Thinking back on it now, the first draft of my resume was probably not the best. I cringe at the fact that I sent my unpolished, amateur resume to a bunch of colleges and internships. But over the past years I’ve had the opportunity to attend various workshops and get hands-on help from people who were able to teach me the best ways to prepare them. Now I’ll be sharing these tips with you!

Source: Giphy.com 

1. No more than 1 page

You’d be surprised by how many people don’t realize this! The less you put on paper, the easier it is for people to pull out important information. You don’t want to overwhelm the person reading your resume nor provide details irrelevant to their interest. Even if you end up typing a lot of words, there are ways to cut them out. 

2. Contact information 

Make sure you include your full name, email address, city/state, phone number and a Linkedin link (if you have one). Never, and I mean never include your home address (as silly as it sounds, I’m only saying this because I used to put it on my own resume).

3. Academic Background

After bolding the section name, list your current university and any community colleges that you attended. Avoid listing high schools, since prospective recruiters are not really going to care about them! In italics, add your major & minor too, with corresponding GPAs.

4. Professional Experience 

Where have you worked? What internships are crucial for you to include most? Remember to organize them in reverse chronological order, meaning most recent ones should be first! Add about 3 bullets per experience, utilizing strong, active verbs to describe your tasks and accomplishments. Diversify those words and include numbers to give more credibility to your work, showing the impact you have made on the organization. 

5. Leadership Experience

Again, start with your most recent experiences first and include approximately 3 bullet points for each. Include active, engaging verbs to showcase your achievements and contributions. Don’t forget to numerate your sentences (if applicable) so that recruiters can be impressed with the amount of work you’ve done for the team. Any positions, where you are distinguished from your peers, need to be emphasized here!

6. Skills

Although not as important as the other sections, listing your skills enables people to understand the potential value you might bring to the team. Are you good with Microsoft applications? Do you use various softwares? Speak many languages? Have certifications with credentials? Include them all! It will definitely make you stand out.

Also, don’t forget to include the city and date for each task on the right side of the page! Good luck! 

Source: Tenor