Develop Your Resume Guide
This guide will help you build a new resume or improve your current resume. Please review the
Career Services website to access services that can help you refine your resume for use in
your job search.
Craft a Resume : Using the information from the job description for a career of interest, craft a
resume that tailors your personal experience, skills and education to the needs of the
employer.
● Make sure to follow the formatting guidelines covered in this course.
● Use the samples in the video, and the “Resume Formatting Options, ” “Resume
Samples: Chronological and Modified Chronological,” “Action Verbs” and “Transferable
Skills” handouts to help you.
● Do not submit a resume without tailoring it to the job description!
● Do not use a pre-formatted template. You should be able to fol low the formatting
suggestions easily with your word processing software.
● Use the checklist and rubric below to make sure you are following the criteria for
best practices in resume development:
Job Description
Is a job related to program pathway
Key phrases and words are highlighted
Resume Heading
Includes name, email and phone number
Name is in a bigger font size
Objective
(optional)
Includes the job title and company name (example: Help Desk
Support Technician at Intel)
No more than one line long
Clear and unambiguous, not grand vague ideas
● YES -”Summer internship in medical coding”
● NO-”Role using my passion for technology and
helping people through my ability to solve other’s
technical issues.”
Education
At the top of the resume, below the objective
Includes program you are enrolled in (such as Certificate of
Competency in Introduction to Cybersecurity (Security+).
Capitalization of name of program(s) and institution(s)
Must include expected completion month and year
Does not include high school information
Relevant
Coursework
(optional)
The course titles must be written out, not the abbreviation
and number (example: “Macroeconomics”, not “ECON 55”).
Should be relevant courses to objective, not all courses taken
Skills, Skills
Summary or
Summary of
Qualifications
Related to the job description with at least two bullet points
are clearly connected to qualifications listed on description
Ordered left to right, top to bottom by relevance to job
Experience
Can include both paid and unpaid experiences
Each job entry must include job title, company name, dates
(month and year), city/state (written as City, CA; for example
“Berkeley, CA”)
Each job entry must have at least 2-3 bullet points per
position, but not more than 5 -7
Each bullet point begins with an Action Verb (for example
“Develop”)
Not full sentences- No “I” or “we.”
Tense agreement in verbs (current job may be in present or
past tense, but all previous jobs should be consistent in
tense). Does not use “ing” - Use “Manage” or “Managed” NOT
“Manag ing”
Reverse chronological or modified reverse chronological
order
Most bullet statements should be 1line long (It is ok if a few
statements go to 2 lines)
Choice of tasks, skills and wording used highlight transferable
experience and relevant skills as related to the job
description.
Activities,
Community
Service,
Leadership, etc.
(optional)
Includes organization name, location, dates (month, year),
role or officer title ( example: Treasurer, Emergency Room
Volunteer, etc.)
Must be repeated involvement, not a one -time event.
YES: served meals at shelter every week for summer
NO: served meals once at shelter
Spelling, Grammar,
Punctuation
No errors. Standard punctuation is optional in a resume, but
usage is consistent
Rubric
Developing
●
●
●
●
●
Heading is mis s ing
name, email or phone
number
Name in heading is
s ame font s ize as rest
of res ume
Objective does not
meet s tandards
outlined in lecture
(long, or mis s ing
company name or job
title)
E ducation s ection
mis s ing program
pathway
3 or more errors of
●
●
●
●
●
●
Developed
Highly Developed
Heading Includes
name, email and
phone number
Name in the heading
is in a bigger font
s ize.
Objective (if included)
includes the job title
and company name
Objective is no more
than one line long
E ducation s ection
includes program
pathway
1-2 errors of
capitalization of name
●
●
●
●
●
Heading Includes
name, email and
phone number (option
to als o include
LinkedIn profile link,
addres s , etc.)
Name in heading is in
a bigger font s ize and
bold
Objective (if included)
includes the job title
and company name
Objective is no more
than one line long
Objective is clear and
unambiguous
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
capitalization of name
of educational
program(s) and
institution(s)
Missing
expected/past
completion dates for
educational programs
Education section
includes high school
information
Skills/summary
section is not
included or has no
relation to the job
description
Job entries in
experience section
are missing major
components
Job entries do not
have at least 2 bullet
points each per
experience and/or do
not fully describe
experience
Consistent errors in
action verb usage at
the beginning of bullet
points
Consistently makes
errors in resume
writing standards
Tense agreement in
verbs has 3 or more
errors
Consistently uses
“ing” for action verbs
Reverse chronological
or modified reverse
chronological order is
not used
7 or more
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
of educational
program(s) and
institution(s)
Includes expected
and past completion
dates for educational
programs
Education section
does not include high
school information
If relevant coursework
is included, the
course titles are
written out
Skills/summary
section is related to
the job description
Each job entry in
experience section
includes job title,
company name, dates
Each job entry has 27 bullet points per
experience that
adequately describe
experience
Action verb begins
each bullet point; 1 -2
errors in usage
Uses resume writing
standards; only 1-2
errors (like using full
sentences or usage of
“I” or “we.”)
Tense agreement in
verbs is mostly
consistent with only
1-2 errors
1-2 errors in using
“ing”
Reverse chronological
or modified reverse
chronological order is
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Education section is
situated at the top of
the resume, below the
objective (if included)
or heading
Education section
includes program
pathway written
correctly
No errors of
capitalization of name
of educational
program(s) and
institution(s)
Includes
expected/past
completion month
and year for
educational programs
formatted correctly
Education section
does not include high
school information
If relevant coursework
is included, the
course titles are
written out, and only
relevant courses are
included
Skills/summary
section is related to
the job description
with several bullet
points clearly
connected to
qualifications listed on
description
Skills or summary
bullet points ordered
left to right, top to
bottom by relevance
to job
Experience section
grammatical or
spelling errors.
●
●
●
used
Most bullet
statements are 1 line
long
Additional sections
(Activities, Community
Service, Leadership,
etc.) includes
organization name
and dates
4-6 grammatical or
spelling errors.
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
includes app ropriate
experience
Each job entry
includes job title,
company name, dates
(month and year),
city/state (written as
City, CA; for example
Berkeley, CA)
If they work for a
department, or
smaller entity, it is
listed before the
larger entity, divided
by a comma.
Each job entry has 37 bullet points per
experience that
articulately describe
experience and
accomplishments
Transferable skills and
language are used to
connect to the job
description to clearly
relate to the job they
are applying for
Action verb begins
each bullet point; a
variety of action verbs
are used.
Uses resume writing
standards; not full
sentences- No “I” or
“we.”
Tense agreement in
verbs (current job is in
present or past tense,
but all previous jobs
should be consistent
in tense).
Does not use “ing” for
action verbs
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Reverse chronological
or modified reverse
chronological order is
used
Most bullet
statements are 1 line
long
Additional sections
(Activities, Community
Service, Leadership,
etc.) includes
organization name,
location, dat es
(month, year)
Role or Officer title (
example: Treasurer,
Emergency Room
Volunteer, etc.) is
included
Is clearly repeated
involvement, not a
one-time event.
2-3 grammatical or
spelling errors.
Punctuation usage is
consistent.