Professional Documentation Review

Your resume is a marketing tool created to market you. It may be your first contact with an employer, whether applying for an internship, co-op or job opportunity. Resumes may also be requested for leadership opportunities, graduate school, scholarship, fellowship applications, and more. 

Employers often review resumes and cover letters in 10 seconds or less. This means your resume must be well-written, concise, extremely organized, and easy to read in order to be effective. When creating your resume, customize your resume for the reader; organize your accomplishments and interests to their needs. Tailoring your resume and cover letter to the specific employer is a key component of a successful resume and cover letter! 

There is not one correct way to organize a resume. Design and content depend on your unique education, experiences, and skills. It is a good idea to have different versions of your resume depending on the job type/industry that you'd like to target. 

Examples of Resume Sections

Objective 

An objective tells the employer what you want to do, either by stating a job title or the type of job you currently seek. Often you will have more than one version of your resume with different objectives. 

Education 

List the college/university name, city, state, your degree, major, concentration, and graduation date by month and year. List your most recent college first. Under the education section, you may include information about: 

• GPA if over 3.0 (major GPA and/or overall GPA) 
• Academic honors, Dean's List, and scholarships 
• Study Abroad Programs/Experiences 

Relevant Experience 

List your career-related experience, including full-time or part-time jobs, summer jobs, volunteer experience, cooperative education, and internships. Large course projects can also go under this section! You may include experiences unrelated to your career area if you focus your job description on transferable skills, such as customer service, communication, problem solving, project management, teamwork, and leadership skills. You do not need to list every job you have held. The descriptions for your relevant experiences should be longer than those not directly related to the work you are seeking. Make sure you highlight your skills and accomplishments. 

List your job title, the employer's name, city, state, and dates of employment by month and year. When describing your experiences, you will use bullet points that include keywords and strong action verbs that best describe your skills and experience. Avoid writing in full sentences and leave out pronouns (I, me, my). Pay close attention to verb tense in your descriptions, past experiences should be in the past tense. 

Identify your accomplishments and successes from past experiences, and the skills that you used in each situation. In your resume, emphasize what your role was, focus on the skills you used, and describe how you benefited the organization or state the results of your work. Highlight what you achieved and the difference you made. 

Accomplishments might include situations in which you created or built something, initiated a project, achieved a goal you set, saved time, saved money, demonstrated leadership, solved a problem or created a solution. Use numbers whenever you can! You want to paint a descriptive picture to the person who is reading your resume. 

Additional Sections 

You may include a variety of activities and additional types of information on your resume, such as those listed hereunder other sections. These sections may be titled things such as Professional Activities, Leadership Roles, Extracurricular Activities - Be creative and title it what makes sense for you. Focus on positions you held, your level of involvement, accomplishments, projects, demonstrated leadership roles, committee work, communication skills, organizational skills, and any skills related to your stated career objective. 

• Campus/student organizations 
• Community service 
• Volunteer experience 
• Team and group projects 
• Computer skills 
• Publications 
• Foreign languages 
• Leadership roles 
• Professional membership 

A CV is used by those with graduate degrees (i.e., M.S., Ph.D.) to apply for positions in academia or for scientific or research positions. CVs are very inclusive; therefore; they tend to include all experiences not just selective experiences. CVs are longer than resumes and focus on education, publications, presentations, research, classes taught, and other professional activities. CVs are also used in European countries for all positions. 

The most common job search letter is a cover letter, but it's important to be aware that there are other letters that you may use in the course of a job search. For most college students, letter writing has been reduced to short e-mail messages, quickly written, and quickly sent. This is not acceptable when in the midst of a job search. Communication skills are critically important in your career and your job search letters will be one of the first samples employers will have of your competence in this area. All correspondence with a prospective employer will be carefully critiqued to screen out candidates. Be sure your job search letters have no typos, are grammatically correct, follow standard business format, and present you as the best candidate for the internship or job! 

To have your job search letters critiqued, come to drop-in hours at the career center or meet with a career advisor. 

Below are some common types of Job Search Letters. Be sure to sign the original hard copy letters and to keep copies for your records 

Cover Letter 

A cover letter always accompanies a resume when you send it through email, U.S. mail, or when you are completing an online application. It is not required when you hand a resume to a recruiter at a career fair, presentation, or interview. Write a persuasive letter in a conversational format to market yourself for the particular job you are seeking. Identify your experiences, education, and skills which are most directly related to that job. Use the job description to drive what you include and highlight in your cover letter. Each cover letter should be unique to the experience that you are applying to as it is based on what that specific employer is looking for. This is your opportunity to help an employer see how and where you fit into the organization.  

View sample cover letters  

View sample cover letters - email  

View sample cover letters - print  

View Seven cover letter don'ts 

This letter or email is sent to individuals requesting information about a career or company. It's a great way to reach out to other UK alumni to prospect for possible job openings. Be sure to focus on broader fields and industries when describing your qualifications. Normally, a resume is not attached to this type of letter because the focus is on generating information not generating job offers! It's also used to ask for an informational interview. 

View a sample Exploratory/Networking letter 

This is one of the most important yet least used letters in a job search. A thank-you letter is used to establish goodwill and express appreciation. It can be sent to a potential employer, a contact that's assisted you, or an interviewer. The general rule of thumb is that if someone has spent more than 10 minutes of their time, then a thank you would be appropriate. A thank-you letter should always be sent with 24 hours of an interview, informational interview, etc. A handwritten thank you note is a more traditional form; however, you must take into consideration the person to whom it will be sent. Use your best judgment. If you have been communicating via email, it might be more acceptable to send an emailed note of thanks. 

View a sample Thank you letter 

This is a letter requesting the status of your application while noting your continued interest in the position. You should also offer to provide any additional information that would assist the employer in making a decision. Due to time sensitivity, this letter is often emailed. 

View a sample Follow-up letter 

Congratulations if you've made it to this stage in the job search! This letter is sent to an employer when an offer has been made. Use it to accept the offer and confirm the terms of employment (start date, salary, medical examinations, etc.). It's an excellent way to positively reinforce the employer's decision to hire you. 

View a sample Acceptance letter  

This is a letter sent to formally decline an offer of employment or to remove yourself from consideration as a candidate. Rejecting an employment offer must be done thoughtfully. Indicate that you have carefully considered the offer but that it was not the best job fit for this stage in your career. Do not say that you have obtained a better job. You want to express your thanks while keeping the door open for future contact. 

View a sample Withdrawal letter