How to Write a Resume

Top of Resume

Recruiters spend on average 6 seconds reviewing your resume in a ‘Z’ pattern. You will want to write a skimable resume. Your resume should be simple, clean and have enough white space to make it easy on the reader’s eyes. Name, contact information, a skills driven headline, and a list of 4-8 transferable skills should be listed at the top of the resume. Your resume should have one column so that your eye can go down the page easily. If you have more than one column then that could cause the recruiter to have to search for information. Leave off the personal summary; it is now outdated as it causes the recruiter to have to work to find the important information.

Education and Work History

Next you will put your degree information, languages you’re fluent in, technologies you are proficient in, and the industries you’ve worked in. You can leave off the GPA; it is not necessary. Following that, you can now put in your work history. List up to 15 years of relevant work history; do not go past 15 years. List your recent work history first and go backwards. There should be 3-5 bullet points listing quantifiable accomplishments. For example, I schedule 10 meetings per week or I wrote 5 articles per week. The last section is the additional experience which may include: published works, speaking engagements, certifications, leadership positions, scholarships and awards, associations or professional memberships, a full skills list, volunteering, or unrelated work experience. A resume can be more than 2 pages. A more experience person will have a longer resume. It is better to go past 1 or 2 pages then to cram everything onto 1 page. 

Uploading Your Resume

Save your resume as a PDF and upload as an individual file to the application system. Also include a cover letter in a separate PDF file and upload it with your resume. Need help writing your cover letter? Check out our blog for cover letter writing tips here.

Read our next blog on Top 10 Tips for Writing a Successful Resume.