Strengthen your resume
Follow the guidelines below when writing a first draft of your resume. Also review the sample resumes on the following pages.
Visual effects
- Use wider than normal margins, leave plenty of white space on your page.
- Use underlining and bullet points with discretion.
- Use capital letters in titles and company names only.
Length
- A resume should be no more than two pages long. One page for every ten years of experience is sufficient. Remember that the CV is a sales tool, not an autobiography. Occasionally, a list of publications and presentations (especially for job seekers in the academic and scientific fields) may warrant a third page.
Writing style
- Write your resume in the third person; do not use the word “I”.
- Use powerful action verbs such as “develop, evaluate, implement, organize”.
- Use technical terms only if they are required to explain your work.
- Eliminate abbreviations, except for those that relate to geographic areas where you have worked and attended school.
Paper and printing
- Use a good quality bond paper in white, gray or ivory. Striking or odd colors can look unprofessional.
- Print your resumes using a quality copier or a quality printer.
Diverse
- Be completely honest. False statements lead to rejections.
- Eliminate the phrase “References available upon request” in a resume. It is assumed that if asked, you can provide references.
- Never include a photo in your resume.
- Never include a salary profile or salary requirements.
- Never include your list of references.
- Do not include personal information such as race, marital status, gender, country of origin, religious affiliation or political affiliation.
The electronic CV
More and more companies are requiring applicants to email scanned resumes. Using electronic applicant tracking systems, companies can easily analyze and electronically store incoming resumes in a large central database. These resumes require a different style of writing, one that is user-friendly. You need to use as many technical “buzz words” as possible that can be matched to those the computer has been programmed to pick up. When the computer spots such a word, the resume has just “scored”. Below are some guidelines to help you produce a digitized resume.
- Avoid luxury styles
- Eliminate lines, borders, italicized words, underlined words or boldface in your page
- Eliminate bullet points, asterisks, brackets and parentheses
- Leave plenty of white space for your margins and at the top and bottom of your page
- Use only 8.5'' by 11'' white paper
- Center your name, address, phone number and email address at the top of your resume
- Use font sizes 10 to 14 such as Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri Courier, Helvetica and Palatino
- Do not use a two-column layout
- Use keywords or phrases that are related to your field or tasks
- Use one line for each phone number
- Align your text to the left
- Avoid spaced indents and use tabs instead
- Whenever possible, use nouns and noun phrases instead of verbs to describe tasks
The electronic CV
To make your electronic CV universally accessible, send it to the recipient in PDF format.
When sending an electronic resume, always send a cover letter. Send the resume and cover letter in one file. You can write or paste your cover letter in the space before your resume. You can also send your letter in an email and your electronic resume as an attachment.
Exercise: Preparing to write your CV
This exercise has been designed to get you ready to start writing your resume.
List of verbs
This list of verbs was created to get you ready to start writing your resume.