Resume Writing Guidelines

• Focus on accomplishments, skills and results.
• Never include statements of accomplishments that cannot be proven.
• Do not use abbreviations when there could be doubt as to meaning. Be clear and precise.
• Keep it short. A good resume will be as short as possible, certainly not longer than two pages and, if possible, one page.
• Do not use personal pronouns (I/we).
• Use Action Verbs to describe each accomplishment.
• Include nouns so your resume can be scanned for keywords.
• Whenever possible, show results in numbers.
• Some people like to show exact starting dates, including the month. The preference is to show only the year you started or terminated a position. If there have been promotions during the period of employment, those dates can be shown in parentheses next to each job title.
• Candidates without much work experience, or who are tackling their first job search, must change "Accomplishments" to "Skills".
• Resumes should never go back more than 10 years. Depending on your field, some experience is stale after five years. Also include work history that is significant to the position for which you are applying.
• If you title your work history section "Significant Experience", rather than "Experience", this lets the employer know that you plan to concentrate only on those things in your background that relate directly to the desired position.
• Never list references on your resume.
• In most cases, extracurricular activities and hobbies should be completely excluded from the resume unless they are directly related to your qualifications for the position you seek.
• If you are not a recent graduate, or not currently earning an additional degree, the Education section should be listed last on the resume.
• If you have a bachelor’s degree and most employers strongly prefer master’s degree for work in your career area or professional discipline, it is best to position the Education section after the Experience section.