RESUME WRITING TIPS
General Tips
If you have to mail your resume to a prospective employer, do not fold it.
Use a large envelope.
Spell out everything on your resume.
Do not use abbreviations like St. for Street or Ave. for Avenue
Have a friend proofread your resume
DO NOT PUT "References available upon request" on the bottom
When faxing your resume, be sure to use black ink on plain white paper
Use inkjet or laser printing, and avoid dot matrix
Copies of a resume should be clear, and without smudges.
Do not use a font larger than 20 point.
A graduating college student should keep their resume to one page
If your GPA is a 3.0 or higher, include it.
Include any internships you have done within your education section.
Do not get too fancy with your resume unless you are applying for an advertising or related position.
Most resumes are scanned into computers, so make sure the important points of your resume are on the white section of the paper.
Phone numbers should include area codes
Heading Tips
Name should be the largest & boldest print on resume
Print full name including your middle name
Center your name at the top of the page
Present address should be on the left side
Permanent address should be on the right side
Objective Tips
Make objective general, because you may use it to try and get a number of jobs.
Be more specific for the job you want in the cover letter
Never use entry level in your resume or cover letter
Don’t use the word obtain, it means given and you never want to ask for anything.
Use attain, achieve, become, it shows confidence
Education Tips
It is better to have education first, because graduates usually don’t have a lot of experience.
Don’t use B.S. to tell about degree, spell it out: Bachelor of Science in your major.
Including the date you graduate is optional, but take it off after you graduate
Never use the word candidate
Reference Tips
You don’t have to refer to them
Put references on a separate page
Your reference paper should match your resume paper.
