How To Build A Perfect Resume

When it comes to making a resume for a position that you are interested in, you need to take the matter more seriously than most. It is your potential employer’s first impression of your candidacy, and thus something that is adequate in your resume may lead them to consider you with a lasting negative impression, or not consider you at all. This said, your resume cannot just be ok; it must be perfect. Here is how to build a perfect resume:

1. Start with Contact Information: Make sure that you do not overlook the necessity of including enough contact information, and also, contact information that is correct. This means regularly review your contact information prior to sending it off. The last thing you want is to have an employer interested in your application, but not be able to contact you because certain contact information is missing, or outdated.

2. Create a Section on Education: Next, include a section for your educational experience. Though it may not follow your contract information, it is one of the easiest sections to begin with-as it is basically cut and dry. In your education section, employers want to see your higher education, what school you received this from, what degree or accreditation you received, and the years you attended. Moreover, if you have achievements or other details that may be pertinent to the career in which you are applying to, you should include these as well. Things such as a high GPA, making Dean’s List, or high honors in any aspect of your education. If you have higher education since high school, do not include high school. If you have only high school, and perhaps a training program after high school; include the details of this as you would higher education. Either should look like this:

2001-2004 Bachelors of Science in Engineering, Minor in Business:
University of South Dakota, SD:
• Cumulative GPA of 3.2.
• Coursework in Engineering Concepts, Engineering Design, Bio Engineering.
• Dean’s List every semester.

3. Create a Section on Experience: The experience section of your resume is one of the most significant parts of your resume. Though many new grads think that their education is, the experience is really the meat of the application-along with a specialized degree in the field that you are entering into. The best place to start when creating your experience section is to consider every place of employment that you have worked for in the past ten years. If you do not have ten years’ worth of job experience due to just graduating, an employer will see this-and will not discredit you. This said, you need to include all employment, regardless of their relation to your career, for two reasons: first, it shows that you can responsibly hold down a job-especially, if you did so while in school; and second, that you had responsibilities and skills that could transfer to a position in the career that you are interested in.

Start with the most recent of position that you have worked in. Include details such as the dates in which you were employed, the name of the company, their city and state, what your title was, and your most important responsibilities in this position. Show these responsibilities and achievements in bulleted form. This is what an entry in your experience section should look like:

6/2001-Present Communications Intern:
Barnes & Hires Communications; Washington, D.C.:
• Responsibility/Achievement
• Responsibility/Achievement
• Responsibility/Achievement
• Responsibility/Achievement
• Responsibility/Achievement

4. Include a Section for Skills and Achievements: The point of including a section for skills and achievements is often forgotten on a resume-as many people do not think that they have enough skills and achievements to have a whole section on it. This said, there are a number of skills and achievements that you may not even consider applicable, but are. Good examples of these are: communications skills, organizational skills, and winning employee of the month at your part time job or internship. Especially, if you have little experience to offer, bolstering a skills and achievements section with lots of valuable skills and possible achievements can help immensely in making you look more qualified for a position that you are interested in. This section should look like this:

Skills and Achievements:
• Employee of the month three months in a row at Sterling Groceries.
• Achieved sales goals as Sales Associate at Your Clothing Store two years in a row.
• Won Debate Club championship at state level in 2001.
• Stellar communication and organizational skills as evidenced through internship excellence.
• August 2002 My University Voice article publication

5. Put It Together: The next part, once you have all these sections in place, is to put them altogether in a cohesive layout. These are the basics sections that a potential employer will look toward in any professional resume.
6. Make it Perfect: Lastly, you need to ensure that the information is complete, accurate, and powerful. How do you do this? Research what employers are looking for in a candidate for the position that you are seeking in job postings. Include these skill sets and career values in your own resume-in the applicable sections of your resume. Next step, read it over for clarity and grammatical perfection, as even the smallest error could leave you out of the application process. After this, have a colleague or friend read it over to get an objective view of how your resume might be improved, if applicable.