A résumé is the ultimate marketing tool. It introduces your education, experience, and achievements to potential employers. You need a résumé (a good résumé) because it’s the first glimpse a potential employer will have of you. It’s also what employers use to see if you’re suitable for an interview. Whether you’ve never written a résumé before, or you’re revising one that you’ve used for years, here are some tips to help you along the way.

Which format should you use?

Many of us are most familiar with a chronological résumé (the kind where you start with your current work experience and go back in time). While the chronological résumé may work fine for people with a long list of work experience in their chosen field, it may not work well for everyone.

College students may prefer to use a functional résumé. This type of résumé allows for a variety of headings that relate specifically to varied experiences like work, projects, research, leadership, and more. Be sure to list the sections on your résumé in order of importance to your objective. Keep in mind that although many résumé templates exist, these templates may be a challenge to let you present your information the way you’d like to. You can easily create your own template by creating a two-column table in Word.

Sections to include

You can add different sections based on the field or industry you’re applying to, but these are essential:

1. Heading: Your name, address, phone number, email, web address (but only if it’s a professional website with your résumé and project information — no spring break pictures!)
    
2. Objective: Tell the reader why you’re sending them this résumé. Don’t talk about your life goals or use ambiguous phrases that suggest you’ll take any job.
    
3. Education: List your degree(s), major, minors, institution, location (city and province), and your expected graduation date. If you have more than one degree, list your current degree first. This section can also include your GPA, a study abroad experience, and selected courses that relate very specifically to the job you’re seeking.
    
4. Experience: I prefer the word “experience” to “employment” because some of our best experiences may not have been ones we were paid for! List your experiences in reverse chronological order starting with your current or most recent and work backward. If you have a particular experience that you’d like to highlight and it’s not your most recent, create a separate heading such as “Related Experience” or even give it a specific name (for example, “Working Overseas”). Then you can have another section called “Additional Experience” for everything else.
    
5. Skills: List computer, laboratory, language or other skill sets that will support your objective.
    
6. Honors /Activities: This could be a combined section or these headings could be listed separately Highlight leadership roles. Choose these items carefully and list only college level honor or activities: with rare exceptions. One such exception would be having earned the Eagle Scout Award.

Do not include references on your résumé or even the phrase “References Available Upon Request.” You will need to create a separate reference page which will include names and contact information for three or four professional references. Current or former employers and faculty members are good choices. If you have a LinkedIn profile (and you should), professional blog or website, be sure to provide hyperlinks. (Employers will be googling you anyway.) Good luck!

Amy F.McPherson is associate director of VT Career Services.