Resume Tips

Your resume (or CV) is a document marketing your skills and experience with the aim of winning you an interview. To help you get a foot in the door with potential employers, we’ve put together some tips and advice to help you write a resume that gets you noticed.

Your resume should highlight your skills, qualifications and experience. Make sure you present the following details in a way that is easy to read and understand.

Names, Address, Phone and Email are all essential for employers or agents to contact you. Your date of birth, marital status, health status etc are all optional inclusions and you are not obliged to disclose any of these details on your resume.

List all the qualifications you have attained since leaving school.

List any professional accreditations you have attained and any additional training courses you have attended.

Think about the positions you are applying for and which of your skills are the most relevant. List the most appropriate skills in point form. It is also useful to include a list of any computer skills or software packages that you are familiar with.

This is most important part of your resume and the area that a prospective employer will focus on to try and ascertain how relevant your professional experience is.

  • List your positions in reverse chronological order. Include the COMPANY NAME (if it is not a well known company, it is useful to indicate the nature of the business or industry), DATES (and be specific e.g. March 2000 to September 2003) and your JOB TITLE
  • Next list down your responsibilities. Don’t assume that an employer automatically knows what the duties of your role were – jobs of a similar title can vary significantly.
  • It is also useful to include an ‘Achievements’ section for each role, where you list specific achievements in a role, career highlights or any additional skills gained. Any career progression should ALSO be emphasised. This section can be a very important selling point so take some time to think it through carefully.
  • Never have unexplained gaps in your CV. Try to explain what you were doing at the time – was it travel or taking additional training or simply pursuing personal interests?
  • Include more detail about your most recent roles – it is not necessary to list the detailed duties of a role you did 20 years ago!
  • If your resume is starting to get too long, summarise the more historical roles and simply put ‘further details are available on request.

This is an optional section and you should be selective about what you include. Avoid mention of religious or political affiliations but do try to include information on any hobbies that might be relevant to the position you are applying for – or perhaps you can demonstrate some kind of leadership or organisational ability.

Again, it is optional whether you enclose the details of your referees on your resume but if you do, bear in mind that you should notify your referees that they may be contacted by a prospective employer. Your referees should be work related and preferably, should be your direct supervisor who can comment adequately on your performance, skills and abilities. Personal referees or peers are not as valued for referee purposes. If you are a recent graduate, enclose an academic referee and a referee from any part-time work you may have undertaken.

  • The person who is reading it probably has limited time and most likely browses through hundreds of resumes – therefore your resume should be concise, clear and easy to read
  • Make use of bullet points – they are easier to read than blocks of text, while it can also force you to be more succinct
  • Do not mix your fonts and avoid excessive use of italics, bold, capitals and underlines. Be consistent with your layout
  • Avoid a cramped layout and use spacing to improve the readability of your resume
  • When you’re resume is finalised remember to run a spell check to avoid any spelling errors.

Your resume is an ever-evolving document, so take time to revise and refine it as often as necessary. This is the document that is selling you and your skills so the time that you spend in preparation will most certainly be time well spent. Remember, your resume is the gateway to your future career progression.

A word about your resume cover letter…

Don’t undo all your good work by sending a well laid out resume with a hurriedly written cover letter. Your cover letter should reference the job you’re applying for. Outlining your interest, brief relevant skills and experience and interest in obtaining an interview. Remember, your cover letter only needs to be brief and again – don’t forget to run spell check!