Career Prep | Resumes & Cover Letters

What is a Resume? 

Your resume is your pitch to a potential employer and where you get to showcase your skills and achievements. Something to remember is that hiring managers and recruiters are flooded with hundreds and maybe even thousands of resumes which means that they only take a few seconds to scan and evaluate your application materials.

Let’s go over all the ways to help maximize your resume’s impact by keeping it brief, concise, and focused. 

General Tips

• To save time, create a Master Resume. Before the job hunt, create a Master Resume that contains all of your education, skills, and experience as your main reference document. When you’re ready to start, create a copy of your Master Resume and tailor your new copy to different job postings by removing irrelevant details and aligning your resume to that specific opportunity.
• Whenever you send in your resume, always send it as a PDF. This ensures that the formatting remains consistent.
• Make sure that you name the PDF in a clear and consistent way: your name, job title, and ID number if applicable. This makes it easier for the hiring manager to identify or find your application.
• Use quality print paper. If you need to submit your resume on paper (standard letter size), be sure to print it on quality paper. Use subtle white, ivory, or light grey paper and use the same paper for all materials
• Be wary of resume builders. Templates from services that offer to build your resume tend to bloat your resume by adding in a lot of unnecessary components, fancy coloring palettes, and two-column formatting — all of which make it difficult for company applicant tracking systems to read.
• Proofread, proofread, proofread!

Guides and Resources

For a deep dive into the resume writing process, check out our resources below:

• Resume Guide
• Resume Sample A
• Resume Sample B