There are also templates available for download online, many of them free. If you don’t want to use one of the basic templates in your word processing app, you may find another online that works for you. Template elements can also be customized to suit your needs. Think of it as scaffolding that you can adjust or eliminate as necessary. Use a standard, readable font in 10- or 12-point. Your section headings may be a little larger. Times New Roman and Georgia are popular serif fonts. If you want to go with a sans-serif font, try Calibri or Helvetica.
For example, you could have all the information centered. You could also have your address on the left side and your phone number and email address on the right, with your name centered in the middle in a slightly larger size. If you don’t already have a professional email address, get one from a free email service such as Gmail. Ideally, the email address you use on your resume will be some version of your initials and last name. Never list a silly or suggestive personal email address on your resume.
You don’t have a lot of flexibility with a chronological resume, but you can still arrange the sections in a way that puts your strongest information at the top. For example, if you have a lot of education but not a lot of work experience, you might want to list education first.
A functional resume is also a good choice if you have an extensive amount of experience and want to limit your resume to a page. You can focus on the skills you’ve developed rather than having to list each individual job with specific details.
Because this type of resume can get lengthy, consider only listing your last 2 or 3 jobs and your highest educational degree. If you’ve been at your most recent job for over 10 years, you may want to only list that. You can make clear in the functional part of your resume how long you’ve been working in the industry.
For example, if you’re creating a resume for an online writing job, you might include “editing” as one of your skills. One of your bullet points might state the number of articles you’ve edited on wikiHow and any accolades you were given for that work. Even if it’s volunteer work, it’s still experience as an editor. You can also include relatively soft skills. For example, you might list “team leader” as one of your skills. You could then include bullet points detailing your work in student government, organizing a rally for a nonprofit organization, or working as a camp counselor.
Generally, you should include the month and year you started and ended the job in a chronological resume. However, if you worked there for several years, just the years are typically fine. With a functional resume, you have a little more leeway in how you include your work experience. You don’t necessarily have to include the dates you worked for a particular employer, although you should indicate the length of time you worked there. For example, you might say “Managed 20-person sales force for 10 years. " Use active verbs to describe your responsibilities and accomplishments. Specific numbers and metrics show potential employers exactly what you achieved. For example, if you were a sales manager, you might include a line such as “Implemented changes that increased sales by 27% in 1 quarter. "
For example, if you’ve just graduated from law school and are applying for a job as an attorney, you would want to include your law degree on your resume as well as the bar you’ve been admitted to. If you’re admitted to practice in any other courts, you would want to list them as well. If you’re creating a functional resume, your education section will probably be at the bottom of the page. [10] X Expert Source Alyson Garrido, PCCCareer Coach Expert Interview. 24 January 2020. Some people leave education off of a functional resume entirely. However, include it if the job post lists a specific degree as a requirement. [11] X Research source If you had a cumulative GPA of 3. 5 or higher, feel free to include it with your educational information. Otherwise, you should leave it out. If you’re listing more than one degree, include your GPA on both of them if possible. Otherwise, don’t include it at all.
It can be tempting to fudge a little in your skills section and exaggerate your skill level to sound more impressive. However, this can get you in trouble. For example, if you only know a handful of words and phrases in Spanish, don’t put on your resume that you’re conversational or even fluent. If the hiring manager starts talking to you in Spanish, you’ve eliminated your chances of getting hired. If specific skills were listed in the job post and you happen to have those skills, on the other hand, include a skills section and list them along with detail about your proficiency.
Make sure the keywords you use fit in with the rest of your text, and use them sparingly. There’s no need to repeat the same word or phrase over and over.
For example, if you’re applying to be a manager at a sporting goods store, the fact that you play several sports would definitely be relevant to that position.
Move sections around if needed so that the most important qualifications listed in the job description are at the top of the page. Rearrange your bullet points as well, putting the most relevant information first. Even if you’re proud of a particular accomplishment, take it off your resume if it doesn’t relate to the job in any way.
For example, suppose you worked as a barista at a café. You might include a bullet point that you maintained high sanitation standards. However, you want to make that as quantifiable as possible. You might say “Implemented new sanitation program; increased café health and sanitation score by 11%. " Make your bullet points personal, rather than just rattling off the job description for the position. For example, if you were a retail sales associate, you might say “Exceeded all personal sales goals for 4 months” rather than “Sold clothing and accessories to customers. "
Be careful with apostrophes and contractions. If you have difficulty with contractions and possessives, read what you’ve written as though you spelled the full words out rather than using an apostrophe and see if it makes sense. For example, you could easily find the error in the sentence “Trained sales staff and reported they’re progress” if you read it as “Trained sales staff and reported they are progress. " Make sure your formatting and punctuation are consistent. For example, if you use bullet points in one section, you should use them in all sections. Free online apps, such as Grammarly, can help you find errors you might not have noticed on your own.
A PDF document benefits you as well because it preserves your formatting choices. It also prevents errors from being accidentally introduced if the hiring manager opens your resume or prints it out.
Take at least 3 copies of your resume to the interview. If you know you are being interviewed by a hiring team, take enough copies so that each member of the team can have one. You also want to make sure you have at least one left over for yourself.
