Appearance
- is inviting and easy to read; not too much information
- uses appropriate font styles and font sizes (10-14 pts.)
- incorporates enough white space between sections to facilitate skimming
- centers text, has adequate margins
- creates visual impact using bullets, boldface, underlining, italics, and font sizes to emphasize key words
Organization and Format
- appropriate format includes keyword phrases of profession
- presents strongest qualifications first
- is of appropriate length: 1 to 2 pages
Writing Style
- begins sentences or phrases with powerful action verbs
- short paragraphs mostly under five lines; short sentences
- brief, succinct language; no unnecessary words
- absolutely free from grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and usage errors
Content
Contact Information
- address, current and permanent (if necessary)
- telephone number(s) where you can be reached 9-5
- email to be reached at, but stay away from novelty addresses (cutegirl@hotmail.com, cookiemonster@yahoo.ca, etc)
Objective (Optional)
- briefly indicates the position you are applying for and the organization
- language is specific, employer centered not self-centered; avoids broad or vague statements
Summary of Skills, Accomplishments, or Expertise
- identifies 3-6 key achievements that support the objective
- summarizes relevant work experience and accomplishments that support the objective
Education and Training
- highest level of attainment is listed first; work from most current degree backward
- name of university, location of university, date of graduation or anticipated date
- list of other degrees, relevant higher education coursework, continuing professional education or training courses, and study abroad
- major, minor, or areas of concentration
- omit high school if you have completed more than two years of university unless referencing impressive honours or relevant extracurricular activities
- relevant courses, papers, projects; include paper or project titles · GPA, honours, awards, scholarships
Employment Experience
- Include all paid, volunteer, intern, or cooperative education experiences that are relevant to your objective.
- Start with most recent experience if using chronological format.
- title held, organization name, city, province, dates position held; if several positions for one employer, list employer once
- responsibilities listed in order of each item's relative value to the future employer; indicate transferable skills and adaptive abilities used on the job
- accomplishments on your job; what problems did you face? What solutions did you find?
- contributions to the organization, i.e., ways your work helped increase profit, membership, publicity, funding, motivation, efficiency, productivity, quality; saved time or money; improved programs, management, communication, information flow etc.
- quantitative or qualitative indicators that describe the results of your contributions or accomplishments, i.e., "increased sales by $50,000"; "reduced staff turnover by 25%"; "significantly improved staff ability to access data"
- learning that took place on the job that is relevant to your job objective (optional)
- describe accomplishments in jargon of the field
Skills
- computer skills: software applications, languages, hardware, operating systems
- language skills: specific level of fluency and ability to read and write as "basic," "intermediate," or "advanced"
- other
Extracurricular Activities, Community Service, Professional Associations
- list of significant positions of responsibility; include title, name of organization or team, dates
- leadership roles, achievements, and transferable skills that are relevant
- include hobbies and personal interests only if they are relevant
