With internship season on the horizon, making a good resume, or CV is essential to applications. It’s one of those things everyone knows they should have ready, but actually sitting down to make one can feel way more complicated than it needs to be.
The overall structure is pretty simple:
- Your name and information (email, phone number)
- Education
- Experience
- Projects
- Skills
A good rule of thumb I’ve picked up is that if someone can’t quickly scan your CV and understand it in under 10 seconds, it’s doing too much. Also, try and keep it under a page!
The job of a CV is to help convey to the reader/recruiter why they should hire you. Thus, it is important to highlight things that set you apart, some examples are: being an advanced Excel user, a strong internship you’ve done in the past, writing for HerCampus, or basically anything that makes you, as an applicant, stand out.
When deciding the order of your structure, focus on what is the most interesting part of your CV. If your education exceeds your work experience, put that at the top, or vice versa. There is no ‘fixed’ structure, just one that makes you the best candidate.
HerCampus has various templates for CVs open to be used, and for all the college students reading this: reach out to your college career centers for advice on your CVs!