Tailor your résumé for the internship or job that you want
“That doesn’t mean redoing your whole résumé over and over. It also means that you’re not supposed to use AI to write it for you. Tailor it toward what they tell you they’re looking for in the job description.”
Quantify your achievements
“If you have numbers for how many people you managed or how many people you oversaw, include them. If you improved anything or helped speed up a process, include a truthful number. If you’re not quite sure the exact number, round it with phrases like up to or approximately.”
Use the Bauer format
“We worked hard to design a résumé format that’s a fillable Word document that you can then lock into a PDF. It’s usually what recruiters are looking for. They’re familiar with it. Don’t add any other spaces. Keep it clear and concise.”
Keep your résumé one page
“Your résumé only needs to be one page unless you have more than 10 years of work experience. Then you can have two pages.”
Use action verbs
“Use words like led, analyzed, implemented, designed, coordinated or helped to start the bullets on your résumé.”
Lead with impacts, not duties
“Don’t say things like I did ‘______.’ You could say you increased engagement by 20 percent instead of saying you were responsible for social media engagement.”
Avoid fancy graphics, tables and unusual fonts and colors
“Keep your résumé in black and white. The font should be Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri. We usually prefer somewhere between font 11 or 12, and your name can be the largest thing on your résumé, but not too large.”
Proofread it
“Make sure that if you use periods throughout your résumé, the periods are consistently through it. Make sure the dashes between dates are either short or long. Make sure it’s consistent. Double check for any missing words. Make sure your dates are aligned correctly. Do a spell check.”
Include relevant skills
“In the skills and certificate section, include language proficiency, technical skills, or software skills that you could use toward the job or your major. If you don’t have a lot of skills, that’s fine. It’s OK to have soft skills in there, but you don’t have to list like attention to detail, worked in a fast-paced environment or good communicator because all that is reflected in your bullets.
Don’t worry about the white space if this is your first or second semester at Bauer. Your résumé having white space is not a bad thing.”
Don’t agonize over your résumé
“It’s just a tiny sort of drop in the bucket for who you are. They look at your résumé for about 5 to 6 seconds at the Career Fair and when they’re scanning them. Just make sure it’s you, it’s truthful and don’t agonize over how long it takes to put it together.”
