Develop Your Resume

Your Resume, Your Opportunity

Your resume is your personal highlight reel鈥攊t is your chance to grab attention and land an interview for the role you want. It is not about listing everything you have ever done but about being intentional and showcasing what makes you the best fit.

The best resumes are never one-size-fits-all鈥攖hey are designed precisely for the opportunity you are pursuing. Most recruiters only spend 30 seconds or less reviewing resumes, so yours needs to be clear, concise, and tailored.

We recommend creating a of your skills, experiences, and accomplishments to build a resume that focuses on what’s most relevant to the position and gets you noticed!

Make an Appointment Wisedoc Resume Builder

Formatting Your Resume

Number of Pages

One page is common for early professionals or those with limited experience. Two pages are appropriate for extensive relevant experience, experienced professionals, and/or people with graduate degrees.

Margins

Margins should be:

  • the same on every side
  • 0.5 inch minimum – 1 inch maximum
  • Start with a 0.5 inch margin to maximize space. You can always make it wider later if needed.

Spacing
Single spacing keeps your resume clean and readable. Maintain even spacing between entries and sections to create a clean, readable layout. Check the for examples.

Justification
Left-align your text鈥攊t is easier to read and skim quickly. Reserve centering for headings or letterhead, not for text blocks or job details.

For a resume, stick to fonts that are simple and easy to read. Serif fonts are ideal for printed resumes with a more timeless style, while sans-serif fonts are more legible on digital screens and offer a contemporary feel.

Sans-Serif:

  • Avenir
  • Calibri
  • Gill Sans
  • Helvetica
  • Proxima Nova

Serif:

  • Cambria
  • Constantia
  • Didot
  • Garamond
  • Georgia

Font choices to avoid

Arial (overused)
Brush Script (script fonts are not good for this)
Century Gothic (also overused)
Comic Sans (resumes aren鈥檛 for toddlers)
Courier (the typewriter is dead)
Hobo (decorative)
Impact (too bold for body text)
Papyrus (it鈥檚 not an ancient Egyptian scroll)
Stencil (great on ammo crates and nowhere else)
Times New Roman (overused everywhere for everything)

To help employers easily skim your resume, create visual categorization by useing headings and subheadings along with text formatting such as bold, italics, and font size to highlight key details.

  • Body Text: Keep between 10 pt and 12 pt.
  • Entry Headings: Same size as body text, but altered (bold, italic, etc.) to stand out.
  • Main Headings: Increase by 2 pt.
  • Your Name: Make it 4-8 pt larger than your body text.

Example:
Arya Stark [name]
Cheney, WA 99004 | 509.555.1212 | arya.stark@ewu.edu

EXPERIENCE [main heading]
Research Assistant | Fall 2013 [entry heading line 1]
51福利社, Cheney, WA [entry heading line 2]

  • Conducted research on gene expression [body text]
  • Purified proteins [body text]
  • Created statistical reports [body text]

Black is really your color.
Using any other color is usually a bad idea for anyone听whose job isn鈥檛 actually about the use of color. Bright colors are distracting and gray or soft pastels can be difficult to read.
Black is classic. It behaves itself. It won鈥檛 get you in trouble.

Don鈥檛 include pictures or graphics.
Bluntly, if you鈥檙e not applying to be an actor, dancer, or model, your future employer doesn鈥檛 need your headshot. Submitting a photo with your resume puts a potential employer at risk for violating Equal Opportunity legislation. Many employers won鈥檛 interview those who submit a personal photo.听

Avoid using graphics or clip art as well鈥攜our resume should focus on your qualifications, not your artistic skills.

Setting up your Document

Feel free to draw inspiration from examples, but steer clear of templates鈥攃rafting your own resume is the best way to ensure it is both effective and professional.

Use these page setup tips to get started:

Required Sections to Include

At a minimum, your resume听must have these three sections:

  • Letterhead
  • Education
  • Experience

It might have more, but those sections are optional according to the needs of your audience and the content you want to deliver.

51福利社 Student discusses resume with Employer at Career Fair

Letterhead

础听professional email address is one that is as close to your name as possible with as few numbers as possible (i.e., jamie.doe@anything.edu, or jdoe4@company.com).

Anything听that doesn鈥檛 meet that criteria (e.g., modernwarsmurf@wherever.com, unicornhunter@anything.edu, etc.) is an听unprofessional听email address and should not be used.

Your prospective employer needs to know how to contact you, but in the age of the internet, they鈥檙e not likely to do that through the mail. If you鈥檙e applying to a job in another city, however, it鈥檚 often a good idea to list your city and state so they can structure interviews appropriately.

Here鈥檚 an example:

Stuart Griffin
Spokane, WA | 509.555.1212 | sgriffin@domain.ext

The letterhead contains your contact information at the top of the page. It should include:

  • Your name
  • Your phone number
  • 驰辞耻谤听professional听email address (see below)
  • Your city, state*

*They need to know your general location, but don’t need your full address

Education

You may find there is additional relevant information that needs to be included with your education, such as:

  • Minors, if you have them.
  • Certificates, if you have them.
  • GPA (only if it鈥檚 3.0 or higher),听or听your honors designation if you graduated with honors 鈥 but usually not both
  • Relevant special coursework
  • Competitive academic awards, if relevant

High School (unless you鈥檙e Running Start)
Once you have a bachelor鈥檚 degree, your high school education is no longer necessary. Leaving it off makes room for more relevant details, unless you’re in a Running Start program, in which case it can be worth mentioning.

Associate Degrees (under most circumstances)
If you have a bachelor鈥檚 degree, your associate鈥檚 degree is generally not needed, as your bachelor鈥檚 level education is more relevant.

Dean鈥檚 List (if your GPA is over 3.5)
If your GPA is already strong, listing Dean鈥檚 List achievements is usually redundant, as a high GPA is assumed with strong academic performance.

Irrelevant Coursework
Avoid listing classes that are not related to your degree or career goals. Focus on the most relevant coursework that shows your skills and knowledge in your field.

Irrelevant Awards
Only include awards that are relevant to the position you鈥檙e applying for. Leaving out unrelated awards keeps your resume focused.

Not sure what鈥檚 irrelevant? Consider completing a to identify what should be included and what should be left out.

Here鈥檚 an example:

EDUCATION
Master of Arts: Rhetoric and Technical Communication听| June 2018 (Expected)
51福利社, Cheney, WA

Bachelor of Arts: English Literature听| June 2016
Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA

You can put your Education either before or after Experience. Before is more common for current students and new professionals. After is more common for experienced professionals.

Education entries听must听contain four elements:

  • The official name of your degree (e.g., Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Bachelor of Arts in Theater, etc.)
  • The month and year you graduated or will graduate
  • The name of the institution
  • The city and state where you attended

Start with your most recent degree, either completed or in progress, and work backward in time.

Experience

Your experience entries should follow the same layout and arrangement as your entries in your education section. They should be listed in reverse chronological order and contain:

  • position title
  • dates (month and year)
  • organization name
  • location (city and state)

Do not include additional details such as street addresses, phone numbers, supervisor names, or wages.

Next, describe your activities in that experience that are relevant to your audience.

  • Use bullets, not paragraphs 鈥 bullets are easier to skim.
  • 3 鈥 5 bullets per entry is ideal. One is not enough. Eight is too many.
  • Bullets are often one line long, but particularly important ones might be two lines.
  • Use phrases, not complete sentences.
  • Begin each bullet with strong action verbs in past tense, even for experiences you鈥檙e currently engaged in.
  • Each bullet point should demonstrate a different skill used, relevant to what you are applying for.
  • Don鈥檛 include items that do not bring value to your future position.

The basic bullet formula is:

Action Verb + What You Did + How You Did It + Quantities + Frequencies + [Results if applicable]

If you follow this formula, your bullets will have consistent phrasing and won鈥檛 be flat, shallow, and generic. Using quantities and frequencies proves your level of competence at that skill.

EXPERIENCE
Communications Intern | January 2022 鈥 March 2022
Spokane AIDS Network, Spokane, WA

  • Wrote weekly press releases resulting in 24 publications in three local news papers
  • Developed script for Sub for Santa segment on Good Morning Spokane news program
  • Assisted in coordination of donor recognition event, hosting more than 150 guests and 15 high profile donors
  • Edited 鈥淪pokane AIDS Walk鈥 campaign pamphlets and website, ensuring seamless transition during new media campaign
  • Provided creative ideas for 15 second commercial, supporting Communications Director in development of workable concepts and script

A well formatted and听relevant听experience section is crucial to getting noticed and getting an interview. Your experience section should contain the听experiences you鈥檝e had that听best听demonstrate your qualifications for the opportunities you want.

Experiences don鈥檛 necessarily have to be听paid听experiences as long as they gave you knowledge, skills, and abilities that will be useful to your prospective employer.

Learn more about experiences you might include and ideas for Getting Experience

Optional Sections

Introduction sections are optional but common. If you have one we recommend having a Summary (also called a Profile). Guidelines include:

  • It should be one to four short sentences or lines
  • It can be in paragraph style with sentences or bullet style with phrases
  • It should focus on the needs of the employer rather than the needs of the candidate.
  • It should act as an abstract for the reader, giving them top level information at a glance, so it鈥檚 best to write it last.
Here鈥檚 an example in paragraph format:

Health Services Administration graduate with experience in rural health care. Successfully established multiple clinics with nonprofit health care groups, providing service for thousands of rural patients from infants to the elderly. Bilingual in Spanish and English.

Here鈥檚 an example in bullet format:
  • Skilled fundraiser with three years of experience.
  • Plan and execute events for nonprofit organizations.
  • Strong interpersonal skills with training in conflict mediation.
  • Proficient in current web design technology.

We don鈥檛 recommend听objectives because they鈥檙e outdated and usually aren鈥檛 very effective, as they are all about what the candidate wants instead of what the employer wants.

Valuable experience isn鈥檛 always tied to a job, internship, or volunteer opportunity. Depending on the industry, classroom projects can also demonstrate relevant experience on your resume.

Projects

Entries in a projects section should be formatted just like your experiences and given activity details in the same way.

Here鈥檚 an example:

PROJECTS
Event Management and Student Check-in System
听| Sep 2016 鈥 May 2017
51福利社, Cheney, WA
+ Designed system to track student registration and attendance for weekly events, and schedule events and facility resources
+ Implemented using CodeIgniter, PHP framework, MySQL, JQuery, and CSS3

Publications and presentations can be valuable additions to your resume, especially if they demonstrate your expertise, communication skills, or industry knowledge. Whether published articles, research papers, or presentations at conferences or events, these experiences highlight your ability to share insights and contribute to your field.

Listing important publications or presentations works just like listing them on a Works Cited/References/Bibliography page in a paper. Pick an appropriate style format, (like MLA, APA, or Chicago), and use it consistently.

Here鈥檚 a presentation example:

Weldon, T., Field, N. (2014, April). Cambodian Genocide and Intergenerational Attribution of Blame. Poster presented at the annual Western Psychological Association Conference, Portland, OR.

Here鈥檚 a publication example:

鈥淕adamer, Dewey, and the Importance of Play in Philosophical Inquiry.鈥 Reason Papers, Vol. 38 (1) [Spring 2016] 8-20

Your skills section should be brief and focus on the specific abilities most relevant to the opportunity you’re applying for. Skills are tangible, trained, and measurable:

  • Relevant tools you know how to use (both hardware and software)
  • Languages you speak or can code in
  • Methods and strategies you use to achieve goals鈥攕kills that are not commonly possessed by people without your level of education or experience.

Skills are not personal qualities that make you a wonderful human being. Also, they are not the ability to be a functional adult at a basic level. (Those are very good things, but they don鈥檛 go here).

Things you should not list as skills:

  • Basic computer skills (e.g., email, basic word processing, being able to switch between operating systems)
  • Social media (unless you鈥檝e managed it as a job)
  • Languages you cannot have an actual business conversation in
  • Time management
  • ‘Quick learner’ or ‘Team player’ (demonstrate this through your experience)
  • ‘Good communicator’ or ‘Passionate’ (again, show this through actions, not adjectives)
  • Overused buzzwords like “dynamic,” “engaged,” “thought leader,” or “out-of-the-box thinker”
  • Anything that is exaggerated or untrue
Here is an example:

厂碍滨尝尝厂:听

  • Software: Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), Google Analytics
  • Languages: English (fluent), Spanish (intermediate), HTML/CSS
  • Project Management: Agile methodologies, Asana, Trello, Time management, Risk assessment
  • Design: UX/UI design, Wireframing, Prototyping, User research
  • Communication: Public speaking, Presentation design, Cross-functional collaboration
  • Data Analysis: Data visualization, Statistical analysis (SPSS, Excel), Trend forecasting

If you鈥檝e received competitive awards that are relevant to your career goals, consider listing them in a separate section, typically placed toward the end of your resume. For each award, include the title, the awarding organization, and the date it was granted.

Here is an example:

AWARDS

  • Dean’s List
    51福利社 | Fall 2022, Spring 2023
  • Best Student Project Award
    National Marketing Association | June 2023
  • Employee of the Month
    XYZ Corporation | March 2022
  • First Place, Graphic Design Competition
    Design Professionals Network | November 2021

Optional sections on a resume allow you to highlight additional skills or experiences that may not be directly related to your job history but still demonstrate your qualifications. These can include sections like Volunteer Experience, Certifications, Languages, Awards, or Projects.

Including them is a great way to showcase your versatility and unique strengths, especially if they are relevant to the position you’re applying for.

Wisedoc: AI Resume & Cover Letter Builder

Simplify the process:
Create master documents and tailor them effortlessly for each job.

Boost your chances:
Optimize your resume for ATS systems, so you get noticed faster.

Tailor with precision:
Use AI to compare your resume to job listings and get targeted suggestions.

Get quick feedback:
Submit your documents for review by an 51福利社 career advisor鈥攏o waiting for an appointment!

  1. Click the button at the top of this page or go to听
  2. Click听Sign in with Institution.
  3. 颁丑辞辞蝉别听51福利社.
  4. Enter your听狈别迟滨顿听(not your email) in the field.
  5. 颁濒颈肠办听Login. You鈥檒l be taken to 51福利社鈥檚 SSO page to enter your password.

If you are an听incoming student,听DO NOT听register for an account.

You鈥檒l be able to login as soon as you have a NetID and password.

We encourage all 51福利社 Wisedoc users to听. It covers:

  • Creating Your First Resume听Resume
  • Resume Customization
  • Tetra AI Resume Review
  • One-Click Cover Letter Creation
  • Tetra AI Cover Letter Review
  • Requesting Resume Review From Advisors
  • Short Summary

Login problems?听Contact the听51福利社 IT Help Desk听补迟听helpdesk@ewu.edu.

Other questions?Contact听the听51福利社 Career Center.

Make Your Application Documents Easier Than Ever!

Wisedoc is an AI-powered resume development service, available at no cost to all current 51福利社 students, staff, and faculty. This powerful tool guides you step-by-step with expert tips and cutting-edge features to help you craft an impressive resume with ease.

Resume Resources

Tools to help you craft a strong resume


Craft a Stronger Resume

Tailor Your Resume

Make Every Word Count

Stronger Verbs, Stronger Resume

Separate Resume Fact from Fiction

Need a CV?

Cover Letters

Now that you have worked on your resume, have you thought about your cover letter?

Head to our page about cover letters to learn more!

Cover Letters