Appearance and Organization
- Visually pleasing and easy to read
- Looks like a professional document
Content
- Correct and consistent verb tenses (current job in present tense and past jobs in past tense)
- Minimal use of repetitive words
- Capitalization, punctuation, and date formats are consistent There are NO typos or spelling errors
Format/Design
- No more than two typestyles are used
- Bolding, italics, and capitalization are minimal and consistent
- Margins and line spacing keep the page from looking too crowded
- Printing is on one side of the page only
- Paper is high-quality white or off-white bond
- The reproduction is good with no faint letters, stray marks, or blurry words
Contact Information
- Clearly presented at top of each page
- Include current address and permanent address (if applicable, each with zip codes)
- Include full telephone number(s) where you can be reached during business
- Include a professional e-mail address
Education
- List most recent degree, school, and location
- Indicate major
- List honors and awards
- Include relevant certificate programs
Skills
- Consistent with objective
- Match job requirements
Experience
- Each paid, volunteer, or internship relevant to your objective that you list should include:
- Title, organization name, city, state and/or country
- Dates of employment (easy to find and consistently formatted)
- Description of responsibilities using action verbs
Extracurricular Activities
- List offices held, including title and organization
- Emphasize leadership roles
- Include memberships and affiliations
- Include sports participation
- Include certifications such as CPR
- Include foreign study/language fluency and relevant conferences attended
Common Mistakes
Too long
- One page is preferred in most fields; up to two pages if your experience warrants it.
Grammatical or spelling errors
- Such errors suggest carelessness. Have at least two others proofread your resume. Do not rely on your computer’s spell-checker or grammar-checker.
Hard to read
- A poorly typed or copied resume does not look professional.
- Print copies on a laser printer and use plain typeface, no smaller than 12-point font.
Disorganized
- No logical order or arrangement; not easily read; hard to follow.
Too many words used to say too little
- Use incomplete sentences in order to say as much as possible with as few words as possible. Avoid jargon.
Irrelevant information
- If possible, customize each resume for each position. Never include age, sex, marital status, children, height, weight, health, church membership, etc. Too snazzy
- Avoid exotic fonts, colored paper, photographs, binders, and graphics. Use good quality white or off-white paper, plain type, black ink, and avoid symbols.
Too Modest
- Your resume is a sales tool that showcases your best qualifications in comparison with other candidates. Put your best foot forward without misrepresentation, falsification, or arrogance.
Unclear career objective
- Too long, too short, not clearly defined, inappropriate
Poor description of experiences
- Not enough description of tasks, skills, accomplishments; unnecessary addresses; too many dates; not results oriented.
Incomplete references
- Include name, address, phone number, e-mail and correct title of all references
