Resumes and CVs are an opportunity for you to present your skills, experience, knowledge, and background effectively. Often the first contact with a prospective employer, a good resume or CV can help you get an interview, network with industry professionals, and highlight your qualifications.
We can help you translate your academic and work experiences into relevant content, provide feedback on your existing draft, and supply you with key strategies for effective applications.
Resumes
If you are creating your first resume, take some time to brainstorm a running list of your skills and experiences. Include every position you’ve had (paid or unpaid), organizations to which you’ve belonged, leadership positions, special projects you’ve initiated, honors or awards, languages you speak, computer skills, special interests or hobbies, travel, or anything else significant.
Format
Resume formatting can be somewhat flexible, but there are a few guidelines that will ensure it is easy to read.
- Font: 11-12 point professional font (like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman) with no more than 2 sizes used
- Margins: 0.5-1 inch margins
- Length: 1 page ideal, 2 pages maximum for those with significant experience
- Font Style: Use select font styles (bold, italic, all caps) to highlight important elements such as headings
- Description Style: Use basic bullet points rather than paragraphs
- Spacing: Use white space intentionally but don’t over do it. Single space the lines within a set of bullet points. Use 1.5 line space between items in the same section, such as between 2 different jobs in your experience section. Use double line space between sections.
Sections
General Notes on Resume Sections
- After the required sections, include any other section that would be helpful to display your skills and experiences related to the specific position.
- The first section on the page should be most important and final section should be least important.
- Within each section, items listed should start with most recent and work back in time (reverse chronological order)
Required Sections
- Contact Information: Place at the top of the page and include your name, email, and phone number. Optional: you can include links (portfolio site, Linkedin profile) or your address.
- Education Section: Include degree title, university name and location, and month/year of graduation (or expected graduation). For most students and new graduates, this section should be first. Optional: if you choose to include relevant coursework or study abroad, add to the education section.
- Experience Section: Include position title, organization name, location, and date span (with month and year). The primary experience section, the name can more specific such as Lab Experience or Professional Experience.
Optional/Additional Sections
- Honors/Awards
- Skills
- Research
- Projects
- Leadership Experience or Activities and Leadership
- Internship Experience
- Additional Experience
- Volunteer
Content
Show Impact and Results
In the information about each role, focus on the impact and results of your work rather than a description of your responsibilities and tasks. Include quantifiable information where possible. For example, if you led the organization of a student group event, include details like ticket sales (or attendance), the number of performers, or the time it took to pull together.
View samples of demonstrating skills and competencies plus a list of strong verbs
Make It Scannable and Easy To Read
On average, employers spend less than 10 seconds on each resume they are screening. This means that in order to get a second (longer) look, your resume needs to be scannable with important and relevant information easy to find without fully reading it.
Get Proofreading Help
Typos can be easy to miss, especially when you’ve read through something many times. Get help checking for typos and other errors. In addition to friends or family helpers, use VMock to catch spelling, spacing, and other presentation mistakes.
Updating Your Resume
Once you have a solid resume, you’ll want to keep it up to date so it is ready to use. This can feel daunting if you have a lot to add at any one time. To make it easier, update your resume 2-3 times per year. Add new experiences, projects, coursework, activities, and anything else that makes sense for you.
You might also use this opportunity to create more than one version of your resume, particularly if you are interested in a few different fields. One might be more focused on customer service, teamwork, and community involvement; making it your go-to resume for roles in customer support or a team-based environment.
Targeting Your Resume
Since your goal in applying for a position is to make the best possible impression, you need to carefully craft the message you send. This includes adjusting your resume (much as you do for a cover letter) to be as relevant as possible. For example, you might focus on operational impact on one version and customer service on another.
Sample Resumes
- Education resume (pdf), showing education and student teaching experience plus licensure
- First-year student resume (pdf), showing high school experience and related coursework
- Graduate student resume (pdf)
- Humanities resume (pdf)
- International graduate student resume (pdf), showing graduate and undergraduate experience
- Science resume (pdf), showing research, clinical, and leadership/volunteer experience plus inclusion of preferred pronouns
- Study abroad experience resume (pdf), showing study aboard and study abroad internship experience
- Tech resume (pdf), showing github link, project experience, and technical skills section
Next Steps
CVs
A curriculum vitae, typically called a CV or vita, is a scholarly representation of your education, experience, publications, research, honors and awards, and other relevant information. Professionals who are targeting academia and other research-related professions such as medicine and psychology use a CV.
Format
The format is specialized and can vary by discipline.
- Font: 11-12 point professional font
- Margins: 0.5-1 inch margins
- Length: Unlimited
- Font Style: Use select font styles (bold, italic, all caps) to highlight important elements such as headings
Sections
The order of sections is flexible, focus on an order that makes sense for your field or the position you are applying for. Within each category, list items in reverse chronological order with the most recent at the top.
Required Sections
- Contact Information: Place at the top of the first page and include your name, email, phone number, and address as well as any relevant links (portfolio site, Linkedin profile). Add your name to the header of all subsequent pages.
- Education: For each degree, include degree title, university name and department, and month/year of graduation (or expected graduation). For each dissertation or thesis, include title, date, and advisor
Additional Common Sections
- Publications
- Research or Fieldwork Experience
- Research Interests
- Teaching Experience
- Honors and Awards
- Presentations
- Service
- Languages
- Professional Affiliations
- Internship Experience
- Technical Skills
- References
Content
Since a CV is a comprehensive record of your academic work and achievement, it will be lengthy and grow over the course of your career. That said, you still want to communicate a clear narrative about your work, experience, and qualifications. For example, if you are applying for an instructional role a teaching experience section should be first (after education) versus a primarily research-based role where your research experience should be first.
Next Steps
