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Résumé Resources

General Résumé Guidelines

  • Be sure your resume is visually interesting. There should be plenty of white space on the paper to make it easy to read.

  • Your email address should be professional -- don't use anything like hotstuff@hotmail.com

  • Use a standard font like Arial, Times New Roman or Garamond that is easy to read and stick with it. The font size should be 11 or 12 points.

  • Be consistent in your use of capital letters, bullets, boldface, underlining and periods.

  • Bold, CAPITILIZE, or underline headings to make them stand out.

  • Double space between sections. Single space within sections.

  • List job information (company name, city and state, job title, dates) in the same order from one entry to the next.

  • List entries in reverse chronological order (most recent experience first).

  • Wording should be concise and to the point.

  • Be sure there are no errors - typographical, spelling, punctuation, grammar, accuracy of information.

  • Use bullet points with short statements to describe experiences. Put the most important information on the first line under each entry. Start each with an action verb.

  • You do not need to include high school information.

  • A reference list is not necessary.

  • Resumes should be one page in length.

  • Spell check your resume. Ask a friend to proofread it for you.

Résumé Components

Your résumé should be a snapshot of who you are. As you prepare it for your internship with the Chicago Semester program please include the following sections:

Contact information:

  • Name
  • Address (you may want to list both a campus address and a home address)
  • Telephone number(s); designate cell phone number
  • E-mail address

Objective:

  • A brief statement about the kind of internship that most interests you

Education:

  • Degree
  • College or university and its city and state
  • Date of degree (or degree expected stating month and year)
  • Major field of study
  • Minors
  • GPA if above a 3.0; use, at most, two decimal places

Relevant coursework and off-campus study:

  • Please list 4 – 6 courses that are relevant to the type of internship you are seeking and any off-campus study in which you have participated.

Experience:

  • List work experience in reverse chronological order, starting with your current or most recent position.
  • Include company name, city and state, job title, and date for each position.
  • Add bullet points to highlight skills learned, tasks completed.
  • Use action verbs to describe accomplishments (e.g. supervise, coordinate, assisted, planned). Present tense should be used for current work. Past tense action verbs should be used for past experiences.
  • Quantify your experience as much as possible - e.g. "Supervised 18 lifeguards" or "Dance Marathon raised $15,000 for charity"

Honors/Awards:

  • List activities and honors, describe skills gained, leadership roles and include dates of involvement

Computer skills:

  • List programs with which you are familiar