No matter who you are or what your major is, at some point in your life you will have to write a resume. The purpose of a resume is to summarize for a potential employer your educational background, relevant past experience, and the skills you have gained as a result.
Often a resume will be scanned through an applicant tracking system (ATS), which narrows down and churns out the top candidates from what could be hundreds or even thousands of applicants. The Greene Center for Career Education & Connections has excellent resources, like Quinncia, to help you get your resume into the hands of a hiring manager instead of stuck in an auto-reject pile. ATSs can filter out resumes for a variety of reasons like typos, grammatical errors, too many or unreadable font types, and unconventional margin sizes. And while ATSs can scan more than one page in no time at all, hiring managers may spend as little as thirty seconds perusing a resume, so you’ll want to make yours as comprehensible and efficient as possible. And that means no more than a single 8.5×11 page.
This fact is especially problematic if you’re anything like me: an extra-curricular octopus who stretches herself in every direction. In another dimension, my resume would be the length of a graduate thesis. But alas, one page it is.
Here are some tips to help you get the most out of your single page:
- Goodbye, High School
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College is a time of growth, and as our interests and passions develop, the high school version of yourself may turn out to be someone you barely recognize. The music geek may have turned pre-law, and that’s perfectly okay! It doesn’t mean that your experiences in a concert band six years ago were not beneficial, but it may mean that such accomplishments aren’t relevant to a potential employer. You only have so much real estate to tell your professional story, so use it wisely. By your sophomore or junior year in college, the high school section is redundant, especially when it would be listed not even an inch below the college you attend(ed). When it comes to high school details, leave them for LinkedIn.
- Take the Time to Tailor
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One of the most important things to remember is to keep your resume focused on the ultimate goal: getting that specific job. Not just a job – That job.
Although “quick apply” buttons are tempting, it is important to set aside the time necessary to adjust your resume to the position each time you’re applying. In the professional world, using a generic resume for multiple jobs can be a fatal flaw. For one, it could signal to a hiring manager that you didn’t put in the effort. It could indicate that you didn’t bother to consider the requirements of the position.
Additionally, applicant tracking systems can scan for keywords, so be sure to pull language from the job description when bulleting your previous responsibilities at work and choosing which skills to highlight. In fact, resumes with more keywords are scored higher, and the candidates are more likely to make it to the next round. On the other hand, if Microsoft Excel and Python are both required for a software engineering internship, a generic resume that misses one or both of these can get filtered out of the applicant pool. Be sure to thoroughly probe the job description, and then do your best to show that you have what it takes to successfully complete the responsibilities of that position.
- Subcategorize Your Skills
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Another trick you can use to save space would be to organize your skills into horizontal subsections with the most relevant skills listed first. Categories may include languages, software programs, social media platforms, lab instrumentation/techniques, certifications, interpersonal skills, and/or technical knowledge. Remember: when a resume is scanned through an ATS, it can only be read left to right, so be sure to separate each skill using a comma, like this:
Languages: Fluent in English, conversational French
Software: Adobe Creative Cloud Suite, Logic Pro X, Microsoft Office
Social Media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter
Creating subsections prevents too much empty space from accumulating on the right side of the page, and ultimately leaves you with more space to tell your story.
One is an incredibly limiting number, but when tailored strategically, the one-page resume can be a powerful tool that will set you on the right path to getting hired. Resume writing is no time to take the easy way out. Just be thankful that your job application is no thesis required!
To see sample resumes from different disciplines or to download a college resume formatting template, click here!