Crafting The Perfect Resume

Your Resume: The one pager that's supposed to summarize your entire life into a couple of bullet points for some recruiter to skim through in less than 30 seconds. There's a lot of pressure in creating and submitting this document since it's the first step to landing a job at your dream company. The purpose of your resume is to introduce yourself, share your experience/qualifications, and secure an interview.

Today, I want to show you how you can perfect your resume by sharing some of the best practices I've learned over the years.

1. The Basics

   First and foremost, you'll want to add your full name at the top of the page in a big bold font. You want this to be the first thing the recruiter sees. You'll also want to add your phone number, email, and mailing address* in case they want to contact you.

2. Education

   Next, you'll add a section for your education. This will contain the name of your school, the academic program/degree you're in and the month and year you will/have graduated in.

   A quick note: Your GPA is completely optional. I recommend adding it if it's only above 3.5

3. Professional Experiences

   This will be a significant portion of your resume. After a recruiter has had a quick glance at your resume, they will want to look at your background. Here you want to add any past work experiences you've had, along with the duration you worked there for. Then, summarize your experience in a couple of bullet points to describe your responsibilities.

   It's important that you start each bullet point with an action verb then provide some context as to how you achieved the result and what that end goal was. I like to have 2-3 bullet points per experience.

4. Volunteer Experiences, Leadership Experiences, Projects

   This next part depends more on your personal history and what specifically you want to show off. Don't think that this isn't important. This is where you get to shine and really show them what you're made of. I'd talk about any projects you've worked on in school, any side hustles, your volunteer work through local humane societies, or anything else that makes you unique! To take this a step further, I recommend adding bullet points to describe each experience in further detail.

5. Other

   Additionally, there's many other experiences you can share in your resume. It all depends on your background and what you're looking for. Below, I've listed out some common categories to add and what they signify.

   1. Skills - List of things such as: Python, Java, Marketing, Sales, Microsoft Office, etc.

   2. Certifications - List out any professional certifications you've achieved

   3. Languages - If it's significant enough to the role, list all the languages you're proficient in

   4. Publications - This section is for any publicized reports, books, or journals

   5. Activities - Add any activities or hobbies that are pertinent to the job role

   6. Honor & Awards - Here you can add things like: Academic Honors Graduate, Top Performer in X Program and so on.

6. Formatting

   Personally, I think formatting is the most important puzzle piece. No one wants to read a poorly formatted document. Here are some things you should consider while writing you resume:

   1. Keep it to a page

   2. Bold the headings

   3. Align the dates for all your experiences

   4. Use 1, 1.15, or 1.5 point spacing

   5. Use Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri Font (10-14pt)

Resume writing can be a lot of work upfront, but once you finish - I swear it'll feel amazing. This is that first step towards applying for internships, jobs, and your future. If you have any other questions or need help wording specific experiences, I offer 1:1 resume revision help to make your life easier. Feel free to book a free consultation with me using this link.