Resumes and cover letters

Length. In current hiring practice, reviewers typically spend six or seven seconds reading through resumes so it’s essential to put your key skills up front, and be brief overall.

In a first draft, start by including all of your experience. Then, trim long sentences down to short statements, and reduce long paragraphs to bullet points. Ideally a resume is only one page, but two pages is fine for someone who’s worked in different jobs or has a lot of relevant work experience. (If you have a second page, just note your name and “Page 2” at the top of second page.)

Clean and easy to read. Use headings for resume section titles (see Resume samples). Use simple clean fonts such as Arial, Times Roman, or Calibri. For lists, use plain black dot bullets, and bars ( | ) to separate items in a section. Avoid other types of bullets as they may not be readable to an ATS. Also avoid using many commas as they make a resume difficult to read. Avoid using tables as formatting can get jumbled when the resume is scanned.

Customize resume to each job. You don’t have to revise your entire resume for every job, but it’s important to match the top third to each job posting. That includes your Professional Summary, Skills Summary, and Objective, if you use one. This is what employers scan first to determine if the resume is a fit for their needs.

Digital readiness. Most employers accept resumes via their online job application system or by email. When you send your resume, or before you hit the "submit" button for a job application, check the preview screen to make sure it’s accurate.

Review. Your resume should be free of errors, use simple, current language, be skills-focused, and target the specific job opening you are applying for. Ask friends or family to check your resume for these points, and contact your local American Job Center for professional feedback. 

CV. A Curriculum Vitae, or CV, is similar to a resume, but includes details about your educational background, teaching experience, professional presentations, research experience, and publications. A CV is considerably longer than a resume. CVs are mainly used to apply to academic jobs in colleges and universities.

The most common resume format is a “combination” resume that allows you to emphasize your skills and accomplishments and downplay the length of your career. Current resume formats typically use these sections in the following order; detailed suggestions for each section follow this tab:

1. Your contact information. 
2. Summary. Highlight your key strengths related to the job posting. An alternative is to list the job title you’re applying for and your years of experience (i.e. Physician Assistant, 15+ years’ experience”) if your work history relates closely to the job title you apply for. 
3. Professional Skills. Next, cluster your skills under three or four categories that are important to the open position. These may include leadership, teamwork, computer skills, communication skills, supervisory skills, and so on.
4. Work History. Briefly list your jobs from the past 10-15 years; for each job, include several key tasks with a couple of major accomplishments.
5. Education & Training.
6. Optional sections: A Volunteering section is optional, if you have relevant volunteer experience, include it. Volunteering with religious or politically based organizations should be left off unless it’s relevant to the particular job. A Professional Associations section may be helpful where membership is expected or an asset, or where you have a leadership position.

Contact information. At the top, include your name, phone number, email address, city, state, and ZIP code. Only include a label if you have a portfolio or efolio (such as “Efolio: https://...”). A street address is no longer included in contact information, typically. If possible, avoid using an email address from an early email provider such as Hotmail; employers may assume you are not current on technology.

Include your relevant social media accounts in the contact information section, especially the URL for your LinkedIn account. Be sure your LI profile is up to date, as potential employers are increasingly using this method to find and learn about job candidates. Avoid listing your birthdate or age.

Key Skills/Professional Skills section. Highlight your strongest skills for each job you apply for. Make this substantial and personal, including the specific skills you offer, with a brief description. Avoid using general or generic skills like “good communication”. Keep it relevant and sharp: avoid dumping out all your skills here.

Experts recommend you include exactly what the employer states they need and add one to three skills to reflect other strengths of yours. If writing is one of your skills, demonstrate it with polished language and presentation.

To get your resume past an ATS, it can help to express the same skill in two different ways. For example, list it in your key skills section, then mention it again in your work history.

Computer skills are important in nearly all jobs. Be sure to list your computer software knowledge and technology-related skills. Keep to the “recent and relevant” rule: reflect only skills from the last 10 or so years at most, and only use a separate technical skills section if you have at least 5-6 items to include.

Some resume experts recommend older workers include a technical skills section to counter any stereotypes about limited technology skills. If it seems helpful for the job opening, add your skills necessary for a remote work environment, such as experience using online meeting platforms like Zoom.

If a job calls for specific software skills, you could include your level. i.e. “Proficient in Microsoft Office suite”, “Experienced with Excel and pivot tables”.

If your technical skills are lacking, consider short classes you could take to quickly upgrade them. Platforms such as LinkedIn, GCF.org, and others offer free classes on basic technology skills and software such as Microsoft Office.

Include what is Recent, Relevant, and/or Adds Value. It’s worth spending a lot of time on this section.

Avoid listing unrelated experience or listing too much – since that may cause your resume to be discounted. Leave out irrelevant jobs you’ve held, especially from more than 15 years ago. 

Length of service. Consider using “15+ years” for very long-held jobs. What if you worked for a prestigious employer or did very related tasks earlier in your career? You could mention these in your Skills or Summary sections without dates; or add an “Other relevant experience” section and add the experience but leave off dates. If the company has since changed names, use the current name followed by prior name in parentheses (for example, “Delta Airlines, formerly Northwest Airlines”.)

Include dates of employment. Some employers (and most ATS systems) reject resumes that do not include dates for your work history. If you have gaps in your work history, keep in mind that 1) employers are more flexible about work gaps now than they used to be, and 2) the top 30% of your resume is where employers typically focus, so be sure to promote your skills and professional summary there. If you were promoted to different job titles within the same company, highlight that.

Responsibility descriptions. Aim for one line per task, definitely no more than two. Use a variety of action verbs to describe your tasks (see example resumes). Include numbers, data, facts, such as the number of: people you served, documents you produced, events you coordinated, or how much money you saved the organization, how large your budget was, etc.

Usually, four to five bullet points to describe each job should be enough. However, if you are applying for a job closely related to a past job, include more bullets to describe what you did.

Expert tip: Write the details of your work history and accomplishments to match as closely as possible to the list of responsibilities noted in the job postings you apply to.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are high priorities for many employers, so highlight relevant experience and knowledge you have in this area.

Level and type of education. Include the highest level of education you have completed, noting your degree or training program. Only include High School Diploma or equivalent if that is your highest level; be sure to include recent or current job training. If you've taken college courses but did not earn a degree, note it as: “College coursework, XYZ University”.

For ATS recognition, write out the degree, such as Associates of Arts or Bachelor of Science. If your major isn’t relevant, don’t include it. List the location of the education or training institution but leave off the year you finished unless it’s within the past five years.

Professional development. If you’ve taken significant professional training recently, or it’s important to list specific trainings for your job application, include a Professional Development section. However, if you did the training ten+ years ago and you’ve used it in your work since that time, don't list it.

In current job application practice, cover letters are often unnecessary. Because applications are typically given such a brief review, it’s important to target your resume to the job, and only include a cover letter if:

• an employer asks for a cover letter, or
• you need to provide context for your job application, or
• you were referred to the job by a contact; be sure to mention the person’s name

That said, it’s helpful to have a basic cover letter template ready to customize for a job opening when you do need it.

What should you include in a cover letter?

• They should be between half a page and a full page long
• Note two or three of your accomplishments and your strong interest in the position
• Mention your relevant soft skills such as reliability, willingness to learn new skills
• Something you learned about the organization from employer research, such as key projects or new products, trends or issues that impact the business
• How you might contribute to the success of a priority of the organization

View moredetailed cover letter recommendations.