Your Full Name & Contact Info. This is a given. Give the basics – your first and last name, your current address, your phone number, and an email. No other information is required.
A Qualifications/Career Summary. Depending on who you ask, this may or may not be a necessity, but if you’re going to include this section, be very specific about what you bring to the table and focus on what sets you apart. This is not the section to discuss what you’re looking for, but more so your milestones and pivotal (and relevant) accomplishments.
Your Education. Organize your education from most recent to least recent. If you attend or have graduated from a higher educational facility, you don’t need to include your high school information.
A Solid Glance at Your Experience. The meat of your resume lies in this section. Your experience lays out your employment history chronologically starting with the most recent or current position you hold. There are a few ways to organize the description part of this section, but aim to explain your duties by expressing them through actions and accomplishments. You can say: “Acted as a liaison between the organization and the clients, but it’s better to say: “Acted as the liaison between organization management and 1000+ business owners.” That is more specific and quantitative. If you have solid numbers that provide scope to your level of work, include those in your descriptions. In this section, you don’t have to focus strictly on the duties – you can add details that show the breadth of your work. It’s best to write this section out in clear, concise bullet points, but if you’d rather save space, you can certainly write your duties in paragraph form.
“Hard” Skills. The types of skills to include in the skills section is often debated; interpersonal and technical skills should be the main skills you list, however, depending on the position you are applying for, some skills may be prioritized over others. “Hard skills” or skills that can be easily quantifiable like Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Creative Cloud, programming languages, operating systems, or anything technologically involved are great skills to focus on in this section, because they require certain expertise that must be learned. “Soft skills” are the people skills that most people can develop naturally. Any one can claim they have great communication skills, but you can exemplify that skill throughout your resume without listing it as a skill and hiring managers will pick up on that. Though there isn’t anything “wrong” with listing soft skills (ex: leadership, teamwork, etc.), you should at least put the hard skills first.
Relevant Awards/Certifications. Certifications and awards only enhance your resume. If you have any that are relevant to the position you are applying to, don’t skimp out on showing them off! Note: Be prepared to show proof of certification. Some jobs require certain certifications that may require you to recertify, so keep them current and always have a copy handy, or the original if possible.
References*. Including references is not frowned upon, but it isn’t required. If you’re going to add references, add the actual contact information for the references. Do not put “references upon request.” Hiring managers are bored of that. Either add the references, or nix the section all together and wait until they ask you for references (If they really want you, they’ll ask!).
What Not to Include in Your Resume
Irrelevant & Dated Experience. Do away with any experience that does not coincide with the position you are applying for. If you don’t have much experience yet, you can do your best to bridge the gaps, but don’t BS that either. It’s okay not to have a lot of experience, as long as it’s meaningful to your growth as a professional. If you’ve had a lot of different jobs, you should also begin to shave off your old experience, so it doesn’t clog your space. Remember your resume should be one page, two at the most.
Many Short-Lives Jobs. IF you can help it, try not to include a lot of jobs you held for a short period of time unless they were contracted. It gives off the illusion that you aren’t reliable and that you don’t keep jobs. Hiring managers like consistency and want to see progression, not that you’ve had many odd jobs or couldn’t settle into your companies log enough before getting fired or quitting.
Salaries. Salary talk of any kind during the application process is frowned upon. The only time salaries should be brought up is if and when the hiring manager brings it up (which in many cases, they will let you know at the interview or it will be posted on the job posting). There’s no need to show your past salaries; it may come off in a way you don’t mean.
References*. You can choose whether or not you want to include references on your resume. However, do not put “references upon request.” Hiring managers are bored of that. Either add the references or nix the section all together and wait until they ask you for references (If they really want you, they’ll ask!).
Hobbies & Irrelevant Skills. Hobbies, especially hobbies completely unrelated to the job you’re applying for should not be included on your resume. They’re just space fillers and are completely unnecessary, as are irrelevant skills. Customer services skills are always great to have, but if you’re applying for a job that won’t require you to converse with customers, you don’t need to include that.
What to Include in Your Cover Letter
A Proper Greeting. It’s best to address the hiring manager(s) directly by name if you can. You don’t generally know the name of the hiring manager off-hand, but if you research the company website, you may find the name of the head of HR or the direct hiring manager for your project or team. If this information is not available to you, the safest greeting is “Dear Hiring Manager,”. It’s very general, but it’s preferred. If you know the name of the manager, but are unsure of their gender, you can simply address them as their full name. Otherwise, use Mr./Ms. First + Last
Your (Updated) Contact Information. Yes, your resume has your contact information on it, but you should consider your cover letter a separate entity and have all the main information a hiring manager needs to contact you. Be sure to update your contact information as soon as you move, get a new phone number, or email address. Your email address should be as professional and as close to your real name as possible and should avoid vulgar language, too many numbers, or being too long.
A Focus on Your Skill Set & Experience. The cover letter is the extension to the resume you didn’t realize you needed. It can be daunting to write when applying to multiple companies, but it’s the best way to clear up any questions your resume may bring up. Focusing on skills and experience is obvious and is the whole point of the cover letter, but highlighting those points shows the hiring manager the level of expertise you bring to the company and that position.
A Special Focus on the Skills You’ve Mastered. Make a point to shout out the skills you’ve mastered. If a skill you have increased revenue for your previous employer, put a special focus on that so the hiring manager has a quantitative measurement of what you have to offer.
Accomplishments. List any awards you’ve won, certificates you’ve earned, any professional organizations you’re a member of, any relevant volunteer work you’ve completed that adds to your list of qualified traits.
Passion. Don’t just show your worth – show that you care about the position and aren’t just applying because you need a job. If you demonstrate your knowledge on the organizations vision and mission statement and relate it back to your own goals, it adds an extra layer to your qualifications that says that you want to do the job.
A Yearning to Learn. You don’t know everything, and that’s okay. You should not dwell on requirements you don’t know, but you should convey that you are willing to learn anything to get the job done right. So not only will you be a qualified candidate showing genuine interest, but you’ll be a candidate that employers can mold to be the next leaders of the company.
What NOT to Include in Your Cover Letter
Typos. Cover letters are professional self-marketing tools, so the last thing you want to do is show hiring managers that you don’t take the time to run spell-check. There are plenty of online and downloadable programs you can use to weed out any spelling errors and grammatical issues, so use them!
Explaining your lack of certain skills. If it’s a required skill, insist that instead of not being knowledgeable, that you are willing, or have even began the process to learn the skill and that it won’t impede on your ability to do your job. On the flip side, focus on other skills that you are proficient or have mastered to take the attention off of skills you haven’t yet obtained.
Money talk. Mentioning money before evening being offered the job comes off as pushy and disingenuous. Money is important, sure, but to get to that step, you need to prove that you’re even worth that conversation to those doing the hiring (spoiler alert: you are TOTALLY worth it – but don’t jump the gun, okay?).
Long paragraphs. Your cover letter doesn’t have to be the standard three paragraphs, but it should only fit on one page and should be easy to read and digest. Longer paragraphs can be tedious to get through, so either break up your paragraphs or cut back on the content. Most of the time, you can say the same thing in a shorter, more concise way.
Long sentences. To piggyback off the first point, your sentences should not be long and run on for line after line. Keep it clear and concise. Your cover letter is one of many that the recruiter has to read, so don’t bore or overwhelm them with wordy sentences.
Vagueness. The best way to impress the person reading your cover letter is to exemplify clear, detailed statements and explanations of your accomplishments. Being vague by simply saying that you have experience in what the company is hiring for isn’t good enough. Revise the statement to include how many years you’ve worked in the relevant position, the skills you’ve obtained, growth opportunities you’ve be awarded, actual awards, etc. This demonstrates your mastery level and gives the hiring manager a better idea of how you will be an asset.
Informality. Remember, a cover letter is a professional piece of writing that is meant to market YOU. Being informal can show that you don’t care.
No specificity. Avoid using the exact same cover letter that you’ve submitted previously at all costs. This is a recipe for disaster, not to mention it’s not very genuine. There is nothing wrong with using a previous cover letter as a template, but make sure you pay close attention to the relevancy of the content and cater it to that particular job and Though you may have applied for other positions just like it, every company is different so including aspects of the company can alleviate this problem.
Irrelevant facts. As interesting as you may think something is, if it has little or nothing to do with the position you’re applying for, do not include it. It would be a waste of space and time to read.
