Common Resume Issues

WORDING/ DESCRIPTIONS:

 Bullets are too short…..use the entire line to ‘give yourself credit’ for what you did.
 Bullet points should show how you added value. Quantify experiences if possible (Increased sales by
10%). Answer the question – “So What?” Show transferrable skills and accomplishments. How could
your work in this job be useful to the next job?
 Reconcile your formal name and any derivation/nickname that you go by.
 Scope statements/Job descriptions need work.
 Degree = Bachelor of Science, Business Administration (every student earns the same degree)
 If listing foreign languages, include English among your languages (they won’t know proficiency even
though your document is written in English).
 Avoid use of same verbs in adjacent bullets. Use descriptive action verbs at the beginning of each line.
 Don’t deviate from marketing yourself (e.g. when citing an award, give a description of the criteria for
earning it). If you have room, describe your leadership or volunteer experiences instead of just listing.
 Writing an “Objective” is optional. If included- should not be vague. Indicate seeking internship/ full
time position, industry, and when you are available to begin (ex. summer 2017).

FORMATTING ISSUES

 Experiences should be listed in reverse chronological order.

 Font size on name can be larger than rest of resume (which should all be same size, 10-12pt).
 Dates should be aligned, not tabbed over and hanging in space.
 Correct/ Make Uniform -letter styles (capitalizations, bold, italics).
 With multiple Dean’s List recognitions, don’t list each one; just put: “Dean’s List, multiple recipient”
 All font should be black, no pictures.
 If experience is over, verbs should be past tense. If still working there, present tense.
 Make sure all sections are aligned properly/uniformly.
 Make sure all hyphens ( - ) are the same, with identical spacing before and after.
 Do not use personal pronouns (his, her, their, my, I, them, they)
 For numerals 1-9, spell out. Numbers 10+ can be numeric.
 There should be a ‘+1’ before the area code in the contact information if looking for int’l position.
 Spell out street names and words. (States and Country can be abbreviated.) Avoid ampersands.
 If only one major, take the ‘s’ off the word ‘majors’.
 Minimum page margins- .5” all around.