Building Your Résumé
Below is a selection of résumé guidelines gathered from a number of sources. When building
your résumé, keep in mind that you should always be able to justify why you have used a certain
word, format or tool. Each decision you make should be functional so that you can land that
interview.
1. Components of your résumé may vary, but should include:
a. Personal contact information in the heading; if you are submitting your résumé to
an online job board, you may want to omit your home address.
b. An objective or summary of skills at the beginning, or both.
c. An education section. You may want to highlight any training if you are switching
to a new field.
d. Relevant professional experience.
e. Optional: affiliations, awards or publications as they relate to the position for
which you are applying.
2. Be both a generalist and a specialist.
You will want to have a generic résumé that you can post widely on job boards, as well
as a more tailored one for each individual job opening.
3. Your education does not always need to go at the end.
Especially if you are a career changer and have recent education or training in a new
professional area, you should list these new skills closer to the top of the résumé. You
might also choose to highlight specifics, such as:
Professional Certificate in Project Management, UC Berkeley Extension
Content knowledge in procurement and quality management, managing risk and team
leadership.
4. Use your real estate wisely.
Rather than use a generic heading like “Summary of Skills” or “Objective,” use those
lines to highlight your particular area of skill. Examples: Marketing and team leadership
expertise, or English as a Second Language educational professional.
5. Proofread, proofread and proofread some more.
6. Use verbs and check their tenses.
Get away from overusing “managed” or “developed.” Use a thesaurus or search online,
such as Boston College’s Resume Power Verb. When describing your current position,
use the verb’s present tense (“manage a team of 12,” “coordinate weekly newsletter
preparation”). If you are describing a previous position, use the past tense (“managed a
team of 12,” “coordinated weekly newsletter preparation”).
7. Balance relevance and chronicity.
You want your most relevant experience to jump out at your reader. Link your relevant
experience and skills in reverse chronological experience. Rather than labeling your
relevant experience as “Relevant Experience,” use “Construction and Sustainable Design
Experience,” and list the positions (paid or unpaid) in reverse chronological order. Under
each job or role, use a maximum of six bullet points to describe the relevant experience.
Long paragraphs or series of bullet points are difficult for an employer to quickly
decipher, so be judicious. Any work experience that is not as relevant to your new role
but would like to have included on your résumé can be kept under an “Additional
Professional Experience” section.
8. Quantify whenever possible.
Employers need to be able to translate your skills to the size of their operation. Try to
quantity values whenever you can; i.e, “Managed 15 team members on company move,”
“Saved employer $100,000 over three years,” “Built and fostered relationships with 20plus community partners, contributing to more than $500,000 of growth.”
9. More is not necessarily more.
Most modern résumés can be contained to one page, though that may be difficult if it
means paring down your extensive experience. Remember that you are focusing on
relevant experience, so you do not need to include every paid or unpaid position that you
have held. Challenge yourself to create a one-page document. If you absolutely feel like
you need a second page, make sure you are using that space wisely, knowing that a
possible employer may not pay much focus to the second page. Three-page résumés are
generally reserved for academic CVs.
10. Use their language.
Match the language you use to describe your skills and experience to mirror the job
posting. If you are sending in your résumé without a particular vacancy, pull this
language from the company’s website or other publications that demonstrate the
company’s philosophy, goals, challenges and overall personality. Matching language is
also helpful if you’ll be submitting your résumé to a database that uses scanning
technology to search a candidate’s use of key words.
Resources
What Color Is Your Parachute?, Richard N. Bolles (Ten Speed Press, 2013)
Job & Internship Guide, UC Berkeley Career Center (2012–2013)
Expert Resumes for Career Changers, Wendy S. Enelow and Louise M. Kursmark (JIST Works,
2010)