At some point in college you will have to write a resume. Either for an internship or to apply for your first job. There is no avoiding it. Your resume is the first and only opportunity most employers have to get to know you and your skills. No pressure, right? Below are a few tips to help your resume make a lasting impression and hopefully get you a call for an interview!
Order is key
List your most recent position first and then list other positions in chronological order. For each position use bullet points to list your accomplishments in order of decreasing relevance to the employer. Keep in mind this order may change depending on who you are sending your resume to and what skills they value or are looking for. An employee doesn’t care if you were the most popular kid in high school. They want to know how you are going to help them grow their business.
Page limit
Wait there is a page limit?
Ummmm…yeah, most employees or recruiters receive several resumes a day and do not have the time to read a 5 page resume. Most employees and recruiters say a resume should never exceed two pages. As long as all the important stuff is included, the shorter your resume, the better.
Use action verbs
Tell your (hopefully) future employee when you “led,” “built,” “Increased,” and “Improved” something. Leading bullet points with action verbs will show that you get things done and made a positive impact at your workplace.
Edit, edit again and then edit some more
You have probably been looking/ writing your resume for hours and sometimes it’s easy to miss spelling or grammar errors. Proofread your resume first and then have a friend or professor you feel comfortable with proofread it as well. They might have some ideas to make your resume even better.
The more eyes you have on your resume the better. One error on a resume could cost you the job. It pays to proofread. Trust me.
Email proof formatting
You will probably send a lot of your resumes via email, so it’s a good idea to have a text version of your resume that doesn’t look disfigured in the body of the email or in online forms. Some people just prefer having the resume on the body of the email itself. Save yourself some time and make your resume email proof! You don’t want an employee feeling this way.
Hopefully by the time you have sent all you resumes you will feel this confident.
