Resume FAQs
Getting Started & Formatting
If you aren't sure where to start, start at the beginning! We have an entire section of this site dedicated to the basics. Remember, your first draft doesn't have to be perfect, and our staff can help refine your resume.
Some are too complicated in layout, have excessive shading, or other formatting features that are not recommended. A risk with a template is choosing one with categories and headings that do not suit your background or best present your qualifications for the positions you are seeking.
Resumes should often be one page, but not always.
It is no longer advised to include your street address on your resume to protect your privacy. Include your general location as city/town and state. This can include your college location, your permanent home location, or both. If you are certain that you are relocating to a specific place, and want employers to know this, you could indicate you are relocating to city/town and state and the date (i.e. relocating to Richmond, Virginia in June 2023).
A resume is a concise document that summarizes your background, and is tailored to your purpose, which could be to seek an internship, a post-graduation job, admission to graduate school, etc. It is the most commonly preferred document in business and industry positions. A curriculum vitae (CV) is a document that gives much more detail about your academic and professional accomplishments. It is most often used for academic or research positions.
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can be used by a company to screen and rank job applicants, determining whether or not to pass your resume to a real person. Appropriate formatting and document type will help you present effective content and help your resume to be read correctly. To learn more about ATS and how to make your resume standout, there are additional articles you can read below.
Add text and link to employment scam page under Experience section.
A curriculum vitae (CV) is typically needed when applying for graduate school. This document gives much more detail than a resume does about your academic and professional accomplishments.
Personalizing your Resume
The short answer is, it depends. However, a well-written summary or objective can provide clarity. To determine the best course for your resume, make an appointment with Career and Professional Development. Our advisors can assist you in choosing what works best for you.
Your experience might break into two distinct categories of “related” and “other,” and you can use these headings to divide your experience. Related can include a mixture of paid employment, volunteer work, student organization work, etc. Other could include employment unrelated to your position, yet still showing that you have learned basic work ethic and skills such as taking responsibility, working cooperatively with coworkers, customer service, time management, and other skills important to any work environment.
Some experiences may seem to fit a job description perfectly, while others may not. If you do not have related experience, you should still list your employment background. This shows an employer that you have learned basic work ethic and skills such as taking responsibility, working cooperatively with co-workers, customer service, time management, or other characteristics that are important to any work environment. Think about skills you used that are transferable to a different work setting.
We have put together a worksheet to help utilize action verbs for your resume. You can click the box below to view or print for future use.