What To Write In A Resume

How Long Should A Cv Be

A standard CV in the UK should be no longer than two sides of A4. Take a look at our example of a chronological CV for inspiration.

That said one size doesn’t fit all. For example, a school leaver or recent graduate with minimal experience may only need to use one side of A4. Although not used as often, a three-page CV might be needed for those in high-level roles or for people who have gained a lot of experience or worked in multiple jobs over the last five to ten years. For example, some medical or academic CVs may be longer depending on your experience. While it’s important to keep your CV concise you should also avoid selling your experience short.

To save space only include the main points of your education and experience. Stick to relevant information and don’t repeat what you’ve said in your cover letter. If you’re struggling to edit your CV ask yourself if certain information sells you. If it doesn’t cut it out. If it’s not relevant to the job you’re applying for delete it and if it’s old detail from ten years ago summarise it.

Example Of How To List Experience On A Resume:

Experience:2016-01 – PresentHead English TeacherEast Greenwich High

• Taught English to grades 9 through 12, covering the entire syllabus, from language studies to literature.
• Taught AP English and trained the top students for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
• Improved class averages by around 20-30%.
• Won Teacher of the Year Award in 2018 and 2019.

Below is a brief analysis of what makes the above experience section effective:

How To Make A Resume With No Work Experience

• Structure your document properly. Use the right formatting and elements.
• Present your relevant experience. Come up with as many examples as possible.
• Use the right keywords. They can make or break your resume.
• Add information on your education. Focus on relevant aspects
• List your key skills. Focus on those relevant to the position.
• Add extra resume sections. They will boost your chances.
• Write a compelling objective. Highlight your selling points.
• Compose a cover letter. Tells the recruiter your story.

Thanks for reading my guide! Now Id love to hear from you:

• What are the biggest challenges of writing a resume with no work experience?
• What part do you struggle with the most?
• Let me know. Lets get the discussion started!

Also Check: What Does An Acting Resume Look Like

Examples Of Work Experience On A Resume

Here are a few examples of work experience on a resume to see the differences between a first draft and the final draft. How do you describe your experience in the most succinct way possible?

Example #1: Work Experience in CV for a Teacher.Lets say youre applying to be a middle school science teacher at a popular independent school. The new job description emphasizes the importance of involvement outside the classroom. They specified that theyre looking for teachers looking to grow through professional development throughout their time there.

First Draft:

• Developed and carried out a student-driven curriculum in three sections of Earth Science
• Annually advised 20 students to track growth and address individual challenges and strengths
• Invited to attend NAIS annual conference to develop modern social-emotional learning classroom tactics

Example #2: Work Experience in CV for Content Marketing Manager.Content Marketing Managers encompass a very wide range of responsibilities. The recruiter will have a general sense of your job experience no need to start from scratch but results-based, specific bullet points will thrive here.

First Draft:

• I manage a team of freelance copywriters at a major NYC marketing agency and ensure they got their work in on time
• I talked to clients and figured out what would be best for their brand
• Before everything was published, I proofreadit all

Final Draft:

First Draft:

First Draft:

Final Draft:

First Draft:

Professional Summary Example For Customer Service

Performance-driven and motivated customer service rep offering 4+ years of relevant experience. Eager to join the Techia team and contribute to the growth of the company. In the previous role, the ability to make customers comfortable and relaxed allowed for 98% customer service survey results and had 25% more sales than the average employer.

Read Also: How To Add Your Own Business To Resume

List Relevant Skills And Keywords

Resume keywords are important terms of interest that recruiters look for whether skimming a resume or searching within an applicant tracking system . The more role-specific keywordsoften hard skillsyour resume contains, the better optimized your resume is.

99 percent of Fortune 500 companies use applicant tracking systems to sort, filter, and search applicants. Some ATS, like Taleo, can automatically rank your resumes content against the job description, allowing recruiters to focus only on the best applicants. Recruiters often also search their applicant pool for important resume keywords, like customer service, accounts receivable, or Adobe Photoshop.

Where on your resume should you include important skills?

Its crucial to incorporate important skills throughout your entire resume, beginning with your headline which should, when possible, include the most relevant keyword: the job title. You can also list skills in a dedicated skills section of your resume if using the hybrid resume format.

How do you find keywords to include in your resume?

Hard Skills Vs Soft Skills In Your Resume

There are endless skills that you can include on any resume, and you have to decide which ones will be the most effective. There are hard, industry-specific technical skills, as well as soft skills that every job demands.

Hard skills are technical abilities that are specific to a particular job and are often measurable. For software developers, their set of hard skills would include specific programming languages. Soft skills are personal skills or creative abilities that can come naturally or be strengthened over time. Some examples of soft skills are adaptability, self-motivation, people skills, time management, and the ability to work under pressure.

Some great skills employers love to see on your resume if you are looking for remote work are: written and verbal communication, the ability to work independently, time and task management, organization, comfort with technology, and specific knowledge of remote communication tools like Zoom, Skype, Dropbox, Google Suite, etc., shared Toni Frana, FlexJobs expert career coach.

Lets take a closer look at the skills section for your resume.

Note: FlexJobs is the longtime leader in helping job seekers find the highest-quality remote, work-from-home, hybrid, and flexible jobs. You can to our database of hand-screened job listings, as well as job search and career webinars, and many other great resources! Learn today howFlexJobs can empower your job search!

Don’t Miss: How To Put Latin Honors On Resume

How Far Back Should Your Resume Work Experience Go

Your resume work experience should contain every piece of information that is relevant to you securing the role. This will dictate the amount of work experience in a CV that you might include.

If you have a 30-year career, you might choose simply to list the employers for the first 10-15 years and use your precious resume space to describe the most recent resume experiences. However, if your career is 15 years or less, you should definitely include resume work experience about everything.

In terms of the amount of work experience on your resume, try to give more information on the more recent roles. Make use of bullet points and solid text after your have listed the employer and date details – as you can see in our many resume samples.

Should I put seminars on my CV? Typically, a one or two-day seminar would not be included on work experience in a CV. If the training or educational event has a certain prestige or lasts more than a week, then you might consider including it in the education section, but as anyone can attend a seminar, it will not give a huge indication as to your individual level of suitability for the role. You will certainly have more important information to share.

Design & Formatting Tips

The subject matter of your resume is ultimately what recruiters care about most. However, that doesnât mean you should slack off when it comes to design and formatting. A cluttered, visually confusing resume makes it more difficult to read, and therefore more likely that recruiters and hiring managers will cast it aside. On the other hand, a sleek, polished resume will have the opposite effect. Use these rules of thumb to ensure that your resume looks its best.

• Use an easy-to-read font of no less than 11 pt.
• Add margins of at least .7 inches.
• Make sure thereâs sufficient white space between sections.
• Donât go overboard with intricate design or decoration â touches of color are fine, but avoid any clashing or visually busy details.
• If youâre going to print out copies of your resume, invest in good paper and use a high-quality printer.
• Donât save your resume as a PDF unless the application specifically says it accepts PDF files. Some applicant tracking systems scan PDFs as if they were one big image, which fails to capture your information.
• Keep your resume to 1-2 pages max, unless youâre in a field like academia or medicine and must cite papers and publications.

Want some specific examples? You can find attractive and effective resume templates here and here.

You May Like: List Of Coursework

Add A Resume Summary Or Objective

After your contact information, you have the option to include either a resume summary or objective statement. An objective statement quickly explains your career goals and is a good choice for those with limited professional experience such as recent college or high school graduates. A resume summary is a short statement that uses active language to describe your relevant work experience and skills.

Work Experience On A Resume: What To Avoid

Always assume that your reader in this case, the hiring manager doesnt need anything explained. You also have very little room to ramble on your resume.

Free up some space by not including:

• What the organization does: your resume is about you. The hiring manager doesnt need to hear about the company.
• The basic requirements of your position: this is implied in your job title and will shine through your result-focused bullet points.
• Filler words: For the most part, save space by cutting out words like I and the.
• Anything irrelevant: If you have smaller responsibilities in a position that do not relate to the new job, leave them out. Every bullet point and every word takes up precious real estate on your resume – make them count.

If you are a recent graduate with little or no work experience, you can consider adding your GPAor cum laudeon your resume. As you acquire work experience over the years, you should replace your GPA or cum laude with relevant work experience.

Also Check: Is The Corvette Plant Open

What Is A Cv

A CV, which stands for curriculum vitae, is a document used when applying for jobs. It allows you to summarise your education, skills and experience enabling you to successfully sell your abilities to potential employers. Alongside your CV employers also usually ask for a cover letter.

In the USA and Canada CVs are known as résumés. These documents tend to be more concise and follow no particular formatting rules.

How Do You Write A Resume

The characteristics required for a successful CV profile frequently differ depending on the profession you choose to pursue. Therefore, prepare your resume profile by carefully reviewing the job description and tailoring it to the preferred skills, credentials, and experience that have been provided on the job posting page.

Scholars, who have to draft a resume for the first time often encounter this problem regarding how to write a resume? The answer is not so complicated. When examining resumes, the profile part of your CV is frequently the first piece that the hiring manager notices. However, hiring managers may only take a cursory look at a resume before rapidly moving on to the next one because they may be viewing numerous profiles in a short amount of time.

The resume profile should be good enough to allow them to capture their attention and persuade them to study the rest of the document. If you want to be seen by hiring managers, you should stress critical aspects of your qualifications for the position in a noticeable way.

Don’t Miss: How To Put Honors On Resume

Next Steps After Your Resume

Now that weve covered everything you need to know about how to create a resume, lets talk cover letters & interviews.

After all, your resume is only the first step in your job search. To really land that job you deserve, you also need to craft a killer cover letter, and ace that upcoming interview.

Going On And On And On And On And Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Mistake number four is being too long. This isnt a novel. Its a quick little blurb to catch their attention so they can bring you in for an interviewthen you can get into more detail!

EXAMPLE: Not going to put one here. Why? Because the example we were going to do was going to be so long and ridiculous that you and everyone else reading this post would just get bored and move onto another article. Just remember, its all about short and sweet. Anything over a sentence or two is TOO LONG. Remember that.

Recommended Reading: How To Make A Line In Word For Resume

Add Them To Your Resume Introduction

Hiring managers only have seconds to look at each resume.

One of the best ways to immediately grab their attention is by highlighting your relevant resume skills as quickly as possible. Thats where your resume introduction comes in handy.

A strong resume summary summarizes your most valuable skills at the top of the page. This immediately shows employers that you have the base qualifications necessary for the job.

Heres an example of a strong skills-based resume introduction:

Additionally, consider adding a list of core competencies to your resume to quickly communicate your most relevant skills.

What Not To Include In A Resume

Use your common sense when writing your resume. If you have been employed for many years and your career has evolved over time, knowing how to write a resume well means you will not include every role youve ever held, such as the casual retail position you had in high school or the captaincy of your social sporting team. Rather, use the limited space on your resume strategically by ensuring every line shows how you are relevant to the particular job youre applying for.

Similarly, if you have an advanced degree, few people are going to be concerned about the exams you took when you were 16 years old. Instead, only include training that is relevant to the position you are applying for.

Unless otherwise stated, you dont need to attach copies of certificates, qualifications or references. You should instead bring these to a job interview.

We also advise candidates to avoid listing their hobbies or interests. Focus instead on the experience and skills that make you suitable for the job youre applying for. The exceptions occur when you have limited relevant experience or if the employer specifically asks applicants to list hobbies. In these cases, keep it brief. Avoid anything that could be contentious, such as political affiliations, and instead show how your personality is suited to that of the organisation. For example, consider listing a hobby that requires expertise relevant to the role, such as organisational or communication skills.

Recommended Reading: How To Make A Resume On Photoshop

The Purpose Of A Resume

Your resume serves to introduce the relevancy of your skills, experience, qualifications and achievements to a recruiter and potential employer. A recruiter or employer may not spend longer than a few minutes reviewing your resume, so it should succinctly convey your most relevant achievements. If the reader thinks you are a suitable candidate for the role, your resume will have achieved its purpose an offer to attend an interview.

What Is The Best Profile Headline

Best Dating Profile Headlines: How to write a successful title

• YOULL NEVER BELIEVE WHY I MOVED TO ___.
• SEEKING SOMEONE TO DO ___ WITH.
• WILLING TO LIE ABOUT HOW WE MET.
• I AM SWEET, AMBITIOUS AND THOUGHTFUL.
• I SOLEMNLY SWEAR THAT I AM UP TO NO GOOD.
• LOOKING FOR MY NETFLIX & CHILL.

Read Also: Honors On Resume

Write A Matching Cover Letter

Now that you know how to write your dream resume, you might be wondering: is a cover letter necessary? The answer is yes, always include a cover letter if you have the option.

Knowing how to write a good cover letter helps you round out every application you ever send out, and boosts your chances of landing an interview.

Cover letters are a valuable tool in your job-hunting arsenal because they give you an opportunity to provide context to your resume, show off your personality, and express enthusiasm for the job youre applying for.

Heres an example of what a resume paired with a matching cover letter might look like :