What is a Resume?
For most applications, you will be asked to submit a resume. A resume is the first impression that a potential employer will have of you. The goal is show to your background and skills in a way that captures their attention and is easy to read.
In a traditional resume, items are arranged in reverse-chronological order within topic areas (education, experience, etc.). If you have experience that is relevant to a specific industry or job, you can divide your information into sections, such as “Related Experience” (or “Teaching Experience” for example) and “Additional Experience.” This is the style most recommended for undergraduate students by the Career Center.
What is a Cover Letter?
A cover letter introduces you to a potential employer and clearly connects the skills and experience listed on your resume to the job description. A cover letter can also serve as your introduction to an organization, even if they do not have a position posted.
Cover letters consist of body paragraphs with a greeting, closing and a header and address at the top. Tailoring your cover letter to the particular role and organization can help reveal your sincere interest and knowledge, and help separate you from the more generic, copy-and-paste cover letters.
Resume Basics
The best way to organize your resume is to arrange experiences in reverse-chronological order within sections. Sections can include education, experience, and skills. This means that, within a section, the experience you are currently doing, or which ended most recently is listed first. Older experiences are listed later. Your oldest experience should be at the end of the section.
If only some of your experience is relevant, you can divide it into multiple sections: “Related Experience” (or “Teaching Experience”, for example) and “Additional Experience.”
The bullet format presents information in a concise, easy to follow manner; however, because each description is on a separate line, the page fills up quickly.
In contrast, the paragraph format allows for more text on the page, but can come across as dense and overwhelming, and thus lose the interest of the reader.
Your resume should be visually attractive, well organized and easy to read.
- Avoid resume templates—the automatic formatting will limit your options. Find a resume you like and copy its style.
- Avoid large blocks of text (i.e. more than 10 lines).
- Keep it to 1 page. As a general rule, one page is the recommended length for undergraduates. This may vary if you have extensive experience.
- Keep margins wide (no smaller than 0.5”) and even.
- Only use one font type.
- Use standard, readable fonts like Helvetica, Bookman, Arial, and Times New Roman.
- Keep font size within 10-14 points.
- Do not use script fonts. Boldface and italics are better ways to highlight something.
- Don’t compress the space between letters; you want your resume to be readable!
- Avoid color, graphics, and shading.
- If you use lines, put at least 1/4 inch of white space around them.
- If printing, always send originals on light-colored 8 1/2″ x 11″paper.
- Don’t fold or staple your resume.
Resume Templates
Struggling to build your own resume? Try starting with one of our two resume templates below. See the resources section at the bottom of this page for more resume examples.
Get Your Resume Reviewed
Resumes are living documents – you’ll be updating it frequently! It’s a great idea to have your resume reviewed, either through a Career Center appointment or using online tools. Get feedback on your resume in one of these ways:
Meet with a Career Peer Educator in Clemons Library Specifically trained to review resumes & cover letters.
Jobscan offers a limited number of resume uploads and will give you tips on how to optimize your resume for Applicant Tracking Systems.
Schedule a meeting with one of our Career Counselors on Handshake.