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How to write a resume

Market your skills and experience to employers

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How to write a resume

A clear, tailored and professional resume is essential for any job application. It should aim to convince an employer that your qualifications, work experience and skillset make you a strong match for the job.

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What is a resume?

A resume, or curriculum vitae (CV), is a summary of your education, employment experience, skills and relevant aspects of your extracurricular activities. It鈥檚 also a marketing document to promote your suitability to a recruiter or prospective employer. The aim of a resume is to gain an invitation to an interview.

Your resume and cover letter may be your first contact with the employer, so it鈥檚 important to make a good first impression by presenting your qualifications, skills and achievements clearly, positively, and truthfully. You should always research your target organisation and adjust your resume to be individually tailored to each job vacancy.

Formatting your resume

Your resume may be scanned by a recruiter in as little as 10 seconds, so ensure the information is clear and easy to read.

Include key competencies from the job vacancy you are responding to, as a software program may scan for key words in the first cull of applications.

Highlight your most relevant and recent information early in your resume to encourage the recruiter to continue reading.

Use perfect spelling and grammar. Proofread and have someone else read it.

Use professional vocabulary and active verbs, eg 鈥榦rganised鈥, 鈥榓chieved鈥, 鈥榙eveloped鈥.

Know the appropriate length for your industry (1-3 pages for most industries; longer for an听academic or research resume).

Include your name and the page number in a footer from page 2 onwards.

Style it as a business document with bullet points, fonts, spacing and indentation applied in a consistent way.

Use font sizes between 10 and 12 point for body text, and larger font for headings. Arial, Tahoma or Calibri are safe resume fonts to use, but be consistent with how you use them and don鈥檛 use more than two.

Resume template

The information below is an overview of the most common elements of an Australian resume. It is not intended as a one-size-fits-all template. The resume can also be structured in the way that best presents your skills and experience. For example, if you have extensive, relevant industry experience, you might find it preferable to place 鈥楨mployment History鈥 before 鈥楨ducation鈥. Use this template as a starting point.

  • Use your name as the heading in large, bold lettering. There is no need to include the words 鈥榬esume鈥 or 鈥榗urriculum vitae鈥 anywhere in the heading.
  • Include contact phone number/s and your preferred email address. You can also add a residential address, however, this is optional. Employers will be using these details to contact you, so ensure your email address and voicemail greeting reflect your professionalism.听
  • International students or permanent residents may benefit from indicating their visa status and work rights.
  • There is no need to add extra information such as a date of birth, photo or nationality.

  • This section describes the type and level of position you are seeking and the industry or area in which you would like to be employed. A well-targeted career objective makes you look focused and enthusiastic and helps the reader interpret the information that follows in the resume.
  • The objective should be brief and realistic with a focus on what you are able to offer, eg, 鈥楽eeking a research position within Environmental Sciences where my university studies in water management and my work experience in local government environmental management can be utilised.鈥

  • This section can be useful for drawing the recruiter鈥檚 attention to your key competencies.
  • Focus on听skills听that are relevant to the job by checking the selection criteria or keywords in the job advertisement.
  • Skills can be technical (eg, experience with a particular type of software or lab procedure), industry-specific (eg, classroom management for primary school teaching) or transferable (eg, team work, leadership, time management).
  • Offer evidence when you claim to have a particular transferable skill, eg, 鈥楨xcellent written communication skills developed through activities ranging from writing complex technical reports during my science degree to press releases in my role as Publicity Officer for the Student Biological Society鈥.

  • Include your tertiary qualifications, and if recent, also your secondary qualifications. State the full name of the institution and the month and year you completed (or expect to complete) the qualification.
  • Start with your most recent qualification/studies and work backwards.
  • Other information you could include: your majors, your current grade or WAM, academic awards, merit scholarships, international exchanges, your thesis title and brief description (for research students) and any other relevant achievements.
  • Note that this is not the best place to list short courses or trade certificates unless they are relevant to the role.

Experience is a broad term that can refer to a range of practical activities. You may wish to list all of your practical experience under this heading or divide it into different categories. If you have a mix of industry relevant experience and less relevant work, you can divide the section into 鈥楻elevant Experience鈥 and 鈥極ther Experience鈥. This will ensure that the employer sees the most relevant information first. Some other possible headings are below.

  • This听is one of the more common headings for listing experience.
  • Start with your most recent job and work backwards. Include your position title, the name of the organisation and the month and year you commenced and concluded the employment.
  • List your responsibilities and any outcomes or achievements. Quantify where possible, eg, 鈥榮upervised 5 junior staff members鈥, 鈥榠ncreased monthly sales by 12%鈥.
  • Be clear about the skills you have used or developed, particularly if you have not included a skills summary on your resume.

  • You can use this heading for any听industry-related experience听you have gained as part of your degree, eg, clinical placements for Nursing, teaching practicums for Education, field education placements for Social Work.
  • List the name of the organisation, duration of the placement, responsibilities, achievements (if any) and learning outcomes.

  • This section refers to unpaid work undertaken in the not-for-profit sector, community groups, NGOs or charitable organisations. Most employers will be interested in your听voluntary work听because it offers evidence of initiative and transferable skills.
  • Lay out your experience in a similar way to your employment 鈥 title, organisation, dates, duties, achievements/outcomes.

Here you听can include student clubs and societies, sporting activities, mentoring, student representative roles and more. As with volunteering, most employers value extracurricular activities.

  • Again, lay out in the same way as your employment. Give enough detail for the employer to understand your contribution to the organisation/team/program and the skills you have used.

Include membership of any听professional associations or industry bodies.

  • Use the full and correct name of the organisation, the year of your membership, and your level of membership, eg, student, affiliate, professional, etc.

  • Relevant for applicants with听谤别蝉别补谤肠丑-产补蝉别诲听辩耻补濒颈蹿颈肠补迟颈辞苍蝉, or those seeking media/communications/writing roles.
  • List your papers and conferences in the formatting used by your industry or discipline area.
  • If applying for a non-research role, consider summarising and/or quantifying your publications or conferences, eg, published three research articles on the topic of XYZ in high impact journals, demonstrating excellent written communication skills.

You can include other relevant sections in your resume if you have a particular set of experiences that you would like to bring to the employer鈥檚 attention. Choose a clear heading that describes your experience and ensure that all points in the section are relevant to the heading. It is important that the section is closely related to the job to which you are applying. Some examples include:

  • 鈥楲eadership鈥 鈥 for students with experience in student leadership such as mentoring, executive roles in clubs/societies, student politics, or other leadership roles.
  • 鈥楥ommunity Involvement鈥 鈥 for students who are active in charity or not for profit work,听volunteering, advocacy or other community development activities.
  • 鈥楨xhibitions鈥 鈥 for students seeking work in the visual arts.

  • This should always be the last entry on your resume. List 2 or 3 referees who can comment on your work-based skills. If you prefer not to list them on your resume, simply write 鈥楢vailable on request鈥. This will allow you to check in and warn your referees before they are called. Always seek a referee鈥檚 permission before you list them in your resume and give them information about the job.
  • Choose the person who will give you the best reference, ideally, a previous work/volunteer supervisor, manager or an academic.
  • Include their name, job title, current organisation, contact details, and their relationship to you, eg, 鈥楾hesis supervisor鈥, 鈥楥urrent manager鈥, if the relationship is not clear from their job title.

Is your resume:

  • Targeted and relevant to the role and industry/type of employer?
  • Demonstrating the transferability of your experience and skills to the role?
  • Presenting your information in an accessible format that best promotes what you have to offer?
  • Clear & concise?
  • Professionally formatted with good grammar and spelling?
  • Making the best first impression possible?

Submit your resume for instant feedback on听.

Checking your resume

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automatic

CV360 helps you optimise your resume for humans and machines and is a free service for all enrolled students at the 爆料王. It provides the opportunity for all students to access immediate feedback on their resumes in a flexible and timely manner.听

听is an online tool providing instant, automated feedback on your resume with suggestions based on the features commonly assessed by Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). An ATS is the technology currently used by many employers and recruiters to screen resumes both in and out of selection processes.

CV360 provides feedback on your resume鈥檚:

  1. file type
  2. presentation
  3. structure
  4. content
  5. skills
  6. language

For further information read our听CV360 guide.

Upload your resume (ideally in Word or plain text format) onto听

CV360 feedback starts with a summary profile, gleaned from across your resume content, which provides a useful insight into how you are coming across in nutshell form in your resume eg:

鈥淛oe Student鈥檚 experience appears to be strongly concentrated in Employability Skills (mostly Critical Thinking & Problem Solving) and slightly concentrated in Common End-user Software (mostly Core Office). Joe Student鈥檚 experience appears to be entry level, with 18 months of experience.鈥

CV360 then reports on 58 different checks across the six categories (file type, presentation, structure, content, language and skills) to give your resume a score out 100. The aim is to move your score from the 鈥渞ed zone鈥 (<85%) to the 鈥済reen zone鈥 (85+%).

To do this you have the option of editing your resume based on the generated feedback, then re-submitting your resume on CV360 for a re-score. The system will encourage you to keep re-submitting until you reach a perfect score.

CV360 will rate you as either having 鈥減assed鈥 or 鈥渇ailed鈥澨 a check in each of the 6 categories and explain what the system was looking for with each check.

You have the option to 鈥渄ismiss鈥 听听comments on the CV360 feedback screen where you know the advice is not relevant to your circumstances. Every time you dismiss a 鈥渇ailed鈥 result, your score will increase. The aim is not necessarily to score 100% but to take on board the feedback and decide if it鈥檚 appropriate to apply in your circumstance, so your resume might be fine with an 87% result, for example.

You can re-submit a resume as many times as you wish/need. CV360 keeps a record of your score progression over each edit. You can also submit as many file versions of your resume as you like, for example, if you have different resumes tailored for different purposes.

It is important to bear in mind that CV360 is using general principles and guidelines to assess your resume. Its focus is on helping you to optimise your resume鈥檚 impact in an online recruitment process where a robot (ie: ATS) will assess your credentials before a human does. This means plain text and plain formatting features are required. You may still want to have a more visual presentation of your resume, if that is well regarded by your target industry, for example in design and creative professions. Keep that version for direct applications via email or to offer in person at interview, not for ATS mediated portals.听gives tips on how to recognise an ATS platform.

Also be aware that despite the predominance of ATSs in today鈥檚 recruiting environment, there is still听no one right way to write a resume. For example, some employers will stipulate a one page resume, others are happy to receive three or more pages if your work history and achievements are considerable and relevant to the job. For example, a higher degree research student could potentially have a one page resume for an industry role but a 5 page resume for an academic position. CV360 will base its assessment on a general industry standard. If in doubt, there is always room for you to research expectations in your target industry. As with any online tool, use your judgement when applying the advice from CV360.

Before submitting your resume to CV360 it is important to use the following resources to prepare and optimise your resume for feedback:

  • Attend a听 on campus.

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