When it comes to résumés, you should always keep these guidelines in mind:
- Keep your résumé to two pages
- Use white space effectively
- Use 10 to 12 size font in a professional style such as Arial; Book Antiqua; Cambria; Garamond; Calibri; Trebuchet; Verdana; Tahoma (no colors or fancy fonts)
- Align dates on the right side of the page
- Use consistent formatting (indentation, capitalization, bullets, punctuation, etc.)
- Create visual interest: Bold, italics, underline, all caps, small caps
NOTE: Teacher certification students use Education, Certification, and Teaching Experience as the first three section headings. Recruiters consistently tell us that this is what they want to see.
Résumé Heading
- Think of this as your professional letter head.
- Include full name, phone number, and email address. Physical address is optional.
- Your name should be bold and at least one font size larger than content.
- Consider including your LinkedIn URL.
- Use your school or personal email address (never work email!). Make sure the email address is professional.
Education
- List degree title, school name, city and state/country, and graduation month AND year.
- Do not include “Expected” or “Anticipated” before graduation date.
- List high school only if relevant to the job.
Deciding what to put in your résumé can be challenging. This step helps you create basic content, expand your ideas, and use strong, descriptive language. Employers want to see unique content, employing strong language and detail that sets you apart from other candidates.
Step 2 helps you develop the substantive sections of the résumé… by creating descriptive detail and concise language. On this page, we move from the big picture to the details.
Content Development
Create Section Headings
It’s best to start with the pre-determined headings. As you develop your content, you may decide to remove or include other headings.
Teaching Headings
Education*, Certification*, Teaching Experience*, Related Experience, Leadership and Activities, and References. (Optional headings: Volunteer, Honors, Skills, Professional Affiliations, etc.).
*Teaching résumés must always start with Education, Certification, and Teaching Experience.
KHE and YCS Headings
Education, Relevant Coursework, Internships, Work Experience, Leadership and Activities, Certifications, and References. (Optional headings: Volunteer, Honors, Skills, Professional Affiliations, etc.).
Additional Headings
These activities help add experience and transferrable skills to your résumé. List full name of organization or award. Spell out Greek names for honor societies, fraternities and sororities. Note leadership roles held within organizations. Include on-campus and community honors and activities.
- Licensure
- Presentations
- Organizations
- Research
- Study Abroad
- Skills
- Publications
- Notable Class Projects
List Your Teaching, Work, and Internship Employers
Some sections of your résumé are easy to complete, such as the Education, Certification, or Relevant Coursework sections. However, you may not know what to include in the Teaching Experience, Work Experience, Internship, or Related Experience sections. Under each of these section headings, list job titles and organizations where you:
- Taught (e.g., from your PDS)
- Mentored
- Interned
- Volunteered
- Worked with children
- Managed/supervised people
- Tutored
- Counseled
- Coached
- Organized events
- Trained athletes, patients, etc.
- Mentored
As you begin, you may want to include all your relevant experiences. Later you can remove jobs or experiences that are less applicable to the job for which you are applying. Remember that you have limited space on your two-page résumé.
Itemize Responsibilities, Functions, and Duties
Use the questions and examples below to help identify the main responsibilities, functions, or duties for each employer.
“What or whom did I insert verb?”
“What did I develop/perform/assess/organize/etc.?”
- Developed strength-training program.
- Performed daily administrative duties.
- Assessed student learning.
- Organized fund-raising campaign.
- Advised post-operative patients on rehabilitation schedule.
- Taught art classes at community center.
- Assisted injured athletes with evaluation and treatment.
- Managed three sales clerks.
HINT: Use the Action Verbs list to help with this exercise.
Keep the following in mind as you develop this part of your résumé:
- Start each bullet with a strong action verb.
- Include only responsibilities that are relevant to the position for which you are applying. If you are not sure what’s relevant, include everything then come back later to edit out the items of less importance.
- List the most relevant responsibilities at the top of each list.
- Do not include the same responsibility/function in multiple jobs. For example, do not list “Attended parent/teacher conference” under each of your PDS schools.
- Address classroom management, technology use, and assessment on all teaching résumés.
Individualize Your Responsibilities, Functions, and Duties
Now that you've figured out your basic responsibilities, it is time to enhance them with clarifying, quantifying, and other descriptive detail.
Ask yourself the following questions for each of your job responsibilities.
REMEMBER: Your résumé should set you apart from other candidates. These questions will help you do that!
- Why did you do it?
- How long or how many times did you do it?
- For whom did you do it?
- For how many people or classes did you do it?
- What was the result?
In short, ask… Who? What? When? Where? Why How?
Examples
Look at the difference between the generic and descriptive examples below.
Generic
- Developed strength-training program.
- Assessed student learning.
Descriptive
- Developed two strength-training programs to assist three high school soccer students recovering from pulled muscles.
- Assessed student learning through testing and observation during a three-week reading module, which resulted in a 5% increase in reading levels.
Leadership and Activities
Not everyone includes this section heading. Include this section if you've demonstrated leadership skills, such as initiative, organization, teamwork, or elected positions.
References
- Include references on a separate document. Do not add references to your résumé.
- Include at least three professional (not personal) references.
- Make sure to ask permission to use a person as a reference. You want your references to give a strong, positive recommendation.
Action Verbs
Strong action verbs express ideas in a concise and persuasive manner. They inherently carry meaning and are easier for readers to understand.
Employ strong action verbs in the simple present or simple past tense to communicate your point quickly and effectively.
Do NOT use weak verbs such as: to do, to be, to get, to go, to have, to know, and to use (utilize).
Compare the effectiveness of the following job descriptions/accomplishments using weak verbs and strong action verbs.
Weak Verbs
- Did a presentation.
- Was the boss of a team of six service employees.
- Worked with an athletic trainer on ultrasound and heat therapy treatments.
- Used new technology to increase learning.
- Got trained on consumer databases to track product orders.
- Utilized lesson plans to lead weekly science-based classes.
Strong Action Verbs
- Planned/created/conducted a presentation.
- Supervised a team of six service employees.
- Assisted an athletic trainer with ultrasound and heat therapy treatments.
- Introduced new technology to increase learning.
- Learned and implemented consumer databases to track product orders.
- Developed lesson plans to lead weekly science-based classes.
The strong action verbs convey more precise information about your competency. Also, these examples imply that you have better writing and communication skills. Anyone with experience reviewing résumés will pick up on both the overt competency and implied communication skill.
Use this list of Action Verbs to diversify, strengthen, and individualize your résumé language.
