Write a Great Resume

The time you take on polishing your résumé is always going to be time well spent. Your résumé is your introduction to a potential employer. You want it to be high-impact, concise and error-free.

Résumés are quite standard documents, generally laid out on one page following a chronological, functional or combination format. It is not a lot of space on which to encapsulate your education, employment, skills and outside activities but it is best to stick to the expected format and not try to be too creative.

A résumé will commonly include the candidate's contact information, education, employment, activities any additional skills and sometimes an objective although this is controversial for reasons explained below. 

Contact Information: Quite simply you want to make it as easy as possible for your potential employer to get back in touch with you. Include your address details and phone number as well as an email address if you have one. However, if you have a comic email address (snoopyshorts@gmail.com or similar) it is worth creating a new, more professional email address for the purposes of finding a job.

Objective:  There are two schools of thought regarding the inclusion of an objective in your résumé. On the one hand, some say, it places the focus on the job seeker instead of on the potential employer. On the other hand including an objective can be seen as a declaration of your interest in the position if it meshes nicely with the job offered.

If you choose to include an objective, keep it general and bear in mind that the employer is more interested in what you can do for him, then in how he may help you further your goals.

Employment:  This section should list your employment history in reverse chronological order, i.e. most recent first. For those who have not yet entered the workforce, this is where internship experience comes in handy. For students and graduates, employers will not be expecting to see a great deal of employment history but any relevant experience included here will help.

Education: This section should include the schools you have attended in reverse chronological order  along with years attended, majors, minors, GPA (optional), and any relevant coursework taken if applying to a position outside your concentration. Regarding the GPA, if it is high enough (usually 3.0 or over), it is generally a good idea to include it but if it is too low, it might be wise to exclude it to avoid getting disqualified simply based on a score.

Skills and Outside Activities: This is the section where you can list any technical or language skills you may have. In addition, this is the place where you can add any outside activities such as volunteering, club involvement as well as any hobbies you may have. Do not neglect this section as it may highlight your unique personal charateristic and even lead to interesting conversations with your interviewer(s).