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Resumes

A resume is a brief document summarizing your education, professional experience, and relevant qualifications and skills. The purpose of a resume is to serve as an advertisement, while the goal of a resume is to secure an interview.

What should the format of a resume be?

  • Use section headings, boldface, and capitalization to break up text on your resume and effectively organize it.
  • Format your resume in reverse chronological order within section headings.
  • Use incomplete, action-oriented sentences. Begin with a strong, descriptive verb followed by a goal, skill, or result. Use past tense verbs for work already completed. This type of language shows that you have done the work already and reassures employers that you are qualified.

What should you include on a resume?

  • Include a contact information section (full name, Duke email address, phone number, location (city, state, country), and LinkedIn profile link).
    • Whatever design you use in delivering your contact information section, remain consistent in this design when presenting contact information on other components of your application (such as cover letters).
  • Include a brief objective or summary section.
    • Objectives are most useful for recent graduates and new professionals. Include the position you seek, your target industry, and your career interests.
    • Summaries work well for those with several years of professional experience.
    • Use this section as an opportunity to highlight your strengths and skills.
  • Include an education section.
    • The education section should include the school name, location, date of graduation (actual or anticipated), degree earned, and GPA (if over 3.0).
    • If you have substantial work experience, this section can be brief, and you may want to include it after your professional experience.
    • If you are a current student, you may want to expand your education section to highlight the most relevant coursework, honors, and activities.
  • Include an experience section.
    • The experience section should present your past and present employment.
      • Be sure to include the company name, location, position title, dates of employment, and a description of responsibilities and results.
    • Use the APR framework to write bullet points for each experience: Action + Problem/Project + Results.
      • Try this: Accomplished [X] as measured by [Y] by doing [Z]
    • Remember that relevant projects completed during internships, assistantships, and Master’s Projects can be included as relevant experience.
  • Include a skills section.
    • Including a section specifically on skills allows employers to gain a better idea of your qualifications rather than gleaning your skills from the description of your past work experience.
    • We recommend putting technical skills in this section such as any relevant software you’re comfortable using or languages you can speak.

How does a resume differ from a CV?

CVs are generally used for academic and research positions unless otherwise asked for. If creating a CV, include the following sections: education, research and field experience (including your master’s project), work experience, publications, presentations, professional associations, awards and honors, certifications, references, and skills.

CVs are usually longer than resumes. Resumes are almost always 1-page long, while CVs can be 2 or more pages, depending on the level of experience.

RESUME DO’S:

  • Target a specific job position in your resume. List only qualifications relevant to the position, and customize your resume for each application.
  • Tailor your resume to your audience. Use informational interviews to learn what the company values in terms of qualifications, skills, and personal traits.
  • Keep your resume to one page. Resumes rarely get more than a 30-second review, so keep your resume brief and to the point.
  • Use keywords relevant to your field or sector. Keywords found within the job description are a good place to start.
    • To identify keywords, we recommend copying about ten job descriptions of the same type to a word cloud generator.
    • Remember that resumes are often reviewed by an Application Tracking System so including the right keywords is essential.
  • Presentation matters. Ensure you have adequate white space on your resume and that formatting is consistent throughout the document.
  • Your resume should be completely free of spelling errors and typos. Spell check does not always catch these mistakes.
  • Quantify as much as you can. Numbers often speak louder than words and demonstrate the magnitude of your results.
  • Write with the intention of creating interest, not with the intention of simply conveying your job history.
  • Consider the file name of your resume. Keep in mind that the file name of your resume is the first thing that employers see.
  • Make use of the resources available to you at Duke to have a second pair of eyes on your resume.
    • The Nicholas School Communications Studio
    • The Nicholas School Career Services
    • JobScan

RESUME DON’T’S

  • Do not use acronyms or abbreviations without specifying what they mean the first time mentioned.
  • Do not be redundant.
  • Do not lie or over-exaggerate your skills.
  • Do not advertise negative information.
  • Do not include pictures of yourself, personal information (other than your contact information), or anything political/religious.
  • Do not use a font that looks unprofessional.

Further Resources:

Capone, G. (n.d.). Resume Formatting Best Practices. Palladian International. Retrieved from http://www.apics.org/docs/community/10385_career_whitepaper_dec.pdf.

Cleveland Institute of Art. (n.d.) Best Practice for Resume Writing. Retrieved from http://www.cia.edu/files/resources/bestpracticesforresumewriting.pdf.

Purdue Owl. (2013). Resume Workshop. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/719/1/.

Rockport Institute. (n.d.). Resume Writing: How to Write a Masterpiece of a Resume. Retrieved from http://rockportinstitute.com/resumes/.

University of South Florida. (2016). Resume Do’s and Don’ts. Retrieved from http://www.usf.edu/career-services/students/resume-dos-and-donts.aspx.

Duke University Career Center. (n.d.) Resume. https://studentaffairs.duke.edu/career/online-tools-resources/career-center-skills-guides/resume

Jeff Su. (2023). Write an Incredible Resume. https://www.jeffsu.org/consulting-resume