Your resume is your professional biography. You need one to apply for most jobs and internships. For a polished first impression, pay attention to what your resume says and how it looks.

Resumes are typically 1 page long and include:

• education
• work experience
• leadership and volunteer experience
• awards and honors
• skills

You can find out a lot about resume writing online. We’ve created these docs to simplify the process (with shortlinks so you can type in the URLs on any device):

• a sample resume: b12my.co/rs
• formatting tips (using the same sample resume): b12my.co/rtips
• a resume template you can type your info into: b12my.co/rt

If you have the energy to dig deeper, go for it! But you can create an excellent resume based on the info we’re providing.

Your goal in sending employers your resume is to show them that you are the right person for their job because you have the experiences, skills, and qualities they are looking for.

Some of your best resume content might be stuff you wouldn’t think of right away. Maybe a key skill from your last job was something you only did rarely. Or maybe you did amazing things in an activity that seems random—like … maybe you were in your high school’s Pokémon club, and you organized fundraisers that paid for club field trips. 

To surface these experiences, start by brainstorming everything that could possibly be relevant to a job search. 

Include jobs, internships, volunteering, community service, clubs, teams, activities, leadership, awards, and any other recognition you’ve gotten. But don’t just list everything; write down everything you can remember about each.

Get it all written down so it’s in one doc, right there if you need to find some custom info for a job opening later on.

This step and the next one go hand in hand: use your notes from step 2 to craft your formal resume, while at the same time keeping an eye on the design and formatting so it comes in at one page. Use the docs linked in step 1 above to give you ideas and a big head start.

For each job or relevant experience, create a list of 2-4 bullet points:

• describe key responsibilities, achievements, and/or skills
• begin each point with a “power verb”—managed, created, prepared, etc. (Learn more and get ideas here.)
• if possible, provide info about specific results you achieved (e.g., increased sales by 20%)

A huge part of crafting a great resume is selecting, categorizing, and carefully wording what you want to say about yourself. Take your time fussing over it! This is also a great way to use AI: ask for suggestions about wording. Always make sure to double check its suggestions, though!

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to create a visually effective resume. In fact, if you worry too much about being fancy, it can backfire and distract people from what you’re trying to communicate about yourself.

Ultimately, what matters is that your resume is clear and readable. Whoever’s reviewing it probably has a stack to go through and not much time, and one way you can score points with them is by making their job easier with a reader-friendly resume.

Making your resume reader-friendly means:

• using tight and action-oriented wording
• organizing your points to draw attention to the most important things
• using formatting like bold and underline to emphasize key points

And finally, a clear and readable resume is error-free. Check and re-check to make sure there aren’t typos, missing words, etc.—but also keep an eagle eye on things like alignment and spacing.

Your resume should be as perfect as you can get it, so don’t be shy about asking for feedback—from professors, mentors, family and friends, and especially your campus’s career center. If you’re applying for a particular job, bring the ad with you so they can offer targeted advice. 

Ask for their suggestions about topics you cover, word choice, and formatting, not just proofreading.

Don’t forget: your resume is a work in progress and never really done.

• try to update it regularly so that it’s ready when you hear about an opportunity
• expect to customize it by emphasizing or adding different aspects when you apply to different jobs