A Resume Is

• A summary of your skills and experiences that highlights your accomplishments.
• An example of your writing, and therefore should be perfectly written and punctuated.
• What shows the reader the skills you have, and generates enough curiosity on the part of potential employers, field sites or graduate schools to want to meet with you for an interview.

Contents of a Resume

• Contact Information

Include name, address, phone number and professional email address. If your present address is temporary, you need to include a permanent address. Don’t forget to include zip codes and area codes.

Your name should be the most prominent text on your resume.
If necessary, print your name and “Page 2″ on top of the second page.
Note on length: Some professions require that your resume be no more than one page, i.e., finance, and some fields allow the flexibility of a second page if the information is relevant, i.e., non-profits. Please consult with a career counselor to discuss resume length and content issues for the areas in which you are interested.

• Career Objective

If necessary, articulate your career interests or current interests and reference your skills for the specific position to which you are applying. An objective should be no more than one sentence.

• Skills

If necessary, you may list position/field specific skills. This section is most often used by fields that require particular skills including computer science and laboratory research.

• Education/ Certification

Include name(s) and location(s) of colleges attended, dates of graduation (month/ year), degree(s) earned and major/concentration/specialty.

Certifications/licensures may also be mentioned in this section.
List your most recent degree or the program to which you are currently enrolled first.
List other degrees or relevant education, including colleges from which you transferred from or study abroad experiences, in reverse chronological order.
Highlight your degree or college/university, i.e. bold, capitals, etc.
If you have not completed your degree, write “Anticipated” or “Expected” before the month/year of graduation.
If you would like to include your GPA, the correct format is: GPA: 4.0.
Do not include coursework unless it is directly relevant and unusual, but do include any awards and/or honors.
If applicable, include your certification/licensure. Be certain that you list the title of your certification/licensure correctly and to include the certification/ licensure number and date completed. If you have not completed all requirements, list the name and date of each completed component.

• Experience

Consider dividing your experience into sections: “Related Experience” and “Additional Experience” or “Professional Experience,” “Leadership Experience” and/or “Activities.”
List most recent experiences first.
For each experience, include your: job title, place of employment, location (city, state), dates of employment and description of responsibilities.
Summarize your field experiences, employment and volunteer work.
Use action verbs to describe your responsibilities and accomplishments.

Avoid…

Do not use the word “I, me or my” in your resume.
Avoid phrases like “Duties included” or “Responsible for.” 
Use quantitative information, e.g. “Developed and implemented leadership training for 50 Brandeis students.”