Your resume is an integral part of your job search. It functions as your personal marketing brochure,

and its main purpose is to secure interviews from interested employers. Your resume should convey

who you are and highlight your qualications and skills.

Preparation

Through preparation and organization, you can

develop an eective resume. Start with a careful and ac-

curate assessment of your career objective, educational

background, work history, projects, skills, achievements,

activities, interests, and other experiences. Analyze and

or less. If your resume gets pulled away at the 15th

second, what key words should an employer remember,

and how can you achieve this? A quality resume is ac-

curate, descriptive, brief, easy-to-read, and aesthetically

pleasing to the eye. Remember these essential points:

• Speak positively about yourself, e.g., “Successfully

saved employer $100,000 annually.”

• Be specic and direct.

• Use action verbs that clearly state your skills and

experience, e.g., “Designed,” “Analyzed.” Avoid using

bullets, capitalization, bolding, and spacing.

• Avoid underlining and italics, which may be dif-

cult to read in photocopies and cause issues when

uploading to an applicant tracking system.

• Format your dates in the same location and

style throughout the resume (full months,

abbreviated, numeric, etc.).

• Use a format that best displays your unique back-

ground. You can tailor headings to highlight and

expand on your strengths, e.g., “Software Develop-

jobs in each eld of study.

• There is absolutely no excuse for spelling and

typographical errors on a resume. Mistakes indicate

carelessness and will rule you out as a candidate.

Proofread your resume several times and use a dic-

tionary when in doubt about spelling. Note: Spell-

check does not recognize errors in words using all

capital letters, such as headings and acronyms.

• Ask others to read your resume and tell you what

they learned about you from it. Make sure that

Resume WRiting

1

R e s u m e W R i t i n g

2

Also, make sure your name and page number are

on the second and subsequent pages. Graduate

students may have a two-page resume, provided

that the second page is at least half full.

Resume Formats

The Chronological Resume

The chronological resume is the most common resume

cal resume include:

• Professional interviewers are more familiar with it

and it answers their essential question, “What are

your most recent experiences?”

• It is the quickest format to prepare since it is struc-

tured by titles, companies, and dates.

• It shows your employment record.

• It provides the interviewer with a guide for discuss-

ing work experience.

Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Resume Content

Resumes should be strategically organized to highlight

your most signicant qualications and experiences.

The following are typical categories you may use to

organize your resume:

Identication/Contact Information

• Name – this may be larger in font than the rest of

your resume and should be bolded and centered.

• Address – list both your school and permanent

address while you are a student. Your school ad-

dress goes on the left, your permanent address on

the right. Your permanent address is the address

to reach you. Do not use telephone numbers in

other countries. Do not list a home phone number

if you are not living there. Also, do not list the main

WPI phone number or your academic department’s

number. This can be centered or on the right if your

address is on the left. Be sure to have a professional

voicemail message.

• Email address – remove the hyperlink on your email

address from your print resume. This can be cen-

tered or on the right if your address is on the left.

a photograph. It is not recommended to provide this

data in the United States due to potential discrimina-

tion. If you have reason to believe that some personal

data will give you an advantage (e.g., U.S. citizenship,

permanent residence), place under your name or indi-

cate it in your cover letter.

R e s u m e W R i t i n g

3

Do not reduce the font size of your identication infor-

mation below 10-point font. If your resume isn’t read-

able, you will not be contacted for the interview.

Objective

The Objective statement, displayed at the top of your

resume, tells the reader what you would like to do or

for what position you are applying. You may choose to

state a professional eld followed by specialty areas.

organization.

Be concise with your objective:

not exclude you from any potential jobs, e.g., “Summer

internship in biomedical engineering.”

tive, take advantage of the resources and sta at the

CDC. Even if you have identied a career path, the CDC

can help you locate appropriate job titles.

Education

If you are about to graduate or are a recent graduate,

your education will be one of your strongest selling

points. This section includes the degree earned or de-

gree being pursued, name of the university or college,

and date of graduation or expected graduation (you

R e s u m e W R i t i n g

4

If you have earned a signicant portion of your college

expenses, including loans that you will repay, you may

add a line under the university and degree that says

“Self-funded” or Independently Funded.”

This is an essential section for WPI students and recent

graduates as it enables you to highlight your MQP,

IQP, GPS, and any course, design, or lab projects that

You may format your IQP and MQP like this if the infor-

mation ts on one line. Otherwise, include the name of

the project in your description instead.

R e s u m e W R i t i n g

5

In this section you may also include high school proj-

ects, Eagle Scout/Gold projects, FIRST Robotics, and

independent projects that you completed on your own.

Work Experience

In regard to your previous employment, prospective

employers want to know:

• Where and when did you work? Always include

months with your dates.

pervised...”

Employers want to know that you have work experi-

ence, even if it does not relate to your career Objective.

You may also include part-time or non-career-related

summer work in less detail.

If you have held several jobs, you may divide your Work

Experience into “Related Experience” and “Additional

Experience.” Put jobs that are relevant to your Objective

in “Related Experience” and provide a description of the

work. Put other jobs into “Additional Experience” with a

job title, company, location, and dates.

Extracurricular activities may indicate leadership, team-

work, and involvement.

List activities that support your Objective, demonstrate

campus or community involvement, and exemplify

your leadership abilities. You can also include organized

have had several leadership roles, you might consider

including a “Leadership” section on your resume. You

should put your leadership role in bold rst when list-

keep and which you remove.

R e s u m e W R i t i n g

6

If you worked your way through school and were not

able to participate in any extracurricular activities, you

should indicate that you self-funded your education in

the Education section (see previous page).

This section summarizes your concrete technical

knowledge, some of which you should mention in job

and project descriptions, as well. It is a simplied listing

have one category, you don’t need to break the section

into subcategories. Popular subcategories are:

• Computer / Software / Applications (choose one)

• Programming Languages

• Operating Systems

• Lab Techniques / Equipment

• Foreign Language

Do not list “English” under Foreign Language unless you

are applying for a job in another country, but do list

your prociency in the language of that country

(ex. “Fluent in Spanish”).

Additional Information

• Military experience (may be included in Experience

or in its own section)

• Publications, certications, patents held

or pending:

References

have had an interview.

sume may seriously compromize your internet security

and is discouraged. During your job search you will

likely distribute your resume to many people, who may

themselves pass it along to others, meaning that almost

anyone could access your site. It is best not include your

R e s u m e W R i t i n g

7

website on your resume unless it relates directly to your

job search; i.e., if you are a web designer with a website

showcasing your portfolio.

If you choose to include your website on your resume,

your site does not have any personal information.

Creating Your Resume

• Use 8 ½” by 11” paper.

• Use white or o-white paper. Avoid paper that is

“textured.” You can purchase resume paper at the

WPI bookstore.

• Use only black ink. There should be no color on

your resume.

• Don’t use a template to create your resume. You

throughout the resume. For example, if your rst

section heading is bolded then all section headings

need to be bolded. Your name will be the only part

in a larger font (12-14).

• Since we read left to right, top to bottom, put the

most critical information rst towards the top, and

place less critical items, like dates, on the right side

of the page.

• Laser print your resume so that it is crisp and pro-

fessional. Do not photocopy.

Electronic and Scannable Resumes

Companies are increasingly requesting that resumes

submitted online meet certain rules for successful

submission. These formats enable employers to store

resumes in databases and later retrieve information

from them. If you are asked to prepare one, you must

• All text should be left aligned with no bullets or

indentations.

• Type font must be no smaller than 10 point font

and no larger than 14 point. If even one letter is

less than 10 point font, your entire resume will be

rejected.

• Absolutely no italics. They are too light.

• Do not use underlining and bolding, which will be

distorted when converted into a text format during

transmission. Employers do not have the time or

feedback on how formatting appears.

R e s u m e W R i t i n g

8

keywords that you want employers to nd. Also, be sure

to include technical skills and keywords in your descrip-

tions of projects and work experience.

R e s u m e W R i t i n g

9

Action Verbs

Below is a list of sample action verbs to use when creating your resume. This is by no means an all-inclusive list but

will provide you with some good sample action verbs to start your action-oriented phrases.

R e s u m e W R i t i n g

A - 7

Graduate Student Sample Resume 2