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What is important on a resume?
I was wondering what are important things to be put on resumes and what things don't matter
#resume #job-application
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19 answers
Updated
George’s Answer
Hi Aiden,
This is a great question and like my peers have mentioned, the content depends on your experience, as your resume in its very nature will become a living document. With that said, here are a few key points that helped me throughout my career, and should hopefully assist in yours equally:
- Skills and competency : Make sure your skills are matched to the requirements of the position. Understand that many positions have a "basic requirements" section. Remember to target those basic requirements, otherwise the application could be skipped by a recruiter. Also, focus on your achievements as actionable items, meaning, what did you do and what was the result.
- Education : Extremely important
- Objectives : Catered specifically to the job, speaks to what differentiates you to other applicants, ie. why are you the best candidate for the job.
Besides these sections, something that is extremely important is avoiding grammatical errors, tense inconsistency (past vs present), and keep it to hopefully within one page, max of 2.
Best of luck!
This is a great question and like my peers have mentioned, the content depends on your experience, as your resume in its very nature will become a living document. With that said, here are a few key points that helped me throughout my career, and should hopefully assist in yours equally:
- Skills and competency : Make sure your skills are matched to the requirements of the position. Understand that many positions have a "basic requirements" section. Remember to target those basic requirements, otherwise the application could be skipped by a recruiter. Also, focus on your achievements as actionable items, meaning, what did you do and what was the result.
- Education : Extremely important
- Objectives : Catered specifically to the job, speaks to what differentiates you to other applicants, ie. why are you the best candidate for the job.
Besides these sections, something that is extremely important is avoiding grammatical errors, tense inconsistency (past vs present), and keep it to hopefully within one page, max of 2.
Best of luck!
Updated
Marissa’s Answer
Hi - I suggest including the following on your resume:
1) Summary - A few sentences on your background & key credentials.
2) Work Experience - Summary of any past jobs/internships you've had. Include bullet points that start with action verbs & quantify wherever possible. Ensure your bullet points match the criteria in the job you are applying to.
3) Leadership Experience - Highlight any student orgs or special projects you have helped lead during your time in school.
4) Study Abroad / Academics - Highlight any special study experiences or projects that are relevant to your professional area of interest.
5) Awards - Highlight any special recognition you've received (including scholarships)
6) Volunteer Experience - Highlight any community service or other similar engagement you've participated in
Have a friend review your resume before submitting it to ensure there are no typos & everything reads logically. Also, leverage templates available online (most are free) or from your school's career services office if applicable.
1) Summary - A few sentences on your background & key credentials.
2) Work Experience - Summary of any past jobs/internships you've had. Include bullet points that start with action verbs & quantify wherever possible. Ensure your bullet points match the criteria in the job you are applying to.
3) Leadership Experience - Highlight any student orgs or special projects you have helped lead during your time in school.
4) Study Abroad / Academics - Highlight any special study experiences or projects that are relevant to your professional area of interest.
5) Awards - Highlight any special recognition you've received (including scholarships)
6) Volunteer Experience - Highlight any community service or other similar engagement you've participated in
Have a friend review your resume before submitting it to ensure there are no typos & everything reads logically. Also, leverage templates available online (most are free) or from your school's career services office if applicable.
Updated
Jacqueline’s Answer
They way you format your resume depends on your level of experience. You definitely want include your career objectives, education, and skills such as Google Suites, etc. When it comes to your work experience/professional experience this is where you want to make sure that you include your action and results. When you state a responsibility that you had in your position you want to also state what it resulted in. An example: Developed and conducted management and non-management staffing policy training sessions for all new Human Resource Staffing employees, resulting in a greater understanding of the employment policies and practices.
Updated
Karen’s Answer
Aiden - that is a great question. When you think about your resume the main goal is for a hiring Manager to get a picture of what you skills you bring to the table and possibly how you will fit into the role & their business. Your goal is to perk their interest enough to want to meet with you and get to better know you.
First thing is think about the company & the role you are applying for. Then think about the work experience & skills you have and how that will help you be successful in their business and the specific role. Once you have identified those then adjust your resume to highlight those skills.
First thing is think about the company & the role you are applying for. Then think about the work experience & skills you have and how that will help you be successful in their business and the specific role. Once you have identified those then adjust your resume to highlight those skills.
Updated
Omoyemi Florence’s Answer
Great question Aiden! Some important things to consider:
- order your experiences from most recent to oldest
- ensure your contact info is included
- include your GPA if it is above a 3.0 (or your preferred industry's standard)
Something else worth noting, be sure you are able to answer behavioral interview questions based on your listed experiences!
- PwC Indy
- order your experiences from most recent to oldest
- ensure your contact info is included
- include your GPA if it is above a 3.0 (or your preferred industry's standard)
Something else worth noting, be sure you are able to answer behavioral interview questions based on your listed experiences!
- PwC Indy
Updated
Shruti’s Answer
Hi!
I think that the resume depends on the job that you are applying for. You should always be trying to alter your resume using words in the job description and matching the skills. With this, it is very important to have a clean and organized format with your education, experiences, extracurriculars, and anything else specific to your field such as projects. I also think that Interests are an important field to put on a resume so that you can connect with people during interviews and show that other than school, you have other hobbies and interests and are well-rounded.
I think that the resume depends on the job that you are applying for. You should always be trying to alter your resume using words in the job description and matching the skills. With this, it is very important to have a clean and organized format with your education, experiences, extracurriculars, and anything else specific to your field such as projects. I also think that Interests are an important field to put on a resume so that you can connect with people during interviews and show that other than school, you have other hobbies and interests and are well-rounded.
Updated
Brad’s Answer
Hi Aiden,
When building a resume it's important to highlight experience, both past and present. When providing details about your experience be brief and use "buzz" words or weave things in that might be relevant to the job you're pursuing. It's important to include education background, current skills you possess or areas you are proficient in, include any certifications or awards. Your resume should be a detailed sales pitch about yourself. Keep it to one page and formatted cleanly.
Hope this helps,
Brad
When building a resume it's important to highlight experience, both past and present. When providing details about your experience be brief and use "buzz" words or weave things in that might be relevant to the job you're pursuing. It's important to include education background, current skills you possess or areas you are proficient in, include any certifications or awards. Your resume should be a detailed sales pitch about yourself. Keep it to one page and formatted cleanly.
Hope this helps,
Brad
Updated
Joy’s Answer
Hello Aiden,
First off, it is great that you are thinking about this. I think the biggest thing that helped me is look at my own resume from a recruiter's perspective to see if you can cut out any irrelevant info to make more space for the more important details, such as: Professional Experience. I would make sure to include 2-3 of your recent jobs with min 3 bullet points under each as a rule of thumb. Also depending what industry you are in that would determine how you would want to highlight each job e.g.: for business, I would try to quantify your role as much as possible and put number to any impact you might have had on the business (Grew sales by x%, successfully managed x supplier relationships, negotiated x% in cost savings). Lastly, I would also suggest you highlight anything that makes you a unique candidate for the role, and that would make your resume stand out to a recruiter. They have seen a lot of resume papers, so anything you can do to catch their eye in a professional manner, will work in your benefit. For example, a unique resume format while still staying relevant in your industry or showcasing unique skills.
First off, it is great that you are thinking about this. I think the biggest thing that helped me is look at my own resume from a recruiter's perspective to see if you can cut out any irrelevant info to make more space for the more important details, such as: Professional Experience. I would make sure to include 2-3 of your recent jobs with min 3 bullet points under each as a rule of thumb. Also depending what industry you are in that would determine how you would want to highlight each job e.g.: for business, I would try to quantify your role as much as possible and put number to any impact you might have had on the business (Grew sales by x%, successfully managed x supplier relationships, negotiated x% in cost savings). Lastly, I would also suggest you highlight anything that makes you a unique candidate for the role, and that would make your resume stand out to a recruiter. They have seen a lot of resume papers, so anything you can do to catch their eye in a professional manner, will work in your benefit. For example, a unique resume format while still staying relevant in your industry or showcasing unique skills.
Updated
Melissa’s Answer
When building your resume I think that it is important to ensure that you include the following:
- Summary about your leadership strengths or strengths relative ot the job/field in which you are applying for
- Your experience (date range in which you worked at those positions)
- A brief summary description of the job that you are listing
- Major accomplishments within those experiences
- Education (if applicable)
- Any specific certifications you may have
- If applicable to the job - systems that you may be experienced in
- Any volunteering activities you may be involved in
It is important to keep your Resume current because you never know when a job may present itself to you as well as ensure that you tweak it based on the job in which you are applying for to show that you are the best candidate.
In some fields, it is a nice touch to include a professional picture of yourself
- Summary about your leadership strengths or strengths relative ot the job/field in which you are applying for
- Your experience (date range in which you worked at those positions)
- A brief summary description of the job that you are listing
- Major accomplishments within those experiences
- Education (if applicable)
- Any specific certifications you may have
- If applicable to the job - systems that you may be experienced in
- Any volunteering activities you may be involved in
It is important to keep your Resume current because you never know when a job may present itself to you as well as ensure that you tweak it based on the job in which you are applying for to show that you are the best candidate.
In some fields, it is a nice touch to include a professional picture of yourself
Updated
Enrique’s Answer
Aside from a clean design, I highly recommend that you review the job description to the role you are interested in and align the copy on your resume to that. This will help get you an interview if your application is being reviewed by an automated system. There are several free online tools that can help you scan for key words before you submit.
Updated
Alison’s Answer
Hi Aiden,
Above all else, make sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors and the formatting is consistent. It's best to fit it to 1 page unless you have 15+ years of experience.
I recommend not including your address - only include your email and phone number. A potential employer does not need to know where you live.
List your skills at the top, and make sure they are relevant to the position. From technical to personal, such as 'excellent communicator'
Next, list your experience by most-recent, including the company and dates. Even if you volunteered, list those. It does not have to be paid work. List what you accomplished, and ideally start each bullet with an action-oriented word such as "created, led, initiated, completed" etc.
List your education next, including your GPA, dates in attendance, and perhaps several classes that are relevant to the role you're applying for.
Optional, list a few personal interests at the end. Anything that sets you apart from your peers and will get the attention of the hiring manager is a bonus.
Above all else, make sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors and the formatting is consistent. It's best to fit it to 1 page unless you have 15+ years of experience.
I recommend not including your address - only include your email and phone number. A potential employer does not need to know where you live.
List your skills at the top, and make sure they are relevant to the position. From technical to personal, such as 'excellent communicator'
Next, list your experience by most-recent, including the company and dates. Even if you volunteered, list those. It does not have to be paid work. List what you accomplished, and ideally start each bullet with an action-oriented word such as "created, led, initiated, completed" etc.
List your education next, including your GPA, dates in attendance, and perhaps several classes that are relevant to the role you're applying for.
Optional, list a few personal interests at the end. Anything that sets you apart from your peers and will get the attention of the hiring manager is a bonus.
Updated
Andrew’s Answer
Hi Aiden,
Great question. You can find several templates online for your resume. Key information you should consider:
1. Your "Brand" statement - what are you all about as a person I'm considering hiring
2. Experience with highlights of your accomplishments at each job (your "wins" or "trophies")
3. relevant training, education
Your resume should be 1 page, single sided. As you advance in your career, you should emphasize the positions you've held over the last 5-10 years, and provide 1 line summaries for anything older.
Hope this helps and best of luck,
Andrew
Great question. You can find several templates online for your resume. Key information you should consider:
1. Your "Brand" statement - what are you all about as a person I'm considering hiring
2. Experience with highlights of your accomplishments at each job (your "wins" or "trophies")
3. relevant training, education
Your resume should be 1 page, single sided. As you advance in your career, you should emphasize the positions you've held over the last 5-10 years, and provide 1 line summaries for anything older.
Hope this helps and best of luck,
Andrew
Updated
David’s Answer
Well good question. What makes a good resume is that it stands out amongst the other applicants. The resume itself highlights the needs of the job and their ability to perform. A quality resume will also highlight their many successes, skill set and career history. Your resume is the very first piece of information a company will have on you, first appearances are everything. This is your selling point focus on all the good you want them to know. Make sure your information is relevant and do not overload with a large history. Keep it current and professional.
Updated
Mark’s Answer
From my experiences, most important thing to understand about resumes is there is not a one-size-fits all. Each job you apply for will ask for certain criteria but will also ask for something that maybe others are not. This is true even for the same job title (such as Accountant or Contract Manager). It also depends upon how you are going about your job search.
Search sites (such as Monster or Indeed): Here, you put your sought-after capabilities and experience forward. Keywords are the ticket here. If you want to land a job as an government contracts manager, include words you would have experience with, such as FAR, IDIQ, negotiate, , redline, and others. Common words used in that area which employers will want the prospective candidate to have knowledge of already. You will include concept terms that would apply to any person working in that area (Cust Svc might choose cheerful, positive, calm, de-escalation), you wrok experiences, the things that you have done to stand apart from the others in former workers.
Specific job posts: Here, tailor your resume to match up your specific knowledge and experience with the keywords included in the listing. More recruiters depend on filtering software to weed out the hundreds (maybe thousands!) of resumes they receive to find the ones they want to review and possibly interview. Use the words that you have experience or training in as part of your submission to increase your chances of standing out. Then craft your resume to translate your specific experiences that match the keywords used in the posting. Sometimes, you will end up re-writing your resume more than 50% of your stock material. It never hurts to have a thesaurus handy, either. Just remember to be able to back up your wording with experiences.
Work Experiences - It's very rare for someone to land the job they want to maintain for the rest of their working career ,especially if that job is not entry-level. That means that it is very likely a high percentage of applicants will have the same types of experiences at similar jobs as you. So, you were a fry cook, or a server, or a stock clerk or a custodian. These are all perfectly acceptable types of employment that many of us have had or still may. But what have you done in those types of roles that may be not the normal way of doing things? Finding a creative, but honest, wording can help you stand out. Surviving a keyword search is important, but so is having something meaningful to say when they read your work history story.
Volunteering/Community outreach - This is especially helpful as it shows another facet of you that can have a huge impact on what you bring to the organization. How much you put in (assuming you are very active in your community) will depend a lot on the research you do of the prospective employer. Find the aspects of your service that aligns with the Company's mission statements (and their corporate citizenship stance, which can often be found with a little digging). It's acceptable to cherry pick projects or service rendered as you can always elaborate in the interview.
What not to include - References. Those you have handy for the interview. At most, you include a single line stating references are available upon request. GPA - unless you are straight out of school with little to no experience or the opening inquires about GPA.
Creativity is be a very good friend to take along in a job search. After all, you are trying to stand out amongst the potentially thousands of competitors so it's about not only what you bring to the table, but how you bring it. Your resume really is a work-history story (or an education story, if you are fresh out of training with no appreciable experience). I, personally, have multiple versions of my resume that I can reconfigure, depending on where I want to go next. When I started out, I had only one and I remained unemployed for quite a number of months. You and your experiences are not one-size-fits-all, so never assume your resume should be either.
Search sites (such as Monster or Indeed): Here, you put your sought-after capabilities and experience forward. Keywords are the ticket here. If you want to land a job as an government contracts manager, include words you would have experience with, such as FAR, IDIQ, negotiate, , redline, and others. Common words used in that area which employers will want the prospective candidate to have knowledge of already. You will include concept terms that would apply to any person working in that area (Cust Svc might choose cheerful, positive, calm, de-escalation), you wrok experiences, the things that you have done to stand apart from the others in former workers.
Specific job posts: Here, tailor your resume to match up your specific knowledge and experience with the keywords included in the listing. More recruiters depend on filtering software to weed out the hundreds (maybe thousands!) of resumes they receive to find the ones they want to review and possibly interview. Use the words that you have experience or training in as part of your submission to increase your chances of standing out. Then craft your resume to translate your specific experiences that match the keywords used in the posting. Sometimes, you will end up re-writing your resume more than 50% of your stock material. It never hurts to have a thesaurus handy, either. Just remember to be able to back up your wording with experiences.
Work Experiences - It's very rare for someone to land the job they want to maintain for the rest of their working career ,especially if that job is not entry-level. That means that it is very likely a high percentage of applicants will have the same types of experiences at similar jobs as you. So, you were a fry cook, or a server, or a stock clerk or a custodian. These are all perfectly acceptable types of employment that many of us have had or still may. But what have you done in those types of roles that may be not the normal way of doing things? Finding a creative, but honest, wording can help you stand out. Surviving a keyword search is important, but so is having something meaningful to say when they read your work history story.
Volunteering/Community outreach - This is especially helpful as it shows another facet of you that can have a huge impact on what you bring to the organization. How much you put in (assuming you are very active in your community) will depend a lot on the research you do of the prospective employer. Find the aspects of your service that aligns with the Company's mission statements (and their corporate citizenship stance, which can often be found with a little digging). It's acceptable to cherry pick projects or service rendered as you can always elaborate in the interview.
What not to include - References. Those you have handy for the interview. At most, you include a single line stating references are available upon request. GPA - unless you are straight out of school with little to no experience or the opening inquires about GPA.
Creativity is be a very good friend to take along in a job search. After all, you are trying to stand out amongst the potentially thousands of competitors so it's about not only what you bring to the table, but how you bring it. Your resume really is a work-history story (or an education story, if you are fresh out of training with no appreciable experience). I, personally, have multiple versions of my resume that I can reconfigure, depending on where I want to go next. When I started out, I had only one and I remained unemployed for quite a number of months. You and your experiences are not one-size-fits-all, so never assume your resume should be either.
Updated
Noah’s Answer
Great question. Your resume should include some key pieces of information:
-Career Objectives: What are you core skills/competencies, what makes you stand out among other candidates, why should someone keep reading your resume?
-Your education and any achievements/awards (e.g., Honor Roll, Dean's List)
-Professional Experience (company name, the title you held, and your start / end-dates); This section should highlight your responsibilities, the impact you drove in the job, and how you added value to the team
-Special skills: Can you program? Are you great at PowerPoint? Do you have special talents that a business recruiter would find compelling? List those as well.
-Career Objectives: What are you core skills/competencies, what makes you stand out among other candidates, why should someone keep reading your resume?
-Your education and any achievements/awards (e.g., Honor Roll, Dean's List)
-Professional Experience (company name, the title you held, and your start / end-dates); This section should highlight your responsibilities, the impact you drove in the job, and how you added value to the team
-Special skills: Can you program? Are you great at PowerPoint? Do you have special talents that a business recruiter would find compelling? List those as well.
Updated
Mervin’s Answer
The biggest advice I was given, was to tailor your resume for the job you are applying for. So include relevant experience and knowledge and create a resume directed to that job specifically.
Updated
Andrew’s Answer
Hi Aiden! It's difficult to try and summarize your whole life into just one page, so don't feel discouraged if it takes you a few tries. The first step would be to look at examples of resumes of people who are interested in similar jobs or fields as you are. I would recommend making your resume no longer than 1 page. You should list your name and email for potential employers to be able to get in touch with you, school experience, any professional experience, and skills. If you don't have any professional experience, you can include volunteering, organizations you are a part of, or other experiences to show yourself and what you are passionate about. Even volunteering for a short time frame will help add to your experience. For each experience, it's important to include: the name of the company/organization, when you worked there (e.g. June 2021-present, January 2020-December 2021), and a few bullets of your responsibilities.
For things to leave out of your resume - I wouldn't add your mailing address, hobbies that aren't related to the job/industry, or a career objective statement (personally, I have found the cover letter takes care of this and in a better way than your resume would do).
After you finish writing your resume, I would get people who know you to read through it and give you feedback. They'll be able to tell you if they think it's a good representation of you on paper. I would also keep in mind that recruiters or the people looking to hire, have to review a lot of applications. So the more easy to read and scannable you can make your resume (e.g. bulleted lists instead of paragraphs), the better.
One resource I would recommend is The Muse (https://www.themuse.com/advice/resumes) - they have a ton of great articles on how to build your resume, how to format it, and what to include. Good luck in your job search!
For things to leave out of your resume - I wouldn't add your mailing address, hobbies that aren't related to the job/industry, or a career objective statement (personally, I have found the cover letter takes care of this and in a better way than your resume would do).
After you finish writing your resume, I would get people who know you to read through it and give you feedback. They'll be able to tell you if they think it's a good representation of you on paper. I would also keep in mind that recruiters or the people looking to hire, have to review a lot of applications. So the more easy to read and scannable you can make your resume (e.g. bulleted lists instead of paragraphs), the better.
One resource I would recommend is The Muse (https://www.themuse.com/advice/resumes) - they have a ton of great articles on how to build your resume, how to format it, and what to include. Good luck in your job search!
Updated
Tiffanie’s Answer
Hi Aiden,
Resumes are the first view a recruiter or hiring manager has about your experience and how you might be a fit for a position. The things you include on your resume should be the information that highlights how you'd be a good fit for said role.
You should include your career goals/objective. something like "Entry-level Software Engineer looking to grow my skills in C++" etc. "Entry-level Administrative Assistant with great attention to detail..."
Then you should include job experience or internships. If you don't have those include projects you've completed or highlight the classes you've taken in college or highschool that provided you with skills to apply to said job. Some people do have different resumes depending on the type of job they are applying to.
You can also include a couple of hobbies like volunteering, running, hiking, etc. sometimes these provide topics of conversation with a recruiter.
Here is a great link on Indeed with some free resume templates.
https://www.indeed.com/profile/resume-templates
Resumes are the first view a recruiter or hiring manager has about your experience and how you might be a fit for a position. The things you include on your resume should be the information that highlights how you'd be a good fit for said role.
You should include your career goals/objective. something like "Entry-level Software Engineer looking to grow my skills in C++" etc. "Entry-level Administrative Assistant with great attention to detail..."
Then you should include job experience or internships. If you don't have those include projects you've completed or highlight the classes you've taken in college or highschool that provided you with skills to apply to said job. Some people do have different resumes depending on the type of job they are applying to.
You can also include a couple of hobbies like volunteering, running, hiking, etc. sometimes these provide topics of conversation with a recruiter.
Here is a great link on Indeed with some free resume templates.
https://www.indeed.com/profile/resume-templates
Updated
Gigi’s Answer
hi Aiden!
It's important to include your relevant experiences, if you don't have any you can definitely list the projects you've done in school or any school organization positions! I think a cover letter is also super important to tell the recruiters about yourself as well as how you are a good fit! Definitely include your education as well as your contact info! I would say a skill section is also needed! See what skills the job is looking for and write down your relevant skills for that job in your resume!
Thanks!
It's important to include your relevant experiences, if you don't have any you can definitely list the projects you've done in school or any school organization positions! I think a cover letter is also super important to tell the recruiters about yourself as well as how you are a good fit! Definitely include your education as well as your contact info! I would say a skill section is also needed! See what skills the job is looking for and write down your relevant skills for that job in your resume!
Thanks!