Guidelines for Resume Writing Webster University I Career Planning & Development Center

Strategies

Be aware of your audience: Who will be reading this resume and for what purpose? When writing a resume, you will need to customize the content to appeal to the reader. You should have multiple versions of your resume, tailored to the intended audience.

Highlight your key skills and experience based on the purpose of each resume: Your customized resume is a tool you can use to market your skills, especially as they relate to an individual job. In a job posting, the employer will outline a list of skills and qualifications that their ideal candidate would possess. As you're crafting your tailored document, concentrate on describing your skills and experiences that align most directly with the employer's needs. You do not need to include your entire academic and work history in your resume. Instead, focus on the most relevant pieces of information.

Consider multiple sources of experience: Every activity in your life is a source of valuable experience, providing skills that are either specific to your job of choice or transferable to multiple fields. When deciding on the types of experiences to include on your resume, think about your entire background including co-curricular activities, internships, jobs, academic projects, etc.

Create a theme throughout your application materials: Connect your resume content to other pieces used in the application process. How does your cover letter reinforce key areas of skills/qualifications that are highlighted in your resume? How will this connect to your interviewing approach? In preparing your application materials, ensure that you unify the message that you want to relay to your prospective employer.

Request feedback: Ask others for assistance in reviewing your resume. Industry experts, faculty, and employers can provide feedback regarding mechanics and content, especially as it relates to your field of choice.

Formatting Your Resume

Templates: Do not use a resume template. Resume readers can immediately identify these formats. They also limit your ability to change the content and style of your document.

Layout: The layout of your resume should be well-organized and consistent. The reader should be able to quickly pick out information from the different content areas of your resume.

Chronological Format: A chronological format is the most commonly used type of format for a resume. With this format, information is presented in reverse chronological order, providing an account of education, experiences, and other skills that are organized in an easy-to-read format.

Length: Limit your resume to one page. If you have a few years of relevant experience, your resume may be longer. Certain industries or occupations, such as academia, may favor longer resumes.

Margins: Set all margins (left, right, top, and bottom) no smaller than 0.5” and no larger than 1”.

Font and Font Size: Use one professional-looking font. Consider using Arial, Times New Roman, or Times. Font size should be between 10 and 12 point. Font size for headings and subheadings may be slightly larger to draw attention to them.

White Space: Use white (blank) space effectively to make your resume look balanced, professional, and easy to read. Avoid filling the entire surface of the paper with information. However, you don’t want to leave too much white space either.

Enhancements: Enhancements bring attention to certain parts of your resume that you want to highlight. Use indention (tabs), bolding, CAPITALIZATION, italics, and bullet points to bring attention to important information.

Content Sections

When preparing a resume, your intended reader will expect to learn about your professional background through a variety of content sections.

Your contact information, education and experience are three must-have content sections to include in your resume.

Contact Information

The purpose of having your contact information listed on your resume is to make sure that the employer knows who you are and how to reach you. The goal is to have the employer recognize your name and to be able to contact you easily when they’re ready to schedule an interview. The recommended information to feature in the contact section of your resume includes:

First & Last Name: A prospective employer needs to be able to identify you when they’re selecting their top candidates. If your name is missing or is difficult to read, there’s no way they’ll remember you. Make your name stand out by making the font size slightly larger than everything else on the page. You can also use enhancements such as a bold font style to make it the most visually important piece of information on your resume.

City & State: Include the city and state where you will be most accessible if the employer is interested in speaking with you by phone, video conference, or in-person for an interview. You do not need to list your complete mailing address, the city and state will be sufficient information to feature in this section of your resume.

Phone Number: Include one phone number, with area code, that you answer regularly. Make sure that a prospective employer can reach you by ensuring that your voicemail is set up, that it isn’t full, and that your voicemail message is professional. If you live with roommates or family members who might be answering your phone, inform them that you’ll be engaging in a job search and that they should take appropriate and detailed messages for you if a prospective employer calls.

Email Address: As you did with your phone number, avoid confusion by including only one email address. This should be an email that you check regularly so that you don’t miss any important messages from prospective employers. It should be a professional email address. Usually, a version of your name is most appropriate. Avoid email addresses that include nicknames, songs, hobbies, or anything that can be construed as inappropriate. Regardless of how formal or casual your industry is, you need prospective employers to view you as a mature and professional individual. Even your contact information can help you to solidify that image.

Optional Information: Optionally, you can list sources that showcase your skills in your contact information. If you’d like prospective employers to view samples of your work, you can include links to your online portfolio, professional website, or LinkedIn profile.

Education Section

The purpose of the education section is to outline your educational experiences so that the reader can understand your level of proficiency with the subject matter. It can be labeled with a heading of your choosing such as academic background, academic training, certificates and licenses, or education. This section is where you list academic information including degrees, certificates, or licenses you may have earned. You also have the opportunity to highlight specialized knowledge that you’ve obtained through coursework, projects, or other academic endeavors.

Prepare an education entry with the following pieces of information:

• Degree (e.g., Bachelor of Science) and Major (e.g., Political Science)
• Month and Year of Graduation, or Expected Month and Year of Graduation (not the duration of attendance)
• College or University (e.g., Webster University) and its location (e.g., St. Louis, MO)

Education Section Enhancements: Other than the standard pieces of information for each of your educational experiences, you may elect to add enhancements to the education section. Information such as grade point average, academic honors, scholarships, long- or short-term study abroad trips, relevant coursework, research projects, certifications, or trainings can all showcase academic proficiency or knowledge related to your career of interest. As you apply to jobs or graduate programs, you can change and customize the courses, projects, and other academic experiences you include on your resume to reflect academic training specifically related to your target audience.

Multiple Institutions: If you have attended more than one university, you may choose to include all of your degrees. List the degrees starting with your current institution or the most recent school attended. For example, if you earned an associate’s degree from a community college and are now working on your bachelor’s degree, you can include both degrees on your resume. The bachelor’s degree would be listed first followed by the associate’s degree. If you attended but did not earn a degree or certificate from a prior academic institution, you should not include it on your resume. For instance, if you transferred from another university to Webster, you would only list Webster on your resume.

Experience Section

Employers post job descriptions that list the skills and qualifications they’re hoping to find in an ideal candidate. Your responsibility as a candidate is to show how you’ve developed those skills and qualifications through your experiences up to this point in your career. Like education entries, experience is listed in a reverse chronological format, beginning with the most recent experience first.

As you customize your resume to show how your skills meet the needs of the employer, keep in mind that you don’t have to include your entire work history or all of your activities in this section. Instead, carefully consider which of your experiences relate best to the skills listed in the job description and focus on describing those.

Common sources of experience include:

• Internships
• Military service
• On-campus student employment
• Major class projects, papers, or peformances
• Significant involvement in student activities or community organizations
• Full-time and part-time employment
• Significant roles on committees
• Athletic leadership roles
• Independent or collaborative research
• Freelance work activities
• Volunteer positions

Content Organization

When preparing your resume, you may organize different sources of experience into categories. For example, you may have a "Related Experience" section highlighting an internship or part-time job that aligns to your employment goal, and an "Additional Experience" section that highlights any experience where you have demonstrated transferable skills.

Prepare each experience entry with the following pieces of information:

• Company/Organization Name (e.g., Enterprise Holdings, The United Way of Greater St. Louis)
• Location of Company/Organization (e.g., St. Louis, MO)
• Position Title (e.g., Special Events Marketing Intern, Staff Accountant, Data Scientist)
• Duration of Employment (e.g., March 2018 - Present; June 2017 - April 2020)
• 3-5 bulleted descriptions that clearly state your experience-related actions, outcomes, and accomplishments. Begin each bulleted description with a present-tense verb for current experience and past-tense verbs for previous experience. View a list of recommended verbs for various work or project functions here.

An employer is most concerned with understanding how you can help them achieve the goals and responsibilities they listed in their job posting. Keep all of your experiences in mind as you decide what you should include in your experience section.

Optional Content

In addition to your contact information/header, education and experience, there are a variety of additional content sections that are commonly used to present qualifications and transferable skills in your resume.

Examples of optional resume content includes a summary of qualifications, short or long-term study abroad, professional licenses and certifications, technical skills, awards, honors and recognitions, and professional affiliations.

Objective Statement

An objective statement is typically located under the contact information of your resume. It allows the employer to have an idea of the type of position you are seeking and the unique skills you have to offer. It’s an optional statement that is limited to one direct and concise sentence. If included, it should be specific and tailored.

Summary of Qualifications

A summary of qualifications is a brief, block style paragraph or 3-5 bulleted descriptors that summarizes your education, experience, and skills relevant to the position you are applying for and is the first content section of your resume beneath the contact information/header.

Study Abroad

For students who have studied abroad, inclusion of this information can be presented in the education section of your resume. Include the name of the institution, its geographic location, and duration of your study abroad experience. You may optionally highlight coursework taken or any co-curricular activities through study abroad in this section.

For students who have significant study abroad or international travel experience, that information may be presented within its own separate content section.

Professional Licenses and Certifications

If you have a license or certification that is required or preferred for the role you’re applying to, it should be listed on your resume. If you’ve decided to list your certifications or licenses on your resume, there are a few places you can do it. You might consider making a “Professional Certifications,” “Licenses,” or similar section or include them in your “Education” section—which you might consider renaming “Education and Certifications” for clarity.

Generally, your certification and license sections should go at the bottom of your resume—below your work experience but above education. However, you always want to lead your resume with the most important information, so if you’re an entry-level candidate, you might consider moving your certifications and licenses up to the top of the page.

For each certification and license that you list on your resume include:

• The full name of the certification (any common abbreviation can be included in parentheses)
• The issuing organization (or state)
• The date you earned the certification
• The location (if applicable and not implied by the issuer)
• Additional details or add-ons (if applicable)

Skills

The point of keeping your resume concise is to allow for an employer to figure out the value you could create for the company after reviewing your resume. With this in mind, dedicating space on your resume to highlight the technical or tangible skills that the employer is requesting of a candidate is highly recommended to include in your document, even if the skills are mentioned elsewhere in your resume.

Group together related skills into categories as needed, such as:

• Technical Skills
• Language Proficiencies

You should refrain from listing soft skills or transferrable skills such as communication, organization, adaptability, etc. on your resume. These types of skills are better demonstrated through your experience bullet points.

Awards, Honors, & Recognitions

List any awards, honors, or recognitions to feature in its own content section if you believe this information will add value to your resume.

Include the issuer and name of the recognition, and the month/year awarded in reverse chronological order. For example:

• Webster University, Leigh Gerdine Scholarship for Academic Excellence, May 2023
• St. Louis Regional Chamber, Distinguished Student Award, April 2023

Professional Affiliations

Membership in a professional organization puts you into a unique network of like-minded professionals. If you have multiple memberships in professional organizations, you may optionally select to highlight this information in its own content section if your membership is active.

Include the name of the professional organization and the beginning month/year of membership through the present in a reverse chronological format. For example:

• National Association of Colleges and Employers, May 2022 - Present
• American Marketing Association, April 2022 - Present

Resume Samples

View a curated collection of resume samples prepared by the Career Planning & Development Center at Webster University below. Our resume samples reflect different levels of professional experience and academic backgrounds. View and download our collection of resume samples here.