Name & Contact Information
Phone, E-mail, Address
Summary of Skills
Bullet points of skills you've acquired throughout your experiences. This is a great section to address some of the key skills the employer is seeking in the job posting.
Objective Statement
2-3 sentences of who you are and what you are looking to achieve. This should all relate directly to the job you're applying for.
Education
Name of school, GPA (if 3.0 or higher), Expected Graduation Date, Class Rank, and/or specialized coursework
Work Experience
Job Title, Company, Dates of Employment
Bullet points underneath highlighting your essential duties and responsibilities, skills gained, projects led. Be specific and use quantifiable information.
Volunteer Experience
Role, Organization, Dates of Involvement
Bullet points underneath highlighting what type of work you did, skills gained, any leadership positions, etc.
Extracurricular Experience
Role (ex. Member, Treasurer, Captain), Club/Team Name, Dates of Involvement
Bullet points underneath highlighting what roles you held, skills gained, any leadership positions, etc.
Honors and Awards
Not all sections must appear on the resume, but are suggestions on how to organize your resume.
Design: Use a standard font and ensure your formatting is consistent. While there are a lot of resume templates on the internet, keep your design simple - with few unique elements like pictures, tables, text boxes, etc. Some companies use computers for initial resume screenings and your information can get lost if it's presented in a manner different than just text. Likewise, it may not load on your potential employer's computer correctly. Need some ideas on where to get started - simply search resume templates on Google.
Start Early and Update: Start your resume well before you apply for your first position. This allows you to keep track of what you've done during your high school career, by adding your experiences as they happen. Revisit your resume every few months to make any additions to experiences, awards, etc. and/or what skills you've built.
Create a "Master" Resume: Add all the experiences and skills you have to a resume. Depending on the job you're applying for, some experiences may better fit with what the employer is looking for than others. By having a master list of all your experiences and skills, you can then pick and choose what you want to include on the resume for the specific job you're applying for.
Tailor your Resume to the Job You're Applying For: If you've created a "master" resume, you can then pick and choose your experiences that best apply to the job. You'll also want to consider updating your summary of skills or objective statement to include some of the terminology used in the job posting, since that's what a potential employer (or the computer screening software) is looking for.
Keep It To One Page: Not only will it allow a potential employer get a good sense of what you can bring to the position quickly, it also requires you to really narrow down the most important aspects of your experiences.
Highlight the Most Important Information: When reviewing stacks of applications, recruiters/employers often only glance through resumes and make a decision within seconds if they want to pursue the candidate.
Use Action Verbs: Your resume should demonstrate what you've done and using just the right word to start off can really help you stand out. Check out this list of action verbs.
Be Honest: Yes, you want the job, but you also don't want to be caught hired for a job for which you aren't qualified. Your resume should sell yourself, but don't exaggerate your experiences or the role you played.
Get More Eyes on It: Be sure to have trusted family members and friends review your resume for spelling, grammar, as well as content. You can also send it to Ms. Sardelli for her to review!
Save It: Keep an editable copy for yourself (so you can continue to update it), but then save the file as a .pdf with a file name of First Name-Last Name-Resume.pdf (ex. Katie-Sardelli-Resume). Since you've customized it to a specific job, you'll want to keep a copy of it in a folder marked with the company name, so when you get called for an interview, you can bring extra copies with you that match what you submitted!