How to Write the Perfect Resume

Looking for a job? Nowadays, you will need an amazing resume to stand out from the crowd. The secret? It's all in the formatting.

What to Include in Your Resume

All resumes should include your name, current contact information, work experience, education, and skills. If you have other useful and relevant information to offer, then you should include that as well. For example, you may want to provide information about clubs you are a part of, awards you have won, or honor societies. Anything that will help you stand out that is also geared towards the job you want it useful.

Formatting Your Resume

Remember, you want the most relevant information about the job you are applying for to be upfront and stand out on your resume.

But first, let's focus on your name. You want your name to be the biggest words on your resume, so that your potential employers do not forget who you are. Make sure your name is at the top, and you may want to draw a line under your name across the page to make it stand it even more. You can even give your name some color, by changing the text to blue or some other pleasing color. However, this should be the only color on your resume, because more color will be too distracting.

Near or under your name you should include your contact information, such as your address, phone number, and email. In my resume, I have my name in big bold letters on the upper left corner, and my contact information text-wrapped around the bold shadowed line that separates my name from the rest of my resume.

Your first section on your resume should be your experience. You can do this two ways. Either you can list your experiences in chronological order, starting with the most recent, or you can list your experiences functionally, meaning list them in order of most relevant experience. Use bullet points to describe your job experience, and start each phrase with an active verb. Make sure to use at least two bullet points per experience.

The next section of your resume can be your skills section. List all your relevant skills in bullet points. Use two columns if you need to, but try to balance your list so you have the same number of bullet points in each column.

If you have any awards, you will want to format this section in a similar manner as your skills section. The same goes for clubs or organizations you are a part of.

Lastly, include your education section. Be sure to provide your institution, major, and year you graduated.

Try to have as much white space as possible in your resume. You do not want it to look to busy and overwhelming to read. Have your headings in all caps, indent each subheading and information under your heading, and use bullet points when possible. Also, try playing with bold and italics to vary your font and make your resume look more interesting. It helps to catch someone's attention and keep the whole resume more organized.