NAU Career Services

Resume Elements

 

Element	Include	Tips
Heading	Include first and last name, address where you are currently receiving mail, phone number and email address at the top of the page. Make sure to include your area code and zip code.	Be sure to use an appropriate email address, such as Louie.Lumberjack@yahoo.com and make sure your voicemail message is appropriate for potential employers. The font size for your heading can be slightly larger than the rest of your resume.
Education	Name of school, City/State location of school, degree received or in progress, major/minor, graduation or expected graduation date.	List the highest degree completed/in progress first. You do not need to include high school or schools you attended where no degree was earned. Do include Associate degrees, technical training or certificates earned. You may also choose to include relevant course work, honors and GPA in this section. (Only list GPA if above a 3.0 and/or if required by job description.)
Experience	List paid and unpaid experience relevant to the job to which you’re applying. Include job title, name of organization, city and state and dates of employment/ involvement (in a month/ year format). Emphasize tasks, skills, abilities and accomplishments in a bulleted list format, starting with an action verb.	Qualify and quantify to make descriptions more specific to you. List in reverse chronological order (starting with most recent). You may consider breaking this information down into multiple sections, such as Relevant Experience and Additional Work Experience to highlight specific experiences. This section could include internships, work experience and relevant volunteer experience.
Summary of Qualifications	Bullet points of top 3-5 skills/qualifications you have that match the job description.	Refer to the job description and use similar language/key words when highlighting your skills. Be concise; full sentences are not necessary.
Class Projects	List relevant projects completed in your courses. Consider group work, research, lab skills and software/programming languages used.	This shows that you have hands-on experience, even if you have limited work or volunteer experience in the field.
Skills Certifications	List specific computer skills, lab techniques,office skills, certifications or proficiencies in foreign languages as relevant to the job description.	Skills/certifications can be covered in the Summary of Qualifications or a separate section.
Honors/Awards	Recent graduates and continuing students can include academic honors, such as Dean’s List or scholarships received. This section may also include any awards or accomplishments.	This is a way to briefly mention some of your accomplishments you may bring up in an interview. You can also incorporate these items into your Education or Experience section if appropriate.
Activities Professional Memberships	Include student clubs/organizations,professional memberships and activities in which you have actively participated. List your role (i.e. Member, Vice President, Treasurer, etc.) along with your dates of involvement.	Listing your extracurricular activities is a good way to show that you are wellrounded and allows you to demonstrate leadership skills through these experiences. (Be mindful that you may be disclosing personal information about yourself to potential employers by listing your involvement in certain clubs/ organizations.)
Military Experience	List rank, separation dates (or current status) and transferrable skills gained.	This demonstrates leadership and teamwork experience in addition to the skills gained.
International Experience	Include this section if you have studied, interned or worked abroad. List name of institution attended or organization worked for, city and country, dates you were there (in month/year format), job title or Study Abroad Participant.	This section can be a great way to highlight your multicultural experience and can help you distinguish yourself in the job search. Include description of work experience, study abroad courses and language experience as applicable.
Research & Publications	Briefly describe relevant research projects. List published articles, papers or books.	If you presented your work at a conference, be sure to include that information as well.