Résumé Advice

Below is some general advice on writing a résumé. For guidance on writing a curriculum vitae (used for applying to graduate school and academic jobs), please look at the graduate school section below.  

• Check out these résumé guides (courtesy of Virginia Commonwealth University Career Services) and the other websites linked at the end.

• It depends on the field, but generally speaking, résumés should not be longer than one page. Highlight the most important information, and cut or condense the rest. (Curriculum vitae, which are used when applying for graduate school or academic jobs, are the exception; for them, longer is better! Note that foreign employers will use the term "curriculum vitae" to refer to résumés.)

• Whenever possible, tailor your résumé to the specific position you are applying for. Spend more time describing any experiences—even volunteer experiences—that have to do with the work being done for that particular position. In these situations, volunteer experiences can be just as relevant as paid work experiences.

• At top, indicate your name, phone number, and email address. You do not need to include a mailing address. However, do include the URLs for your LinkedIn profile and your professional website, if applicable. (You can create your own professional website using free or low-cost services like wordpress.com, etc., where you can post your résumé, work/writing samples, etc.)

• Avoid including a section at top that describes overall career “Objectives” or something similar. It is just a waste of space.

• Under each work position or experience you are describing, include 3 to 5 bullet points with very concrete descriptions of the tasks you performed and responsibilities you had. (You can have fewer or no bullet points for positions that were minor or from long ago.) 

• Use strong action verbs for all your bullet points (in past tense for former jobs, and present tense for current jobs): e.g., led, managed, executed, succeeded, achieved, collaborated, exceeded, implemented, built, developed, created, sold, presented. 

• As much as possible, quantify your achievements in your bullet points: the number of clients/coworkers/etc. you worked with, the number of projects/cases/etc. you completed, and so on.

• Further reading: tips from Indeed, Reddit, the Muse, BYU (including cover letter advice), and the New York Times

Formal Emails and Other Correspondence

Note: These are guidelines for formal, professional correspondence. At times you will want to lower the degree of formality you use in your messages to match the particular expectations of the recipient. If you are unsure, err on the side of formality.

General Advice

• Keep emails short and to the point. Always fill in the subject line with a concise (but not vague) summary of the purpose of your message. Employers get lots of emails. Yours may be ignored if you are not clear about what you are requesting.

• Avoid using all caps, emoticons, ampersands, and nonstandard fonts. Double-space between paragraphs in the text of your message; there is no need to indent.

• Proofread emails before sending them. Spelling mistakes, improper capitalization, and grammatical errors signal that you are not professional.

• Do your homework before asking a question. Make sure it has not been answered elsewhere (in the job listing, website, etc.). Most employers hear from so many job candidates that needless questions quickly become repetitive and off-putting. Also, employers like candidates who come across as well-prepared, not clueless.

• At the end of your message, thank the person for their help or consideration. If you are given an interview, you should always send a thank-you email. 

• Check your email regularly and reply right away to any responses, even if just to say thank you for their last message. When talking to employers, any delay can be interpreted as a sign that you are not really interested in the position.

• Ask people before using them as a reference. Give recommendation writers one month’s advance notice, especially if they haven’t yet written for you. Waive the right to review your letters; they will be taken more seriously by those reading them.

Greetings/Salutations

• Always start your email with a greeting that references the person’s name. Do not use a generic greeting like “Hello” or “Good Morning” without their name.

• For formal communications, use “Dear” before the name of the individual, or leave it out and just use the name—either is fine. “Hi So-and-So” is less formal, but can be acceptable in some professional contexts. Avoid the use of “Hey.” For the most formal communications, use a colon after the name of the individual. Generally, though, a comma is fine in professional emails. Examples: 

Ms. Harding,       Dear Dr. Gaona,       Professor Hadimli:       Dear Dean Chang:

•  When writing to a person with a doctorate (a physician with an MD, a professor with a PhD, etc.), use “Dr.” before their last name. Do not use “Mr.” or “Ms.” For instructors, “Professor” is also fine (not all your professors have doctorates). 

• When writing to anyone else with a title, you will usually want to use it before their name: Reverend Santos-Lyons, Rabbi Schulz, Dean Rushing, etc. (Here is a list of official forms of address.) If referring to people with a title, use only their last name (“Dear Dr. Mowat”). Do not use just the first name (“Dear Dr. Hannah”) or the full name (“Dear Dr. Hannah Mowat”). (The latter works for a mailing address, but it can sound overly formal in salutations.)

• If a person does not have a title, use “Mr.” and “Mrs.” before the last name. Note that some employers (particularly younger ones) will find it awkward if you call them “Mr.” or “Ms. So-and-So”—it depends on their personal preferences and/or the workplace culture. In that case, you are probably best off using the first name only, while making the rest of the greeting as formal as possible (e.g., “Dear Omar:” or “Madison,”). Again, err on the side of formality if you are unsure.

• Double-space after the greeting and before you start the text. 

Closings

•  For professional emails, always include a closing. The most common closing for a professional email is “Best” (followed by a comma). 

• Write your full name below the closing if this is the first time you are emailing a person. In the second and subsequent emails, you can use just your first name.

• Double-space after the text and before you start the closing.