RESUME GUIDE

Write your resume with one goal: to be invited to the next stage of the recruitment process.
Each resume should be written with a specific job or role in mind so that you can tailor your
experience and skills to meet the requirements of the vacancy and organisation. This will
increase your chances of getting to the next stage. A resume is seeking to answer the
question: ‘Why are you the most suitable candidate for this position in our company?’

Think of your resume as a professional bid for work. It is a brief document that outlines your
relevant qualifications, experience, skills and achievements which match the requirements of a role. The
intention is not to have a long document detailing everything you have done but rather curate the information
that is most relevant to the opportunity you are applying for. It is often your first chance to make a good
impression and should be clear, concise, easy to read and well formatted.

Resume or CVs?

Historically, resumes are shorter documents than a curriculum vitae (CV). This distinction is no longer
relevant, and now the terms are used interchangeably in Australia but can still vary overseas.

Ideal Length

Most Australian hiring managers prefer to view a 2 or 3 page resume relative to the amount of experience you
have. Organisations may specify the length of the resume in the job advertisement so make sure to follow
any direct instructions. The length of a resume varies between industries so research preferences in each
sector to know what is expected of you. For example, management consulting firms and investment banks
will generally prefer to receive a one-page resume.

You Have 30 Seconds to Make a Good Impression

The formatting and layout of your resume is an opportunity to showcase the information you think is most
important to the role you are applying for. You want to make it easy to find the information that is important
and highlights your individual strengths and experiences. A well formatted resume can also demonstrate
attention to detail, preparation, research and your communication skills.

Think Like a Recruiter

When writing your resume, consider the perspective of the hiring
manager or recruiter. An advertised role can receive 100-400
applications and will first look at the critical criteria, which will vary
by role but may include: work rights (citizenship, permanent
residency or visa type), graduation dates or course progression, and
in some cases, academic achievement (WAM or ATAR).

They then spend an average of 30 seconds scanning the resume for

key information including qualifications, experience and
achievements. This is where the formatting and readability of your
document is essential to make sure they can quickly find the information they need to decide on the outcome of the
application. If they identify information and experiences that are relevant to the role in those first 30 seconds, they will
spend more time going through the details of the resume.

Resume Structure

While there are always exceptions, a well-structured resume is typically comprised of the following sections:
• Name and Contact Details
• Headline, Summary or Profile
• Education or Qualifications
• Professional Experience (Relevant Experience or Other Experience)
• Key Projects or Academic Projects
• Additional information such as Languages, Certifications, Professional Development, Professional
Memberships, Academic Achievements, Publications, Interests and Referees

Headline

Immediately under your name and contact details, you could include a ‘headline’ similar to your LinkedIn profile.
A headline consists of two or three key word descriptors highlighting your capabilities that also captures your key
experience and goals in a single line. This is a quick way to communicate your suitability for a role and your value
proposition.

Examples

Bachelor of Commerce | Society President | NFP Volunteer

Finance and Accounting | Sales and Customer Service | Entrepreneurship
Business Operations | Stakeholder Management | Insurance Sector Expertise

Summary or Profile

The summary is a brief statement that states your experience and expertise relevant to the vacancy. A summary
serves a useful purpose for the reader to outline your recent academic and career milestones and clearly articulate
your capability or potential for the role in more detail than a headline. This is a good opportunity to draw attention
to your achievements and define your motivation for applying for the role and organisation. A summary should be
limited to two or three lines or bullet points ensuring everything is easy to read, factual and relevant. They should
have a good sense of who you are and what you are offering from the headline or summary.

Education or Qualifications

This section may appear after your ‘Summary’ section or on the last page of your resume. Consider what
information you want to prioritise for each job application. When applying for graduate jobs or internships, this
section will typically appear on the first page.

List your qualifications, including your current studies, in order of the most recent qualification first. State the
qualification and the educational institution, and the year you graduated. If you are still studying, state the
expected completion month and year.

You can also include:

• Relevant research, course-work projects, or thesis titles
• Prizes or scholarships
• Your WAM or GPA is optional, but you may wish to highlight your academic achievements (Organisations may
specify in the job advert to include this so be sure to follow any specific instructions)

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Experience

You can use one general heading or multiple sub-headings for various categories depending on their relevance to the
role such as:
• Professional Experience
• Internships
• Relevant Projects
• Additional Experience
• Volunteer or Extra-Curricular Experience
List your current or most recent role first and then your previous roles in
PRO-TIP
reverse chronological order under the relevant section. For each role, list
If you have international experience, the organisation, your position title and dates in each role (month and year).
you may wish to specify the country Do not include experiences which don’t add value or are quite old.
for each role.

Achievement Statements

Achievement statements are one sentence statements demonstrating your responsibilities and achievements in
the role. You don’t need to list all your responsibilities and achievements, consider the skills that are most relevant
to the role you are applying for.
Try to utilise the following formula: Action verb + task + outcome/purpose.

For example:
Engaged with customers to provide products to meet their needs resulting in higher sales.
Trained 5 new staff on store operations to ensure consistency in quality of service delivery.

Company Name Jan 2018 – Nov 2019

Customer Support Coordinator
• Achievement statement 1
• Achievement statement 2
• Achievement statement 3

Please refer to the following table for more examples of words to use to build your achievement statements.

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Quantify your results

Where possible, make each bullet point a quantifiable description of your key achievements. The most effective
and credible resumes include bullet points that contain facts, figures and percentages.

Aim to be specific and unique. Differentiate yourself from other candidates by focusing on how you made an
impact. Be specific about what you did to improve, achieve and deliver. For example, ‘Implemented a client referral
system that resulted in a 10% increase in sales in the last 12 months.’

Focus on you, not the team

Focus on the impact you made – even if you worked as a part of a team. Indicate what part you played and
specifically how you significantly added value. Avoid using ‘we.’ Instead you could state ‘As part of a team, I...’

Tailor to the role

The professional experience section in your resume is a great place where you can tailor your document for a
specific vacancy. Describe your achievements to best match the requirements of the role for which you are
applying. Your bullet points should demonstrate your most relevant experience, knowledge, skills and your ability
to perform at the level of the vacancy. For example, if you are applying for a leadership role and you have not
formally been in a team leader or managerial role, some of your first points could reframe your achievements in
terms of leading a project, mentoring or training staff, influencing a key business decision, or outlining your
experience in stakeholder relationship management.

Technical and transferable skills

You can be quite specific in your achievement statements and detail the technical skills you used or gained in the
role. For example, ‘Generated monthly sales reports using Xero and created automated dashboards to calculate
commissions for the sales team.’

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Full Stops

There is no need to use full stops or semi colons (;) at the end of each bullet point.

Acronyms

Avoid acronyms that may be unclear to the reader outside of your industry by using the full name or title. Put the
acronym in brackets immediately after the first use of the full name or title, and then use the acronym going forward.

Words to Avoid

Avoid generic statements such as ‘implemented business solutions aligned with company goals’ and vague words
such as ‘many’, ‘several’, ‘various’ or ‘range of’. Include key examples of your projects and make every word in your
document meaningful. Think about your word choice and the impression it will leave on the reader. You want your
resume to stand out from other applicants, so avoid generic statements that are likely to appear on other applicants
resumes.

Present Tense or Past Tense?

Use present tense for your current role and past tense for all previous roles.

Verbs

Start each bullet point with an active verb e.g. ‘Managed’, ‘Investigated’, ‘Designed,’ ‘Delivered’ or another verb that
accurately reflects what you did.

Use the table of verbs to provide diversity in your resume:

Achieve Examine Pilot Acquire Exceed

Advocate Plan Advise Extend Administer
Facilitate Present Analyse Forecast Approve
Formulate Promote Assess Find Brief
Gather Provide Build Generate Calculate
Guide Recommend Capitalise Identify Clarify
Inspire Reduce Coach Implement Collaborate
Improve Research Complete Increase Conduct
Influence Resolve Construct Initiate Consult
Inspect Review Control Instruct Coordinate
Integrate Secure Create Interpret Decide
Interview Shape Decrease Introduce Define
Investigate Sell Deliver Launch Demonstrate
Lead Structure Design Maintain Detect
Manage Supervise Develop Market Diagnose
Maximise Test Direct Mentor Edit
Monitor Transform Eliminate Motivate Ensure
Negotiate Visualise Establish Organise Evaluate
Participate Win Pioneer Prepare Produce
Propose Rationalise Recruit Reorganise Replace
Restructure Save Select Simplify Streamline
Strengthen Survey Train Verify Write

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Additional Information

You may choose to include additional sections to highlight other relevant information. Any information in the
additional sections tend to be a point of differentiation from other candidates and possibly a conversation starter at
interview.
Select the most appropriate headings to match your career and personal information. Ensure any information included
in the additional sections is reasonably recent (preferably the last two to three years) or exceptional in its nature (e.g.
playing sport at a high level). Some examples are listed below:

Work Rights

This section is particularly relevant for international students or anyone wishing to work in another country. Work
rights is a critical criterion for many roles. Be honest and clear. If your residency application is still in
progress, include that.

Languages

List your languages and your level of proficiency e.g. English (native speaker), German (fluent), French
(conversational), Spanish (basic). If relevant, include an IELTS score to indicate your English language skills if you are
from a non-English speaking background.

Certifications

If you have other qualifications such as trade or industry-recognised certificates and accreditations that could be
considered favourably by the hiring manager, you can include this information here.

Professional Development

List any recent and relevant training that you have completed. Indicate the name and length of the course, the year of
completion and the name of the provider or employer.

Memberships

This refers to professional memberships of relevant associations or accrediting bodies (not gym memberships).
Include the name of the professional association, your membership level and the year/s of membership.
Memberships may also include office bearer roles or active membership in student clubs and societies at university.
Name the club in full (avoid acronyms), your position and the year/s of involvement.

Your leadership qualities can be demonstrated through your activities, personal, sporting and community interests.

Academic Achievements

Your key academic achievements should be listed under ‘Education’ where the hiring manager will read them in the
context of your degree. However, if you have an extensive and exceptional set of academic achievements, you may
choose to have a separate section. This could include scholarships or academic achievements, such as being named
on the Dean’s Merit List. Focus on your most recent academic achievements.

Awards

Entries may include outstanding awards from your work organisation or industry. You may also include awards for
elite sporting achievements or awards recognising community involvement, such as charity and fundraising activities.
To make the entries credible, provide the precise wording of the award, the institution and the year/s of recognition.

Volunteer Experience

List the specific organisation, your role and provide the year/s of your involvement. Be specific, for example, simply
writing ‘Mentoring’ is too vague.

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Examples could include:
• ‘Ashfield District SES Volunteer crew, 2016 - 2019’
• ‘Fundraising with Save the Children Fund for people impacted by Nepal earthquake 2015’
• ‘Developed a market analysis and sustainability plan for Sustaintech, MBA without Borders project, 2017’
• ‘Regular attendance at Toastmasters in Randwick and Bondi Junction, 2017-present’

Publications

If relevant, list the papers or other publications you have written. Include the title, publication and year.

Interests

This section gives a glimpse of your personality and a sense of what you do outside of work and study. Your interests
may have already been covered by any of the other optional suggested headings. Interests are limitless, and could
include travel, creative and artistic past-times, intellectual pursuits and fun activities or hobbies.

Try to avoid generic descriptions such as ‘socialising with friends and family’, ‘shopping’ and ‘watching movies’. The
more you can substantiate an interest, the more credible you will appear.

Examples could include:

• ‘Mentor five young people from disadvantaged backgrounds through a Youth Mentoring program
Perspectives on Life at Eastwood Community Centre, 2016 - present’
• ‘Led fortnightly guided tours of natural bushland with South Sydney Bushwalking Club, 2015 - 2018’
• ‘Trekked to Nepal Base Camp, August 2016’
• ‘Sydney City to Surf race, achieving personal best time in most recent event, entrant 2013 - 2018’
• ‘Salsa dancing, soccer, photography’

Referees

This section often indicates the end of your resume. Depending on space limitations and your current situation, you
have a few different options as to what to provide:
1. ‘Available upon request’; or
2. Provide Name, position, organisation, with ‘Contact details available upon request’; or
3. Provide Name, position, organisation, phone and email

Always have three to four possible referees who can comment on your relevant professional work competencies and
experience if required. Friends or business acquaintances who can provide personal references are not as useful to a
hiring manager. Keep your referees informed of your job application progress and send them your updated resume.

Need to fill the page?

If you are struggling to fill a page, include more points for your current or most recent roles. Demonstrate your
capabilities, indicate strategies you have implemented to improve outcomes and clarify any management or team
leadership experience. Include entries under the ‘Additional Information’ section that indicate your personal
achievements and interests.

Need to reduce to your resume?

If your resume is too long, reduce the number of points and possibly the number of ‘Additional Information’ sections.
For your more current roles, craft a bullet point each for the strongest four to six achievements. Reduce the number of
bullet points for previous and less relevant roles. It is not necessary to list every task undertaken in each role. Points
that detail similar achievements can be collapsed into one point. Your earliest roles can be omitted from the one-page
resume. Be selective and only include the most recent and relevant information.

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 Jie Li
0499 999 099 | sample@gmail.com | linkedin.com/Sample | Kensington NSW

CAREER PROFILE

• Final year, distinction average Bachelor of Commerce student (majors: Finance and Accounting)
• Conducted financial reviews, analyses, and reporting at KPMG Shanghai and UNSW
• Leadership applied through managing service operations at Macleay Hotel, Sydney

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Commerce (Finance and Accounting) 2018 - expected Nov 2020

UNSW Sydney
• Distinction average | High Distinction average for finance subjects

UNSW Foundation Year 2017

• GPA: 9.6/10 | Elected as class representative

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

Student Centre, UNSW Sydney Jan 2019 - Current

Administration Team Intern
• Analysed budgets and identified inefficiencies in daily operations; reported key findings to management
• Reviewed the website content and structure prior to update; ensuring efficiency in transition
• Developed monthly unit financial reports, highlighting recent changes when notifying management

KPMG, Shanghai Office Dec 2018 - Jan 2019

Audit Vacationer
• Led a team of 5 interns to conduct an analytical review of audit documentation for a key client
• Fostered and maintained effective relationships with clients and colleagues
• Reviewed and reported on client accounts and operations daily using advanced Excel analysis
• Prepared financial statement reports and documentation for 50+ clients from diverse sectors
• Completed a 3-day professional training program: client management, negotiation and audit best practice

ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE

Market Guide, Sydney Jun 2017 - Jan 2018

Sales Representative
• Promoted financial software that provided summaries and prediction of stock and forex markets
• Provided after sales support, guiding clients to improve utilisation and, value-upselling when appropriate

Macleay Hotel, Sydney Nov 2016 - Jun 2017

Hotel Site Team Leader
• Trained and supervised over 30 staff members in customer service, operations, and safety procedures
• Collaborated to design and implement a new operating procedure, increasing productivity of the team
• Scheduled rosters considering peak periods and oversaw the payroll of 15 staff members
• Promoted to Site Supervisor after 4 months due to improved operations and high customer satisfaction

EXTRACURRICULAR INVOLVEMENT

Arc, UNSW Sydney Jun 2019 - Current

Fundraising Team Officer
• Co-organised 4 events with guest speakers raising awareness and funding for ‘One Girl’
• Designed promotional material using InDesign, and marketed through targeted mail and social media
• Engaged the community with a total of 350 guest attendees and $5,000 raised

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 UNSW Sydney Mar 2018 - Current
Leadership Program
• Undertook training in leadership, promotion, and global-citizenship through a 4-day workshop
• Led tours of 20 new students around campus providing key information and answering queries
• Facilitated student transition into university and increased engagement
• Reached social media targets of 15,000 Facebook Likes (an 11% increase)

UNSW Sydney Jul 2018

Professional Development Program
• Completed an intensive 3-day training course in business communication, customer service skills, networking
skills and employer expectations in the Australian workplace

Language Exchange Program Jun 2017 - Nov 2017

UNSW Sydney
• Met weekly with a diverse group of students; teaching Mandarin and learning Spanish
• Gained further insight into cultural differences and built networks

TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Microsoft Office suite – utilised Excel at KPMG to communicate data-analyses with team and clients
• SAP (Payroll Software) – trained in and utilised at Macleay Hotel
• MYOB (Accounting Software) – completed online training course

INTERESTS

• Piano – level 2, played for 10 years

• Spanish language – intermediate level

REREFEREES

Details available on request

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 Lucy Carter
12 Higgins Crescent, Eastwood, NSW
0481 517 508
L.Carter@email.com.au

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Economics (Economics) and Science (Psychology) Mar 2018 - Present

University of New South Wales
• Achieved a Distinction average in Psychology subjects

Higher School Certificate 2017

Sydney Girls High School

EMPLOYMENT

Sales Assistant Nov 2017- Present

Lacoste
• Worked efficiently as part of a team of 15 to ensure that customer needs were met throughout the busy
holiday season
• Consistently achieved and exceeded sales targets with my team
• Due to consistent performance, my work contract was extended from Christmas Casual to Permanent casual staff

Market Research Interviewer Nov 2018-Mar 2019

Woolcott Research
• Conducted interviews and surveys via face%to%face and computer assisted telephone interviewing across a wide
range of issues and topics for the company's clients
• Asked questions in accordance with instructions to obtain various specified information, such as person’s name,
address, age or religious preference
• Reviewed data obtained from interview for completeness and accuracy
• Explained survey objectives and procedures to interviewees and interpret survey questions to help interviewees’
comprehension
• Compiled, recorded and coded results or data from interview or survey using computer or specific form
• Identified and reported problems in obtaining valid data

Casual Sales Assistant Jan 2016-Nov 2017
The Max Joy Co.
• Provided excellent customer service and generated consistent positive reviews and feedback
• Demonstrated a strong work ethic and organisation skills by constantly providing fast and friendly service to over
100 customers per shift
• Maintained stock levels and inventory reducing need for inter-store transfers

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Student Consultant Jul 2019-Present

UNSW Microfinance Consulting Group
• Worked within a team of four to solve practical business case studies
• Utilised consulting frameworks to analyse a client’s business and provide recommendations for changes

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Relations Director May 2019-Present
UNSW Psychology Society
• Lead a team of subcommittee members and worked towards generating initiatives for career events targeted
towards psychology students
• Liaised with various corporate firms and psychology clinics for the Real Careers Fair networking event
• Prepared agendas for weekly subcommittee meetings

Events Subcommittee Nov 2018-Nov 2019

UNSW Advertising and Public Relations Society
• Worked closely with other committee members to organise events, which gave
university students an opportunity to participate and learn more about the advertising industry
• Successfully contacted and secured clients including Westpac and IBM to collaborate with the society for career
workshops and events
• Managed a small team of 5 subcommittee members and worked together to plan events

TECHNICAL SKILLS

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook) – Advanced

• IBM SPSS - Intermediate
• Rstudio (Statistical Computing Software) - Basic

REFEREES

Referee Details provided upon request.

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