General Resume Guide
What is a Resume?
A resume is a one-page summary of your academic, employment, and co-curricular experiences. The main purpose, along with a cover letter, is to get you in the door for an interview. This is your first impression to an employer.
Tips for Success
Experiences: For each significant experience, describe your specific duties and responsibilities.
- Describe actions taken and concrete results
- Identify interpersonal or technical skills used
- Provide examples of tasks or projects, including quantified information (number of children taught, size of budget managed, etc.)
- Include any significant accomplishments, achievements, or awards.
Keywords: Many employers scan and store resumes into databases which are searched by “keywords” to identify candidates with the skills, experience, and educational background sought for specific positions. Make sure to identify keywords used in the job description and incorporate them into your resume in your experience descriptions and skills.
Be Clear and Concise: Spend the time to express yourself as clearly and concisely as possible on your resume. Work with an Academic and Career Advisor to improve your first draft.
Common Jargon: Whenever possible, use common or accepted jargon (e.g., MS Word, MS Excel, Access, Mac OS, Java, HTML, etc.). The more you use, the more likely the reader will pick up on important transferable skills you possess.
Keep it Simple and Clean: Avoid parentheses, underlining, graphics, abbreviations, borders, italics, lines, columns, or brackets.
Neatness Counts: No typos, grammatical errors or misspellings. Do not rely on ‘spell check’ function to catch all errors. Aim for a visually pleasing, uncluttered appearance. Try using bullet points for a sense of visual balance.
Format
- Use one font style throughout the entire resume (Arial, Helvetica or Tahoma).
- Use a font size of 10 to 12 point.
- Left justification only
- Margins should be between 0.5”- 1” on all sides.
Information to Include
Heading—Your preferred first and last name, city and state, email, and phone number.
Education—List Fitchburg State University, year of graduation, major, minor, and concentration, awards and honors, GPA (if over 3.0). Study abroad institutions should be listed separately. Include previously earned degrees, like an Associate, below Fitchburg State University.
Experience—If possible, organize your experiences into categories (Internships, Volunteer, Employment). Include your job title, name of organization, dates, and city, state.
Athletics—If you are a member of a varsity sports team, indicate your participation.
Leadership—Include title and dates of any leadership roles you have held.
Campus Activities—Note any organizations to which you belong.
Skills—List any computer, language, or laboratory skills as well as certifications.
CV (Curriculum Vitae) vs. Resume
A Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a detailed synopsis of your educational and academic background as well as teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honors, and affiliations. In the U.S., its purpose is to outline your credentials for an academic position, fellowship, or grant. A CV can be 2-4 pages in length
Achieved Addressed Administered Advised Analyzed Anticipated Appointed Appraised Approved Arranged Assessed Audited Avoided Bought Built Calculated Centralized Collaborated Combined Communicated Complied Composed Computed Concluded Condensed Conducted Controlled Coordinated Created Cultivated Decentralized Decreased Defined Delegated Demonstrated Designed Determined Developed Devised Directed Distributed Documented Doubled Drafted Edited Eliminated Employed Enforced Engineered Ensured Established Evaluated Expanded Expedited Facilitated Forecasted Formed Formulated Founded Generated Graded Guided Hired Identified Implemented Improved Improvised Increased Initiated Inspected Instructed Interviewed Invested Investigated Launched Led Liquidated Localized Located Maintained Managed Marketed Minimized Modernized Monitored Negotiated Obtained Operated Organized Performed Planned Prepared Presented Prevented Processed Produced Programmed Promoted Proposed Proved Provided Published Purchased Recommended Recruited Redesigned Reduced Regulated Rejected Related Renegotiated Reorganized Reported Researched Resolved Reviewed Revised Revitalized Saved Scheduled Secured Selected Settled Shaped Simplified Sold Solved Specified Standardized Stimulated Streamlined Studied Supervised Supported Surpassed Surveyed Taught Tested Tightened Tripled Utilized Wrote
Sample Resume
Sam Sample
Fitchburg, MA | (978) 555-9988 Sam.Sample@mail.com | www.linkedin.com/in/SampleSam
EDUCATION
Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA May 2023
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Concentration in Marketing
Cumulative GPA: 3.4/4.0
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE
Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Leominster, MA September 2021 – December 2021
Management Trainee Intern
- Delivered high quality customer service in a fast-paced, sales-driven team
- Ranked 7th out of 25 interns in the region for sales
- Collaborated with Sales Coach to expand marketing plan through social media and local business outreach
Long Learners, Fitchburg, MA September 2020 – May 2021
Development Intern
- Solicited contributions for literacy program that collects/distributes age-appropriate books to children in 4 countries by organizing book drives and developing social media campaigns
- Developed and maintained database of donors that exceeded 1,000 individuals
- Organized Internet outreach campaign that reached over 3,000 potential donors
WORK EXPERIENCE
LaLa Music Festival, Boston, MA May 2022 – August 2022
Event Staff
- Oversaw ticket collection and t-shirt sales at event with 6,000 attendees
- Assisted in setup and breakdown of event
- Provided quality customer service to attendees by answering questions and addressing concerns.
Happy Cup Coffee House, Clinton, MA (June 2019 – March 2020)
Barista
- Served beverages at high traffic café and developed expertise in creating monthly specials and customer incentives to increase monthly sales by 5%
- Efficiently and accurately operated cash register during peak hours
- Provided quality customer service
ACTIVITIES
Japanese Chat Club, Fitchburg State University, Fitchburg, MA (September 2019 – May 2022)
Participate in weekly meetings to practice Japanese fluency and learn about Japanese culture
Children’s Literature Book Club, Fitchburg, MA (September 2020 – May 2021)
Assisted in the creation of the book club hosted through the local library and built membership through word of mouth and social media marketing
SKILLS
Computer: HTML (intermediate), JAVA (beginner), Microsoft Office Suite
Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat