Resumes, CVs & Cover Letters
Resumes
A resume is a snapshot of your professional experiences and skills that will evolve as you focus on your career goals and gain more experience. Check out these top three resources to help build a strong resume:
An exceptional resume is key to the professional realm and you can submit yours to the annual Whitman Resume Challenge!
The average recruiter or hiring manager spends 6 seconds reviewing a resume. Check out this resume guide that goes more in depth into how to meet criteria to make your resume as compelling as possible.
The top 6 factors in determining whether your resume moves to the next step in the process are:
- Formatting – organization and clarity are crucial in communicating your fit for the position
- Appropriateness for Role – study the job description to identify relevant skills and requirements that you can use to convey your strengths
- Evidence of Impact – take the opportunity to present relevant skills through accomplishments aligning to the role and any impactful involvement you have outside of class
- Job History – consider your job history and create a connection of experiences to explain the alignment of your career past with the position
- Content – ensure that content relates to the job and effectively communicates impact
- Complimentary Online Presence – sync your resume with your LinkedIn profile to show engagement and consistency in efforts. Use online presence to share additional content that may not be focused for your paper resume but does demonstrate your abilities.
Source: Glassdoor, August 2, 2017 “This is Exactly What Hiring Managers and Recruiters Look for When Scanning Resumes”
If you do not yet have a resume, or don't know where to begin, take a look at these three common layouts that you can use to get started. Be sure to personalize them to fit your needs and experience:
Industry-specific resumes highlight specific, relevant and tailored content. Here are sample resumes based on industry to help you create your own:
- Art and Design Resume
- Business Resume
- Computer Science Resume
- Creative Arts Resume
- Data Science Resume
- Education Resume
- Environmental Studies Resume
- First-Year Resume
- Government and Politics Resume
- Leadership Resume
- Marketing & Communications Resume
- Media and PR Resume
- Non-Research Science Resume
- Performing Arts Resume
- Pre-Health Resume
- Research Science Resume
These additional resources and tools can help you build strong resumes, cover letters, and CVs:
- Resume Checklist - Provides a brief outline for the construction and content of a resume
- The Reference Page - Need to provide a list of references? This PDF gives a brief guide on creating one.
- Resume Do's and Don'ts - Make your resume strong by avoiding some common mistakes.
- Resume Deep Dive - Use this thorough resume guide to help you construct your resume and build out your content.
- Resume Builder spreadsheet and video tutorial - This is a great resource to begin building a strong resume.
Do you have language skills that you want to include on your resume or CV? View the Interagency Language Roundtable webpage to assess your level of proficiency on the scale used by government agencies, including the Peace Corps, the State Department, and many more. If applicable, use the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CERF) webpage to assess your level of proficiency on the scale used by the Council of Europe.
Experience-Specific Examples
From athletics to Greek life to thesis research, if you have had a specific experience that you would like to highlight on your resume, check out these examples. More examples coming soon...
Athletic Leadership & Involvement
Cover Letters
A cover letter often serves multiple purposes, mainly to tell your professional story and provide a more detailed explanation of your skills and experiences.
A great cover letter is both informative and interesting to the reader. Do not send one generic cover letter to multiple employers. If you want to catch the attention of their hiring team, you must take the time to tailor your cover letter to each organization you are applying.
Remember: proofread, proofread, proofread. Your cover letter demonstrates your writing skills; make sure it is grammatically sound and free of spelling mistakes. Schedule a Cover Letter review with the CCEC Career team via Handshake.
Here are some helpful resources to help you write a cover letter:
Curriculum Vitae
Also called a CV or vita, in the United States the curriculum vitae is used almost exclusively for academic professions and applying to graduate school. For in-person guidance regarding your CV, make an appointment with a Center staff member via Handshake.
"The most noticeable difference between CVs and most resumes is the length. Entry-level resumes are usually limited to a page. CVs, however, often run to three or more pages. (However... you should try to present your information concisely.)... While the goal of a resume is to establish a professional identity, the goal of a CV is to create a scholarly one. Thus your CV will need to reflect your abilities as a teacher, researcher, and publishing scholar within your discipline."
-Source: Purdue OWL (10.28.2010)
When an employer does request references, include them on a separate piece of paper with current contact information of three to five persons who have agreed to provide recommendations for you. Visit this resource for more information on reference pages.