Career

Resume Guide

Introduction

Currently, two key career branding platforms exist: the resume and the LinkedIn profile. Both are indispensable parts of the job search or career advancement process and require time and effort. This guide provides up-to-date best practices and step-by-step instructions for building and communicating your career brand in your resume.

There are four critical elements to any effective resume:

Clear promise of value
Defined target
Result focused
Accurate use of keywords

Remember that a successful resume is a tailored highlight reel, NOT a detailed map of your workflow and responsibilities!

Clear Promise of Value

A brand is a promise of value. Consider how you communicate your promise of value to a prospective employer in your resume. The profusion of large job boards, individual professional websites, blogs, social media promotion, and large-scale applicant tracking systems (ATS) has resulted in an increasingly competitive market for job seekers.

It’s critical to include the following three key components in the professional summary at the beginning of your resume:

Professional identity — who are you?
Skills and background — as it relates to the specific company and target position
Results

Another way to think of this is to answer WHO, WHAT, WHY, and HOW. These frameworks should result in a concise and direct professional summary, 1-3 sentences long, or 2-5 lines of text.

Example
Analytical operations leader (PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY/WHO) who thrives in complex supply chain manufacturing environments (BACKGROUND/WHAT) to consistently improve process performance and profitability (RESULT/WHY) through Lean Six Sigma Black Belt expertise (HOW).

Defined Target

The best resumes (and LinkedIn profiles) have a defined theme that signals a clear career target. A cohesive picture emerges for a specific industry/sector and function when reviewed. The document shouldn’t read as an all-inclusive biography of everything you’ve done, thus differing from a curriculum vitae. Emphasize critical skills or experiences and exclude or play down aspects of past work experience unrelated to your target. Some ways include adjusting your professional summary and placing the most relevant bullets in your experience section first.

If you’re job-hopping or attempting a drastic career change, a layout highlighting certain skills or areas may be a functional format. It will allow you to create a stronger theme and emphasize transferable skills and strengths. Our Career Change Guide includes additional career advice and resources.

Taking Aim With the Professional Summary
Your summary should illustrate your desired job goal without stating it in the outdated “objective statement” format. Below are two professional summary examples that a candidate might use depending on the job they are applying for.
Example One (applying for teaching position)
Educator and developer with four years of experience as a junior high classroom teacher in a complex urban setting. Expert skills in curriculum development that provide instruction supported by standards, aligning technology use with pedagogy, assessment best practices, classroom management, and peer mentorship. Student learning under personal leadership indicates improved literacy and grades.
Example Two (applying for a school administrator position)
Four-year career as an educational leader and practitioner. Possesses conceptual tools foundational to understanding education, experience handling complex social and educational challenges in urban settings, and management competencies to achieve positive, sustainable organizational change.

Results Focused: Effective Experience Bullets

Most individuals prefer a reverse chronological resume format, with the experience section in reverse chronological order (most recent position listed first) and a bulleted format. Individuals making a career change or returning to the workforce after an extended break may prefer a functional format.

The “Work Experience” section should not simply consist of statements of your responsibilities. Craft your experience bullets by focusing on the action undertaken (past tense), the context in which they occur (think about who, how many, what, where), and what that work resulted in. Use the ACTION-CONTEXT-RESULT format. Great experience bullets will answer the question, “Why did my organization pay me to do this?”

How to Implement the Action-Context-Result Framework
BEFORE: Liaison between customers and sales management.
AFTER: Coordinated (ACTION) over 10 company relationships between customers and sales management (CONTEXT), increasing market share of petroleum product line by 25% and returning business by 50% (RESULT).

Accurate Use of Keywords

Display your industry understanding and ensure you pass applicant tracking systems (ATS), especially in large organizations, using keywords and terminology from intended job descriptions, industry associations, and industry- or career-related discussion forums (e.g., LinkedIn Groups). These keywords, including the professional summary, skills, and work experience sections, can be implemented throughout your resume.

What Is an Applicant Tracking System or ATS?

An applicant tracking system is any software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment and hiring needs. Large organizations that receive many resumes (e.g., Google has reported they receive 40,000+ applications a week) utilize ATS to provide an initial screening of submitted resumes. More than 90% of companies will use an artificial intelligence (AI) reader to scan resumes before moving to a hiring manager or recruiter.

Example
A person applying for a position in senior brand management needs to ensure that their experience is described in the specific terms in the job posting, whether it be “brand equity building,” “communication and media planning,” “new product development and launch,” or “marketing strategy.” Though the applicant may have their own terminology for these skills, their resume MUST match the language used by the company and recruiter.

Formatting Best Practices

Finally, you should proofread the document multiple times, ensure it doesn’t contain any errors or typos, and be visually pleasing with adequate white space to allow easy reading. Stick with widely used fonts (Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, etc.) between 10- and 12-point. Resumes should have black text on a white background, with a minimum of half-inch margins. To prevent misreading from an ATS, ensure your resume is ONE column (this applies to all sections, including skills/additional info). Lastly, we recommend the document be one page, at most two (optional for those with 10-plus years of work experience), unless a high-profile executive with more than 25 years of experience.

Putting It Together: Step by Step

1. Header

Address is permanent/updated. A specific address is not needed, but be sure to include the city and state.
Email address should be simple and professional (avoid slang); ensure the email address does not expire.
If possible, include a customized LinkedIn URL or professional website — avoid hyperlinking text as ATS readers cannot read hyperlinks.

2. Professional Summary

Your statement should include professional identity, skills and background, and results/value proposition, followed by a list of core competencies.
Signals clear intent/target.
- Students, recent grads, or career changers should focus on “aspirational” intent.

3. Experience

This is the most essential part of the resume — it should occupy at least one-third of the page and, ideally, two-thirds
For a standard resume:
- Display in reverse chronological order.
- Ideally, work experience should display a sense of progression.
For a functional format resume (a format option for those with gaps in employment or those undertaking significant career changes), identify 3-4 key functions, skill areas, and group-related accomplishments under these in bullet format.
Each position should be listed with your title first, followed by your organization/employer.
Remember to use the ACTION-CONTEXT-RESULTS format for effective experience bullets.

4. Education

List education after work experience.
- Students about to graduate and very recent grads can list education before the work experience section.
Write degree in full (e.g., Bachelor of Science, Master of Arts).
If your degree is general, include a specialization or emphasis.
Include the month and year of graduation; if more than 10 years out, simply include the year.
Those with more than 15-20 years of experience should exclude details of academic or leadership performance (leadership performance should already be indicated through work experience bullets).
Recent graduates can include volunteer, academic, and leadership performance.
If more than three years post-graduation, don’t include a GPA (optional for those less than three years from graduation; it depends on industry standards).

5. Additional

Technical skills and software proficiencies (unless in an IT field, in which case these should be listed as a core competency in the professional summary)
Language proficiency and international experience
Professional organizations/memberships; leadership and volunteer experience
Skills summary can also be at the top of the resume, under the professional summary — look to align skills with keywords in target jobs
- Skills summary should focus on objective skills rather than subjective ones (e.g., PMP Certified, Python vs. detail-oriented, team player).

Example Resumes

Check out the PDF/printable version of our Resume Guide to view example resumes that follow this step-by-step process.