Preparing effective resumes

Qualifications, Professional Summary, or Profile: This optional category is sometimes used by PhD/postdocs who are further along in their careers, and may need a short summary to tie together their experience across multiple pages. A well-written “Qualifications” section can focus the reader’s attention on your strengths. It must be specific, and writing a good one requires you to think carefully about exactly what you have to offer. For example:

• Meticulous public opinion researcher with experience in project management. Persuasive public speaker. Bilingual in Spanish and English. Strong interest and background in public health issues.
• Two years’ experience serving as liaison between community groups and government agencies. Familiarity with budget preparation and administration. Skill at public speaking and negotiating working relationships between public and private sector organizations.

Education: Start with your present or most recent degree program, and move backwards in reverse chronological order. If you’ve graduated from college or are about to graduate, remove your high school/secondary school. For each school, include the name of the institution and expected or awarded date of your degree (Month, Year). If you are a doctoral student who will not complete your degree for some time, date the times important milestones were completed, such as completing all coursework. List relevant courses under each degree (customized for each application), as these can serve as great keywords that help the reader understand the specific knowledge you can bring.

• Undergraduate Education Requirements
  • Official School Names
    • College: College of Arts and Sciences (note: no undergraduate may list Annenberg as their school on their resume; however, Communication majors may list “Annenberg School coursework” on their resumes.)
    • Engineering: School of Engineering & Applied Science
    • Nursing: School of Nursing
    • Wharton: The Wharton School (not Wharton School of Business)
  • Degrees.  Resumes MUST include your degree of study. Your degree(s) should be listed according to the guidelines below:
    • College: All degrees are Bachelor of Arts.  The College of Arts and Sciences does not award a Bachelor of Science degree.
    • Engineering: Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Bachelor of Applied Science, Master of Science in Engineering, Master of Biotechnology, Master of Computer and Information Technology
    • Nursing: Bachelor of Science in Nursing
    • Wharton: Bachelor of Science in Economics
  • Graduation Date.  Resumes MUST include your graduation date. List your expected graduation date (month and year), for example “May 2021”.  Do not use” “Class of 2021” or inclusive dates (i.e. 2017-2021).

Honors, Awards, and Activities: These categories can be combined with “Education” or given separate sections, depending upon how major a qualification they are for the positions that interest you. Depending on the kinds of jobs you are applying to, if you have received several prestigious and highly competitive awards, for example, you might want to highlight them with a separate section. Foreign students, in particular, should stress the degree to which an unfamiliar award was competitive. For example, “One of three selected from among 2,000 graduating chemists nationally.” If you have many awards you may choose to list just the most prestigious to save space for other relevant information. You might use a heading such as “Selected Honors and Awards.”

Career Services Resume Action Verbs

Relevant Experience: In this section, more than any other, you will emphasize material in proportion to its probable interest for a particular audience of employers. Include everything you’ve done that’s relevant, whether you did it as an employee, as an intern, as a volunteer, as a member of a student research team, or as the officer of an organization. Sometimes one general heading called “Experience” is all you need. Sometimes you will want to subdivide this section by functions (such as “Editing,” “Promotion,” and “Program Administration”), by topic (such as “New Technologies” and “Public Education”) or by industry (such as “Publishing,” “Marketing” and “Engineering”). Describe each experience to give an overview of what you did, with an emphasis on what you were able to accomplish in the position. Use verb phrases and make every word count. Avoid helping verbs (assisted, worked with, helped, responsible for, etc.). Instead, use the specific strong-action verb that reflects the part of the project that you worked on. See our cheat sheet of resume action verbs for inspiration. Ask yourself: What skills did you use? Did you use any specific software/programs? What were your accomplishments? Where possible, add quantifiable details to provide context and demonstrate positive impact.

Publications/Presentations: These are usually cited only on a resume for a research position, or on a resume for a position which requires writing for publications. In these cases, use standard bibliographic format. If you are applying for a position in a non-research setting, don’t cite publications in full. A phrase such as “Five publications in professional journals” is usually all that is necessary. This shows that you completed research projects and successfully communicated your accomplishments to a broader audience, both good skills to highlight across most fields.

Professional Memberships/Leadership Experience: List memberships or committee work in professional organizations or student groups, and describe the transferable skills you used in each case.

Civic or Community Activities/Leadership: Often employers are interested in what you do besides work. Volunteer work with charity organizations, student groups, alumni associations, or civic or political groups is of interest. Usually you don’t need detailed descriptions of these activities; however, if you want to show transferable skills, you can describe relevant accomplishments of your volunteer effort, for example: “Coordinated 12 volunteers in a fundraising effort that resulted in $53,000 in donations.” Occasionally you may be concerned about reaction to disclosing political or religious activities/affiliations. In such cases, you can use more general phrases, such as “the Pennsylvania Senatorial primary,” rather than identifying a campaign by the candidate’s name.

Research Techniques/Computer Skills, Langues (spoken or computer) or Other Specialized Skills: This section is usually in the form of a simple, specific list. Skills should only include objective, measurable skills like proficiency with languages, computer programs, laboratory procedures, programming languages, etc. Any softer skills like communication, teamwork, or industry knowledge should be illustrated, rather than stated, through your descriptions of your experiences.