General Resume & CV Tips

Common advice for crafting a resume & cv in all career pathways and industries.

On average, an employer will spend no more than TEN SECONDS on the first pass through each resume. Your resume speaks for you when you’re not in the room, and it must present your experiences in such a way that communicates your strengths, is easy to SCAN/read, and provides something that makes the reader want to put it in the “YES” pile to come back to later.

Refer to the Purdue University CCO website for great guidance on resumes, CVs, and cover letters. Overall, the document design principles to remember and apply are:

  1. Visual Cues (bold, italics, underline, spacing, alignment, etc.)
  2. Consistency & Parallelism (consistent across the document; parallel structure within statement types/bullet points)
  3. Prioritization (the author decides what the audience sees first, what is emphasized/prioritized)
  4. Audience & Purpose (as always: who is your audience, and what is your purpose?)

Here are some basic tips to apply to your resume to make it stronger.

  • Avoid complicated or busy layouts, fonts, and other special effects. Stick to an easy-to-read font, in a consistent and clear, in common sizes. Use black type against a white paper, or a minimal, clean color for headers that will still show upif printed in black and white.
  • For submitting to employers or for professional review, use a basic PDF format (check for spacing and pagination) that can easily be viewed on most computers, phones, or tablets. Do not format as a table, text doc, publisher document, or windows/apple proprietary format; if you use a word document, be sure that you haven’t tracked changes or left comments or notes unedited. Be aware that formatting could change based on the printer or device they’re using to view.
  • Use reverse chronological order. List your current/most recent job first, then work backwards. Highlight the most relevant experiences, and organize the document consistently.
  • Be thoughtful about your headers; choose category titles that are descriptive and accurate: for example, communication is not a “Special Skill” and proficiency in Adobe Acrobat is not a “Leadership Activity.”
  • Don’t feel like you need to list every single thing you’ve ever done.
  • Also, don’t sell yourself short; include club and extracurricular activities, NCAA sports, volunteer/leadership activities, and other relevant professional skill-building experiences.
  • State the complete name of the organizations/companies you are listing (avoid acronyms, especially in the first mention). If needed, provide some kind of basic description of what they do, and how long you were there (years, sometimes months). Clearly list the position/title you held and an active-verb focused description of the duties and your accomplishments.
  • Avoid narrative, overall, and—as a rule—don’t use full sentences in job description sections. Begin with descriptive, active verbs, use bullet points, and paint the picture in concise, clear phrases.
  • Use parallel structure for both formatting and content. This means your verb types and tenses should align (past tense or present tense – not both), boldface/italic/underline should indicate the same type of information, and spacing should be consistent throughout, also indicative of information type.
  • Objective & summary sections are often unnecessary and superfluous, particularly if you submit a cover letter along with the resume. Always ask yourself: why is this here? How is it helping me achieve my goals for the document?
  • Omit detailed or non-professional personal information such as relationship status, children, gender, etc. It’s not appropriate for a resume, and some personal information is illegal for an employer to ask (but not illegal for them to consider if you provide it).
  • Be specific and descriptive: as often as possible, use descriptive verbs, clear exemplars, numbers, and percentages to draw attention to your accomplishments.
  • Fuzzy key words and phrases should be avoided. These include “good communicator” and “creative.” These words, decontextualized, lack meaning – instead, demonstrate your communication skills, provide evidence of your creative problem-solving.