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Application materials
Your application materials describe who you are, what you know, what you have done and, most importantly, what you can offer an employer. A well-crafted and well-formatted resume and cover letter will help you stand out from other applicants and are definitely worth the time and effort. A curriculum vitae (CV) is an alternative to a resume typically used in the academic and research fields. The US Federal Government has an alternate preferred format for resumes as well.
Resumes Accordion Closed
Your resume is a marketing document and should be focused on delivering a specific message about you to your target audience. In order to know what to include in your resume, you have to be able to answer the following question:
What do you want employers to learn about you?
Your resume cannot and should not try to tell everything there is to know about you. The only way to know what you should include or exclude is to identify the aspects of your education, experience, skills and characteristics that are relevant to your candidacy. These should comprise the core message of your resume, using strong action verbs. Once you know your core message, you can begin creating your resume
Format Accordion Open
There are three primary types of resume formats: the chronological resume, the functional resume, and the combination chronological-functional resume. Generally, the chronologically formatted resume is recommended. However, the functional format may be more suitable in certain cases: new graduates with minimal work experience, career changers, and those who are returning to the workforce after an extended gap.
Chronological resume
Education, experience, jobs, activities, projects and technical skills are entered individually within specific categories. These entries are made in reverse chronological order, beginning with the most recent. Date ranges are included for each entry.
Functional resume
The functional resume combines transferable skills together under appropriate headings, such as “Event Coordination,” “Leadership,” and “Fundraising.” The employers, positions, and (sometimes) dates of employment are listed in simple form at the bottom of the resume.
Combination resume
The combination resume takes the best of both the chronological and functional resume formats by combining descriptive information on your work history with information on your specific skill areas. Combination resumes are designed for job seekers who already have quite a bit of experience. Like functional resumes, a combination style heavily focuses on the applicant’s skills and abilities right from get-go. For those applying for a position that requires a lot of technical skills and expertise, using a combination format is a good way to showcase these abilities.
Formatting tips
Regardless of format, here are some tips for creating a professional looking resume:
- Use a professional, consistent font across all resume sections
- Use bold or italics to highlight important information
- Use black text only
- Make sure your font is readable, usually at least 10pt
- Align key information along the right and left margins, to make the resume easy to scan
- Use bullet points, rather than paragraphs, to describe your experience
- Consider including horizontal lines to distinguish each section, and/or border, but not if you have to cut content to do so
- Edit for typos, extra spaces and indentations, consistent use of periods, etc.
Learn more
For more in-depth information, explore the following Career Steps online lesson:
Content Accordion Closed
While resume construction is a subjective art, the following is an explanation of commonly used sections from the top of your resume down to the bottom. Optional sections should be included if they will enhance your ability to relay your message. Also, standard sections can be renamed to suit your specific needs.
Contact information
Your contact information is the heading of your resume. It should include your name, phone number, and email address. You can also include a personal web URL (can be your LinkedIn profile) if it helps in marketing yourself for a position. We do not recommend including your physical address on your resume.
Summary of qualifications
This is the recommended way to begin a resume in most fields and include 3-5 bullet points that highlight your most impressive skills, experience, and qualifications relevant to the position you’re applying for. Bullet points in your summary of qualifications (and throughout your resume) should be targeted to the position and quantified when possible. “Quantifying” means adding a number, award, or other hard evidence to prove the claim you’re making.
Here are some great examples:
- Four years of experience instructing group exercise classes for up to 40 participants
- Collected and analyzed biological data for a five-year international research project
- Developed and implemented three units of curriculum
- Two years of experience in customer service positions, meeting needs of diverse customers
- Supervised groups of up to 15 students, twice each week for two semesters
Skills
A skills section is especially important for those in technical fields, but can be used by all. The skills section should be tailored to the required skills in the position description, and/or highlights skills that might make you stand out.
For example:
- Develop community partnerships
- Program planning, development and analysis
- Grants development and management
- Bilingual speaking and writing in Spanish
- Group process and facilitation skills
- Quarterly and year-end reporting
Education
Current students and recent graduates usually put the Education section after their Summary of Qualifications (or Skills section if present). Experienced candidates usually place education after their Experience section. Your education section can include honors and GPA if you are a recent graduate and your GPA is about 3.5. Study abroad, research, and other projects can also appear in this section. Do not include your High School information. Use “Anticipated Graduation” to reflect your planned graduation date.
Relevant courses (optional)
This section can be useful if you have limited work experience relevant to your target job. In addition to the names of courses (course numbers will not mean anything to an employer) you can include brief descriptions of course projects.
Experience
The experience section may include internships, part-time jobs, full time positions, volunteer experience, and temporary employment. Possible headings include Professional Experience, Work Experience, Experience Highlights, and Relevant Experience. Jobs are typically listed in reverse chronological order. When describing your experience, focus on your accomplishment statements, rather than providing a job description. This section should be bulleted, starting every statement with a strong action verb.
Affiliations/honors/community involvement/other activities (optional)
These are optional sections you may include if you want to highlight certain extracurricular activities you believe reflect something important about you, in relation to the type of positions for which you are applying.
Training/certifications/professional memberships (optional)
Place current, not expired, certificates, trainings or memberships you hold and are relevant to your goals.
Learn more
Excellent resources for crafting your resume can be found on the NAU Career Development Pinterest page.
Or explore the following Career Steps online lessons:
Developing application materials: Crafting your resume content
Developing application materials: Crafting a summary of qualifications
Examples Accordion Closed
You’re welcome to use the following sample resumes for ideas and inspiration. Much like these students, you have an inventory of marketable experiences, so brainstorm how you can best represent your transferable skills and academic/community experiences.
Research and job shadow experience
Coursework and internships
Communication and teamwork skills
International and public service experience
Leadership and public speaking skills
Study abroad & multiple roles in a single organization
Volunteer experience
Assorted undergraduate examples
- B.A. Business Administration Evan Finn
- B.A. Elementary Education Mary Lamberguini
- B.A. International Affairs, Maria Gonzales
- B.U.S. University Studies, Sarah Smith
Assorted graduate examples
- M.A. Clinical Speech-Language Pathology, Brooke Davis
- M.S. Environmental Science and Policy, Joy Thompson
Federal resume examples
Federal resumes Accordion Closed
Whether you’re a current federal employee or new to the Federal Government, your resume is the primary way for you to communicate your education, skills and experience. The average Federal Resume is 4-5 pages, though it may be shorter for new graduates.
USAJobs.gov is the source to search for and apply to federal jobs. The Resume Builder is the recommended way to develop a resume to meet federal requirements.
Examples
B.S. Environmental and Sustainability Studies, Ingrid French
Learn more
For more in-depth information, explore the following Career Steps online lesson:
Developing application materials: constructing resumes of a different sort
Cover letters Accordion Closed
Most professional job and internship postings will ask for a cover letter as part of your application package,. The cover letter represents your chance to communicate very specific information as to why you are qualified for a position, and to let your personality show. While the resume represents the entirety of your relevant education and employment history, the cover letter can be written to focus on your specific qualifications that match a particular job description.
Personalize Accordion Open
Average cover letters describe how your skills and experience match the requirements of the position; excellent ones demonstrate your knowledge of the organization and why you’re so excited to join them.
Before you write your cover letter, consider: Why are you interested in this organization? In what ways does their mission statement or culture appeal to you? How have you used their products or services? What contributions have they made that you find most impressive? In your first paragraph, be sure to include a brief comment or compliment highlighting your personal connection to the company. This oft-forgotten detail shows that you’ve done your homework. Not only have you thoroughly researched the organization, you’ve taken the time to craft a letter just for them.
Include undeniable proof Accordion Closed
The body of the cover letter, typically three short paragraphs, gives you an opportunity to select three of the key requirements for the position and expand on the most relevant skills or experiences that you have. Carefully read the job description and qualifications, and use the same vocabulary to craft examples that match what they’re looking for.
Be professional Accordion Closed
When reviewing your cover letter, employers are evaluating your communication ability through your writing. Make sure that your letter flows well and is grammatically correct. Your cover letter should be presented in a business letter format and be no longer than one page. You may also use your resume header instead of the business format. It’s always important to have someone else edit your letter for any typos that might have snuck through spellcheck.
Internships
Jobs
- Aisha Merriwether
- Bijou Phillips
- Eduardo Montoya
- Hikari Iori
- Kim E. Gibbler
- LeVar Rogers
- Terry O’Shea
Learn more
For more in-depth information, explore the following Career Steps online lesson:
Curriculum vitae (CVs) Accordion Closed
A curriculum vitae (CV) is a detailed overview of your life’s accomplishments, especially those in the academic realm or research field. Just like a resume, a CV will need to be updated frequently as you gain more experience and complete more projects.
The most noticeable difference between most CVs and most resumes is the length. Entry-level resumes are usually limited to a page. CVs, however, often run to three or more pages and there is no limit on length as you gain more experience.
Sometimes, the application for a position will let you know whether or not a CV is requested. If you’re not sure, it never hurts to ask the agency whether a resume or CV would be more appropriate for the position.
Generally, CVs are used to apply for academic and research positions, awards, fellowships, and grants. In both CVs and resumes, information is usually organized chronologically within sections.
Anatomy of a typical CV Accordion Open
Name and contact information
Just like a resume, include your name, phone number, email, and URL or LinkedIn (if you have one). Some people include both personal and department addresses to emphasize their current academic affiliation. You can include your name and page numbers on subsequent pages as a footer or header. Do not include your date of birth, ethnicity, marital status, or other personal information.
Areas of interest
List your different areas of academic interests.
Education
A list of your degrees earned or in progress, institutions, and years of graduation in reverse chronological order with the most recent one being first.
Dissertation or thesis
Include the title, a brief description, and your advisor and committee names. For engineering and sciences, if you decide to describe your research more completely in the “Experience” section, you may want to simply list the title of your dissertation in this section. For a new candidate in humanities or social sciences, the dissertation should be featured prominently in this section.
Grants, honors, and awards
A comprehensive list of grants received, honors for your work, and awards you may have received for teaching or service.
Employment and experience
This section may include separate lists of teaching experiences, laboratory experiences, field experiences, volunteer work, leadership, or other relevant experiences. List experience in reverse chronological order.
Publications and presentations
A list of your published articles and books, as well as presentations given at conferences. If there are many of both, you might consider having one section for publications and another for presentations. List publications in a citation format that is appropriate for your field. You can combine these items under a “Publications/Presentations” section if you do not have many publications or presentations.
Scholarly or professional memberships
A listing of the professional organizations of which you are a member. If you have held an office or position in a particular organization, you can either say so here or leave this information for the experience section.
Special training
List any special, related training you have received through your university, department, or other professional organizations. Such training might include courses on teaching, research techniques, or computer applications.
Examples Accordion Closed
You’re welcome to use the following examples for ideas and inspiration.
For more in-depth information, explore the following Career Steps online lesson:
Developing application materials: Constructing resumes of a different sort
References Accordion Closed
Professional references are people who feel comfortable saying truly wonderful things about you. These are people who know your strengths, work ethic, technical skills, and what you have to offer an organization. Before your job search, ask 3-5 people to be professional references. Supervisors are ideal, but professors, coaches, and coworkers are also appropriate. Putting people on your list without asking them is exceptionally rude and often results in a less-than-spectacular reference. Supply your references with a copy of your resume and job description of each position you’re applying for, so they can tailor their comments accordingly. Since your references are going out of their way to support your career, it’s polite to let them know when they should be expecting a call. You may also want to send off a periodic thank-you note updating them on your search. Ask how they prefer to be contacted.
References should be listed on a separate sheet of paper following your resume and presented only after they have been requested. Use the same page heading as the resume to make it look like a professional package. Aim to include three to five contacts, and include their name, title, organization, phone, email address, and their relationship to you.