Your Resume: What to Put In, What to Leave Out

Contact Information

Your name, email address, and phone number

Dates and Locations

Dates (ideally including specific months and years) and locations for all experiences

Education

School, location, degree, date of graduation or expected graduation date, major, and minor/concentration

The importance of having a GPA on your resume varies by industry and application requirements. Be sure to research industry or job-specific expectations regarding GPA. You can also speak with a CCE counselor if you have questions about adding your GPA to a resume.

If you are a first-year undergraduate or sophomore, you can list your high school. You can remove it once you are a junior (unless it is a well-known school in the area where you seek employment).

Also include previous undergraduate institutions, community colleges, dual-degree programs, and study abroad.

Experience

All or select paid and unpaid work, internships, volunteer jobs, and military service (depending on how much you have)

List organizations, locations, dates, your title, and a brief description of your accomplishments.

Start descriptions with action-oriented verbs that emphasize your skills. Use short, concrete, and results-oriented phrases to describe your work.

List all experiences in this section in reverse chronological order, with the most recent positions first. You can divide your experience into multiple sections, such as Research Experience, Marketing Experience, Administrative Experience, Teaching Experience, or any other similar heading in order to place your most important position first.

Additional Skills

Computer skills, foreign languages, technical skills, lab skills, and research skills

Profile or Summary

A profile summarizes your qualifications: your education, skills, and related experience.

You can use this section if you’re moving into a different industry where skills are transferable, or if you have many years of experience and want to summarize your key qualifications at the top of the page.

Honors

List honors or scholarships you have received (limit to a few of the most recent or prestigious).

You can also include honors in “Education.”

Relevant Coursework

List three to six completed courses directly related to the job you are seeking. This is helpful for positions not directly related to your field of study or if you’ve taken non-major courses more relevant to the job. This is also important in science and technological fields to demonstrate your knowledge.

You can also include this information in “Education.”

Leadership/Activities

Clubs, athletics, and community organizations, and any leadership positions held

If you have the space, you might describe your responsibilities using action verbs.

You can also fit these in the “Experience” category if you can describe your role in depth.

Interests

Use this section if you have unique or impressive interests and be specific. Categories such as “reading” and “travel” are too general and common.

Volunteer Work

Volunteer opportunities and roles you have had in your community or for your favorite cause

Volunteer opportunities are a great way to share a distinctive skill set or interest.

Additional Sections

When appropriate, include sections for Projects, Accreditations or Licensures, Professional Affiliations, and Publications.

Personal Website

A link to your blog or portfolio if it is professional and includes information that an employer would find helpful in evaluating you as a candidate

You can also include any relevant URLs (from LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) or a link to your electronic portfolio.