What is a Resume?

A resume is a professional document that highlights a person’s background, skills, previous experience, and educational history.  It should be a quick and easy read for a potential employer.  According to the Indeed Editorial Team (2023a), the main objective of the resume is “to quickly communicate why you are uniquely qualified for the position based on your skills and experiences” (para. 1).

How Do I Write a Resume?

There are multiple formats to create a resume and many resume builders online.  Be careful in what you choose.  Wording is key in a resume.  You want to give facts about your skills and experiences (Petrone, 2019).  The type of resume you choose is also important.  You want to make sure the resume type best showcases your abilities.  What ever template or design you choose should match the cover letter.

College Student Resumes

When you are a student, you may have limited to no work experience.  This may make developing a resume a daunting task.  However, there are ways to make a resume look professional when you do not have much professional experience.

A college student resume includes information about your educational studies.  Activities where you gained experience should be listed in the resume.  This may include: internships, community service, organizational participation, or professional development sessions (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023b).

Watch:

Other Types of Resumes

There are other types of resumes that can also be used. The format of your resume will depend on your level of professional experience.

Chronological

Chronological resumes are used when you have a consistent work history. If you are just starting out, this may not be the best resume for you. Your work history on the resume is listed from most recent to the past, hence the name chronological resume (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023a).

Watch: 

Functional

Functional resumes are resumes that are good when you have no experience or have large gaps in your work history.  This type of resume focuses on your skills – technical, soft, or transferrable (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023a). This type of resume would be ideal for a student with limited professional experience in the career field.

Watch: 

Combination

A combination resume has aspects of both chronological and functional resumes.  This type of resume should be used when you want to highlight both your skills and your prior work history (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023a).

Watch: 

What do I Include in My Resume?

Your resume is a snapshot of you – experience, history, skills – on one nicely formatted piece of paper.  So the question is – what makes the cut?  You want to include relevant facts.  You highlight what you can based on the job you are applying for.  What you include on your resume is especially important when you have little to no experience.

Contact Information

If you want to hear back from the hiring manager, your contact information is important to list on the resume.  You will want to have your name, email, and phone number.  Mailing addresses are optional (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023a).

Let’s talk about email addresses for a quick second.  Go make a professional email address to use just for professional business.  For example, do not put your email address that you have had since high school with your nickname on it.  Create a professional one similar to firstname.lastname@gmail.com.

Contact information should be visible at the top of your page.  The font size should be bigger than the resume body font and bolded (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023a).

Summary and Objectives

This is an optional area, but if you have little to no work experience, it may behoove you to include this area (Coursera, 2023; Herrity, 2023b; Indeed Editorial Team, 2023a).  According to Taylor (2023), a resume summary “is a two- to three-sentence professional introduction that you can add at the top of your resume to highlight your most valuable skills and experiences” (para. 1).  A summary is different than an objective.

A resume objective is a goal that you want to achieve in your career (Taylor, 2023; Coursera, 2023). As a student with very little experience, you may want to include objectives instead of a summary (Taylor, 2023). The objective area is statement with a maximum of two sentences explaining your career goals and why you are applying for this particular job (Herrity, 2023b).  Your objective statement will change for each different job application.  It should be attention-grabbing so the hiring manager can see what you would bring to the company’s table (Herrity, 2023b).  There are many different example for objective statements online.

Skills

As mentioned in the Cover Letter chapter, a self-reflection is necessary for any good cover letter.  The same applies to a good resume.  You need to think about what you have accomplished in the past – educationally or professionally.  There are different skill sets that you need to think about.  There are hard, soft, and transferrable skills.  Hard skills are “abilities you gain through education, training, and experience” (Indeed Editorial Team, 2023c, What Are Hardskills section para. 3).  Examples of hard skills would be your proficiency with various computer programs such as Microsoft Office Suite.

Soft skills are based on your personality, so your interpersonal skills.  You cannot really quantify soft skills as they are based on the person. Soft skills have to do with how you interact with other humans – communication skills, teamworking abilities, etc. (Herrity, 2023a).

Refer back to the Cover Letter chapter for the discussion on transferrable skills.

Education

In this section, you will want to include coursework that is relevant to the job post.  This will change depending on the position you are applying for.  Make sure to list any academic awards such as honor rolls.  If you have a GPA from 3.5-4.0, you can put it on your resume.  Any certifications or microcredentials earned while in college should also be listed on your resume.  (Coursera, 2023).

Experience

Part-time jobs, community service, and extracurricular activities should all be included in your resume.  If you think they do not apply, they most likely do.  The transferrable skills that you gained from your experience as a waiter in a restaurant will apply to a new career.  Not to mention that community service and extracurricular activities can highlight your other skill sets.  If you were on an athletics team, this shows that you are able to work as a member of a team; demonstrates dedication, responsibility, and hard work; and commitment.   Any leadership role in any organization should be highlighted (Coursera, 2023).

Finishing the Resume

With resumes and cover letters, you always want to put your best foot forward.  This means that you need to be very particular in your editing of your documents.  You are selling yourself to the employer.  Cover letter and resume that is strife with grammatical errors is a big turn off.  If you are lackadaisical about these documents, how are you going to be as an employee? Always proofread and edit your documents prior to submission.

Check Yourself

References

How to write a resume with no experience: 5 tips (2023, June 15). Coursera. Retrieved 18 July, 2023 from https://www.coursera.org/articles/resume-with-no-experience.

Indeed Editorial Team (2023, February 28). How to make a comprehensive resume (with examples). Indeed. Retrieved 17 July from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/how-to-make-a-resume-with-examples.

Indeed Editorial Team (2023, April 7). How to write a college student resume. Indeed. Retrieved 17 July, 2023 from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/write-a-college-student-resume.

Indeed Editorial Team (2023, June 30). 82 examples of hard skill to boost your resume (plus tips). Indeed. Retrieved 18 July, 2023 from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/hard-skills.

Herrity, J. (2023, July 5). What are soft skills? (definition, example, and resume tips). Indeed. Retrieved 18 July, 2023 from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/soft-skills?from=careerguide-autohyperlink-en-US.

Herrity, J. (2023, July 5). 70+ Resume objective examples (with tips and how-to guide). Indeed. Retrieved 18 July, 2023 from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/soft-skills?from=careerguide-autohyperlink-en-US. 

Petrone, P. (2019, September 30. How to write a resume that will actually get a recruiter’s attention. Career Success Tips. Retrieved July 17, 2023 from https://www.linkedin.com/business/learning/blog/career-success-tips/how-to-write-a-resume-that-will-actually-get-a-recruiter-s-atten.

Taylor, S. (2023, July 10). How to write an effective resume summary (with examples). Indeed. Retrieved 17 July, 2023 from https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/writing-a-resume-summary-with-examples.