Whether you’re looking for scholarships or grants, are just starting out, have several years of experience, want to continue your schooling, or your position has been eliminated — everyone needs a résumé. Creating a package that includes a résumé, cover letter, references, business cards, and more — and keeping these items up to date — helps you establish and maintain a professional reputation.

BRANDING 101

Your brand is an experience people have with you, not a concept you've created. It includes what others know about you, whether it comes from your influence or someone else's. Everything you do adds to or takes away from your brand.

• Create documents using a program you are comfortable with.
• Avoid using templates.
• Understand your audience. Creative fields, such as art, advertising, and graphic design, appreciate highly designed materials and even consider them work samples. More traditional fields,  such as engineering, business, and health care, expect understated design.
•  Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are web-based tools often used by employers as a way for candidates to apply. When submitting a resume through an ATS, keep the formatting basic. Robots can't see design, they can only read content. Check out these tips!
• Use color to complement content and design elements. Recognize that some colors can be viewed as masculine/feminine.
• Traditional design elements include lines, orientation of headings, and separating categories with white space that is balanced.
• All material should be void of typos, errors, awkward white space, and inconsistencies in punctuation and font.
• When applying online, directly through a company’s website, use web-standard fonts and eliminate tables, graphics, and headers/footers.
• Have at least THREE sets of eyes review your documents before using them.
• Most recent college undergraduates have a one-page resume.  However, for graduate students and in some specific fields, a longer resume can be appropriate.  Ask your career advisor for their feedback.
• Adding your references to the bottom of the second page is a good way to fill empty space with useful information.
• Create a targeted heading as an easy way to group your most relevant experience together toward the top of your resume.
• Multiple page résumés are typically printed on separate pages instead of back to back.
• It's OK to staple or use a paper clip to hold multiple pages together.

While the temptation is to sit down with a blank page and fill it in as you go, it is better to first spend time reflecting on what you have done, the skills you have, and how you will translate your experiences and accomplishments to others.

BEFORE: Wrote weekly incident reports and submitted to housing director.

AFTER: Completed 134 annotated incident reports on roommate conflicts, lock-outs, vandalism requiring work orders, and noise complaints; received commendation from housing director for quality of reports and for never missing a deadline.

BEFORE: Assisted camp director with campers' schedules.

AFTER: Utilized leadership skills to coordinate camp schedules and weekly swim schedules of 250 campers.

BEFORE: Managed and trained switchboard staff.

AFTER: Managed and trained switchboard staff to ensure adequate coverage and excellent customer service.

BEFORE: Responsible for United Way campaign.

AFTER: Directed United Way campaign successfully reaching a $1.5 million goal.

• Objective Statements: Optional. However, a well-written objective statement can set you apart.  Keep it simple and focus on what you hope to contribute to your potential employer.
• Projects: Relevant class projects can provide evidence of real-world application of transferable skills and practical experience.
• Secondary admit: Many GV programs require a resume as part of the secondary admission process.  Be sure to follow guidelines required by your program.
• Athletics: Participation in college-level athletics can highlight campus involvement, leadership experiences, community engagement, and transferable skill development.
• Professional Summary: Can be an effective method to connect varied skills and experiences together.
• Course work: For those with limited experience in their field, or for those pursuing internships, highlighting relevant courses in the education section provides a nice set of keywords and shows what concepts/areas you’ve already been exposed to.
• Skills section: Skills sections work best when they include technical and industry related details that are directly relevant to your field.  Subheadings can be a helpful way to showcase specific sets of skills.
• Employment w/out accomplishments: Don’t discount employment that seems unrelated—often our early jobs develop professionalism and soft skills employers desire.  In some cases, it is appropriate to simply list the positions you’ve held without providing descriptions. 
• GPA: The rule of thumb in most situations is to include your GPA if it is 3.0 or above. You might want to calculate your major GPA and include that number if it is higher. 
• Study abroad: It’s a great idea to include your study abroad experience on your resume. Most often, it fits best in the Education section.
• Leadership: Employers are seeking candidates with leadership experience.  Include your leadership involvement both on campus and in the community.

Once you have your content — what you want to highlight and what you have accomplished — it’s simple to make changes according to the way you are using the content and what format you are using. Here are examples of how this might work for a student who has studied abroad, completed a senior research project, and has been a member of an e-board. 

When meeting someone in person isn’t feasible, there are other strategies for reaching out to professional networking contacts. Depending on the situation, these methods can be informal or formal.
The following methods create a first impression of your communication skills, interests and motivation, and knowledge about the organization or field.

Do I need to send a cover letter with my résumé? It is always a good idea to include a cover letter — even when it is not required — when you are applying for a position and when you will not be having a face-to-face conversation with the person in charge of hiring. Many job or internship applications only request a résumé; however, a well-written cover letter serves to introduce your résumé and gives you the opportunity to direct your reader’s attention to specific areas of your background. In addition, you can clearly outline for the employer what specifically about the job or internship is interesting to you and what appeals to you about their particular company or organization — something you cannot do with a résumé.

See a Sample Cover Letter

Thank You Letter

While a note following an interview is essential, you may also consider writing one following instances such as meeting someone at a career fair or chatting with someone over coffee. Personalize the thank you note to include details from your conversation that stuck out to you. You can also use the letter to highlight or re-emphasize details about your background/experiences/etc. that you want to make sure they remember. 

A thank you note can be a formal letter that is mailed, an email, or a written note card that is hand-delivered directly following an interview. You can be the judge for the method that will work best for your situation — just don’t forget to send one!