Resume and Curriculum Vita (CV) Writing

• Your name. If your field requires licenses and degrees that you have (not working toward), put the abbreviations next to your name (e.g., James Smith, BSN, RN; Mary Jones, BS, RRT)
• Mailing addresses are not required.
  • Include your city and state if you are applying to a commutable distance
  • If you plan to relocate, omit your location
• Include the following: 
  • A professional-sounding email address. Avoid email addresses from “old” platforms - AOL, Hotmail or Juno).
• Phone number (be sure your voicemail message is appropriate)
• LinkedIn profile and/or electronic portfolio link
• Format your contact information with your name at the top of the page; multiple formats are available for additional data

Note: if you are having trouble keeping your resume to one page, try to restrict your address, phone, other contact information to one line.

Profile statements are 21st century “Objectives.” They let employers know how you can make an immediate impact on their organization. Rather than focusing on the type of employment you seek, profile statements focus on how you see yourself professionally. There are two typical formats for Profile statements:

• Option One:
  Lead with a headline, followed by 1-5 short statements summarizing why you see yourself that way. For example:
  Aviation Professional (the role you see yourself in)
  • Experienced pilot with strong leadership skills and knowledge of…
  • Innovative problem solver, skilled in using cutting-edge technology to…
• Option Two:
  Lead with a category heading. Follow it with 1-5 short statements summarizing your overall skills for the position (Why should I hire you?).
• Profiles can change with each position, to reflect the specific areas of emphasis associated with the position; or they can reflect what you have to offer in support of that headline, regardless of what position you seek. Either way, the cover letter you write will be tailored to the position. If an employer requests resumes only, tailor the profile to the position. If you have multiple points, bullet them. Bullets allow employers to skim text easily; paragraphs must be read.

From this point, resume sections are organized by relevance to your professional goals.

• If your experience is directly relevant to your goal and your degree is a necessity that does not distinguish you from other candidates, lead with your experience.
• If your education drives your qualifications for the position, whether or not you have directly related experience, lead with your education.
• Within each section, organize your experiences/degrees in a most recent to least recent format.
• In a Functional format, after the profile, go immediately to skill headings and skill descriptors. The education, work history and community engagement sections should be organized based on their relevance after the skill areas.

• Include your degree, major, college/university, and college location. If you received your degree within the last 15 years, also include your degree date.
  Note: If you graduated more than 15 years ago, omitting degree dates deters age discrimination in the hiring process.
• In addition to your degrees, you are able to include GPA and honors.
  • Include your GPA if 3.0 or above (or a 2.8 in technical fields). Employers looking for GPAs may assume that if it is not indicated on the resume, it is below a 3.0.
  • With relevant experience, GPAs are less important.
  • If you have multiple honors, create a separate section for the honors (scholarships, dean’s list, honor societies, awards)

Experiences can include work experiences, volunteer experiences, research experiences, etc. They can be separate sections or included under a broad “Experience” section.

Each experience should include:

• Position title
• Employer/Organization
• Employer/Organization location
• Dates of employment are optional. If concerned about age discrimination, omit.
  • Experiences within the last 15 years tend to be safe from age discrimination. Omit dates for experiences older than 15 years to avoid discrimination.
  • Young workers concerned that they will be considered too young/inexperienced can also omit dates.
• Skill descriptors:
  Using the list you compiled prior to writing the resume, think about each experience. For each experience try to provide examples of skills and characteristics you used that relate to the skills and characteristics you listed that employers in that field. 
  • Using the language in the job descriptions you identified, describe the skills or characteristics you determined in your research; provide context to the skill or characteristics from your job. Do not assume employers know your skills based on job titles.
  • List in order of relevance to the job you are seeking (not based on what you did most).
  • Follow with other skill descriptors that complement your background in relationship to what you want to do (auxiliary skills).

Does your education and experience fully represent you? Consider if any of the following are right for you:

Research, Publications, and Presentations

If entering a field that requires research and you participated in research projects, include a research section, with:

• Topic
• Research lead (if other than you)
• Description of work

If published, include a publication section. In that section, include:

• Authors
• Title
• Publication
• Date

If you presented your work, include a presentations section. Include

• Presentation title
• Presenters (if you had co-presenters – include yourself as well)
• Conference or presentation event
• Date

Laboratory Skills and Knowledge

Include relevant laboratory skills, equipment and procedures or technology regardless of whether you developed them from classes or in a workplace.

Technical Skills

Include hardware, software and programming language proficiencies, or equipment/technology you have used.

Foreign languages

Include proficiency levels.

• If you indicated “fluent” or “bilingual,” be prepared to interview in that language.
• Indicate “proficient,” if strong, but not bilingual or fluent.
• Indicate “basic” “general knowledge of,” “familiarity with (oral or written)” for minimal to moderate proficiency.

Community Service

• Title (if no formal title, “volunteer”)
• Organization
• Optional: Dates (if recent or current)
• Skills: If relevant

Note: If you have not volunteered in some time, only include if directly relevant to your professional goals.

Skills

Avoid skill listings. Incorporate the skills you have into your skill descriptors or into your profile section.

The differences between a CV and a resume:

• A resume is a brief (1-2 pages) account of one’s professional qualifications.
• A curriculum vita (CV) is a more detailed account of career background and experience (2 or more pages).
• In the U.S. a resume is used for most professions other than academia.
• Internationally, CVs are used in most professions.
• Developing a CV, review this helpful CV Format Guide.

Federal, state and government resumes:

• There are two major differences between a government resume and a private sector resume – learn what they are.
  • Be sure to include your customary working hours per week for each position.
  • Use the direct language from and federal government posting to which you are responding.