

Park University – Career Development Center, Mabee 714

As you update your resumes it is important to keep in mind that the visual appeal is as important as your actual accomplishments.

Think of your resume as your marketing tool. Do NOT think of it as summary of your skills but as your advertisement to create interest in and demand for…you. If you think of the resume as your advertisement, then you start to see that poor formatting, typographical errors, and unclear and/or uninspired experiences paint a pretty poor image of your overall brand.

There is no 100% right or wrong way to write a resume. Here are tips based on conversations from hundreds of recruiters and hiring managers.

Tips for Resume Writing:

  1. Keep it simple, tidy and easy to read – when in doubt, opt for conservative
  1. Maximum two (2) pages! …and one page is better
  2. 1 page if you have been working less than five years in your profession
  3. 2 pages only if you have been working more than five years in your profession
  1. Write your resume as a simple word document – do not use templates
  2. The problem with templates is that they are very difficult to edit and update – so this is mostly for your own sanity. It is also important to remember that template formats do not always look the same on different computers
  1. Use either normal or moderate margins – anything narrower looks sloppy and is difficult to read:
  2. Normal: 1” top, bottom, sides
  3. Moderate: 0.75” top, bottom, sides
  1. Select a basic font: Times New Roman, Ariel, Cambria, or Calibri
  2. Use 18-22 for your name
  3. Size 11 is ideal for body—do not use smaller than 10, do not use larger than 12
  1. Use bullets to highlight accomplishments
  2. Paragraph format is difficult to scan and unappealing to look at
  1. Eliminate “the”, “a”, and “an” from your text
  • It is the standard language of resumes to omit these
  1. Use bold, italicsor ALL CAPS to highlight company name or job description
  2. Underlininglooks cluttered and unprofessional
  1. Be consistent with punctuation and formatting
  2. If you use a period to end a bulleted line, then do so throughout the document
  3. If you use bold, italics, or all caps to highlight the company name or your job title, use the same throughout the document
  1. Start all bulleted items with an action verb, but shy away from vague verbs like “participated”, “assisted”, “worked on” which don’t say much about what you actually did
  1. Be careful with tense
  2. Use present tense for current job and past tense for previous jobs
  3. Do not use the “-ing” form of the verb for current tense, ex. Use “create” rather than “creating”, “lead” rather than “leading”
  1. Make sure you are not just listing tasks but describing the value of the work you accomplished
  2. This is the most difficult and most important function of writing a resume!!
  3. For each of your listed responsibilities, ask yourself “Why was I asked to perform this function? How did it benefit the team/department/company? If I had not done this, what would the ramifications have been for the team/department/company?”
  4. Did the work save the company money, generate revenue, increase efficiency, reduce turnover, extend the lifespan/usability of a system, enable the company to do something?
  1. Use Objective Statements or Career Objectives statements very, very cautiously!
  2. When in doubt, omit this
  3. Consider the Objective Statement as your best opportunity to embarrass yourself and ruin your entire resume –just as it sounds corny and self-absorbed to you when you are writing, it sounds even cornier and more self-absorbed to the person reading it
  4. Do not include an Objective Statement on your general-purpose resume – they must be very targeted to a specific job at a specific company
  1. For the first year following earning a degree, you may choose to list education ahead of work experience if you feel that it will be viewed as important. After one year, education moves below work experience
  1. Do not say “References Available Upon Request” on your resume – that is assumed
  1. Do not include your references as part of your resume document – they should always be on a completely separate document
  1. When submitting a resume, cover letter, or list of references electronically, always name your document in a manner which makes it easily identified by the recipient, for example:
  2. “lastname_firstname_resume” or “lastname_firstname_coverletter”

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or if you would like me to review your resume.

Career Development Center

Park University

Mabee 714

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