A résumé is meant to market you to a potential employer by drawing attention to the skills and accomplishments that the employer values. It is a critical piece in your job search portfolio and deserves an investment of time. You must be willing to write and edit until you have a well-organized document that emphasizes your most relevant qualifications for the position you seek.
Studies show that employers initially spend less than thirty seconds reviewing your résumé. In this short time you need to convey the information most critical to the hiring organization. How do you do this? Where do you start? First of all, you need to know what a résumé is and what it is designed to do. Make those thirty seconds count!
The Basics
• Be concise: Use phrases, not sentences, and carefully chosen words.
• Think in terms of the reader : Gear your résumé to the skills, experiences
and qualities employers seek in a candidate.
• Use a formal writing style: Use abbreviations only for states (NY), GPA, and
degrees (BA, BS, MA, PhD).
• Make your résumé easy to read: Use an appealing layout and font (10-12 pt);
make important information easy to find; set margins between 0.5 and 1.0
inches.
• Length: Begin with a “master résumé” that captures all experiences,
regardless of length. When applying for positions, pull relevant information
from your master résumé into a 1-2 page document.
• Final Draft: Proofread carefully and don’t rely on spell check alone! If you
are sending your résumé electronically, save it as a PDF to insure your
format is maintained when opened on a new computer and give your résumé
a name that will be recognizable to employers (i.e. Firstname.Lastname.doc)
Format Options
• Chronological: Most common and generally what is recommended for
current students and recent graduates; Present information in reversechronological order (most recent first) within each category.
• Functional: Emphasizes skills, qualifications and accomplishments rather
than position titles, employers and dates. Can be effective for career
changers or those with limited or erratic work histories.
• Combination: Combines the functional and chronological styles. Experience
is organized chronologically with duties and responsibilities presented
through skill clusters.
• Curriculum Vitae (CV): Typically for academic or research positions. It is
usually longer than a résumé and includes comprehensive information
related to the field. More information can be obtained from the “Writing a
Curriculum Vitae” Quick Reference Guide on the CDC website.
Creating a new résumé: How to begin
Identifying Information
• Name, address, phone number, and professional email address.
• Include a local and permanent address if you are a current student.
Objective / Summary (Optional)
• Brief statement providing focus to your résumé indicating the kind of
position you want and what you offer. The rest of the résumé should provide
evidence of your qualifications for the position you seek.
• Should be specific to a position or field you want to enter.
Education
• Include institution(s) attended, degree(s) obtained or expected, major(s),
graduation date, minors, and concentrations. Double majors receive only
one degree (BS trumps the BA); Double degree students (from two different
schools) receive two degrees.
• May include relevant courses, study abroad, honors, or scholarships (or put
these in separate sections).
• GPA is recommended, but optional.
• High school information is acceptable during freshman & sophomore year
and/or if you had a specialized high school experience relevant to your
career objective.
• Binghamton’s official school name is “Binghamton University, State
University of New York” or “State University of New York at Binghamton.”
Skills
• Skills relevant to the position/employer should be highlighted toward the top
of your document.
• Those with many skills may want to consider grouping them by functional
area
• (i.e. languages, software, networks; laboratory, equipment, computer).
• Keep skills in this section limited to hard skills; be sure to include reference
to these skills later in your experience descriptions.
Experience
• Always keep the employer’s
needs in mind when deciding
what experiences you will
include and highlight!
• Category headings may change
based on personal experience,
ex: Relevant Experience,
Supporting Experience,
Research, Leadership.
• List in reverse chronological
order (most recent first based on
end date) within categories.
• Group experiences in sections
based on relatedness rather
than by paid/unpaid.
• The experience itself is more
important than compensation.
• For each experience include
position title, organization name,
city and state, dates of activity
(month/year-month/year), and
description.
Writing Descriptions
• Use the list of action verbs
on the next page to identify
words that showcase your skills
(both hard and transferable)
and experiences. Begin each
descriptive statement with an
action verb—it draws attention
to your skills and achievements.
• Every experience has the potential to be valuable. Identify the skills
you used/ developed and compare them to the position description to
determine which to
• include on your final document. Worry about length after you have
completed this
• step.
• Avoid “Responsible for” and “Duties include” and do not use personal
pronouns
• (i.e. I, my, our, we) anywhere in your document.
• Use your descriptions to answer questions such as Who? What? When?
Why?
• How? How many? How often? Results?
• Include numbers (ex: quantities, dollar amounts, percentages) when
appropriate to provide concrete proof of skills and results.
• Be sure all descriptions focus on YOU and YOUR skills and contributions
to the organization, project, etc.
• Always think like an employer, who will be asking the question, “How is
this relevant to me and my needs?”
