Resumes
Your resume is an advertisement for you! Don't be afraid to share your strengths, accomplishments, and skills with potential employers.
Key considerations:
- Most college resumes should be one page (exceptions can be made for lots of relevant experience).
- Keep the design and formatting simple, clear and consistent - most hiring managers only scan a resume for less than 10 seconds. Black and white is best unless in a creative field (even then, don't go overboard).
- The bullet points are the most important part of your resume. Include enough details to demonstrate not just what you did, but how you did it, the results, and impact. Think about using a formula of (Action Verb + Core Content + Result, Purpose, or Impact) to show that you did something well.
- Focus on transferrable skills you built in experiences that aren't directly related to your professional goals, rather than just daily tasks.
Have your resume reviewed in the Career Center. You can schedule an appointment in Handshake or stop by Monday - Friday from noon - 3:00 for a 15 minute drop-in.
Sample Resumes
- Accounting
- Biology
- Business
- Communication (Student-Athlete)
- Computer Science
- Education
- First Year
- General
- MBA Entry Level
- MBA Experienced Professional
- Speech-Language-Hearing
Additional Resources
- Action Verbs for Resume Bullet Points
- Resume Writing Guide with Examples
- Resume Essentials Checklist
Curriculum Vitaes (CVs)
These documents are primarily used in academia, research, and graduate school applications. A key difference is that a CV doesn't have a length limitation. While a resume demonstrates qualifications for one particular job, a CV provides a more holistic look at your experiences. During your college career, there is not very much of a difference between a resume and CV in terms of the content to include so don't feel the need to start from scratch. The difference is often in the order of experiences and level of detail included. Some possible sections on a CV include: Research/Laboratory Experience, Publications & Presentations, Clinical Experience, Projects, Community Involvement/Volunteer Experience, Teaching Experience, and Professional Affiliations. The Rizzo Career Center can help you transform one into the other and review anything you have created.
Federal Resumes
If you are applying for a job with the federal government, your resume will look pretty different than for jobs in the private sector. The main difference is the length - federal resumes should be 2-4 pages. Other key considerations:
- For each experience, include the mailing address of the company, the hours worked per week, salary or wage earned, as well as your supervisor's name, phone number, and whether they may be contacted.
- Volunteer experiences, extra-curricular activities, and even academic project should be included.
- Bullet points must include accomplishments.
We recommend using the resume builder on USAJobs as it prompts you for all the required information. Once you enter you information, download the document and then clean up the formatting before submitting to any roles.