By convention, a résumé is one page. No more, no less. A few years into your career, you’ll be struggling to fit all of your accomplishments on a single page, but when you’re applying for your first job, it can be intimidating to fill that blank expanse. Here are three things to add valuable volume.
- A “selected courses” line in your education section. Highlight three to five relevant courses that have given you skills and confidence for the job.
- A projects section or portfolio. Write bullet points detailing what you did in each project and what you learned. In the absence of relevant jobs, these projects detail your abilities and demonstrate your commitment to your chosen field.
- Accomplishments outside of academics, especially in organized competition(s). If you’re a varsity athlete, Eagle Scout, or high-ELO chess player, feature that dedication on your résumé. I’ve even heard of people getting jobs based on their high global ranking in competitive video games.
Even as you look to fill space, there are three things that I find distracting on a résumé. It’s better to have a quality résumé fill two-thirds of a page than to waste a recruiter’s time with filler sections. Here are three things to leave off your résumé.
- An untethered “skills” section. If you include a list of skills, make sure those skills are also keywords in the project descriptions.
- A summary or “about me” statement. Generally, these résumé headers say something like “Motivated, hard-working student seeking internship in software development.” Show that motivation and dedication in your activities and highlight your enthusiasm in your cover letter.
- Anything from too long ago. Where you draw this line is up to you, but don’t include your science fair trophies from middle school.
Best of luck in assembling your résumé, and remember, formatting tricks like extra line spacing and large font headings can be your friend!
Philip Kiely ’20 is the author of Writing for Software Developers and Cold Email for Interest People. He works for BaseTen. Learn more about his work and contact Philip through his website philipkiely.com.
