In Uni, you’re going to require a resume when applying for various things. These may include casual jobs, club positions, internships, etc. 

To maximise your chances of getting such positions, you need to have a good resume! Creating an effective resume requires more than just listing your academic achievements—it's about showcasing your skills, experiences, and potential. 

Resumes aren’t easy to write, so here’s a short guide that you can use to craft one that stands out. 

Structure

Firstly, let’s go through everything that a resume should include. 

 

Contact Information

A resume should start with contact information. This includes your full name, phone number and email address. Your name should be bold and written in a large font, with the other details written below it. Make sure your email address is professional – don’t use that cringy one you created in Year 7! You may also choose to include your address, as some employers like to hire people that live locally. 

 

Objective or Personal Statement

In this section, you should write 1-3 sentences that highlight your goals and any key qualifications or skills. For example, if you were looking for a part time job to balance alongside studies, you should clearly mention that in this section. You can also write about what you are hoping to get out of the role you’re applying for and how it relates to any career aspirations. 

It is important that you tailor this section to match the job. A retail employer is not going to care if you are skilful in MATLAB – they’d rather know if you can speak another language or have experience working in fast paced environments. 

 

Education

In a section titled education, list your university, degree, major, and expected graduation date. 

You should also include any relevant academic achievements, such as scholarships or honours. You can also mention the certificate you completed in high school, like the VCE or HSC. However, you don’t want to mention that random academic award you received in Year 8. 

 

Certifications 

It is useful to add any certifications that you may have on your resume. These may include first aid certificates or your RSA. These are very appealing to employers!

 

Work Experience

Having a section for work experience is very important. Here, you should detail any job or volunteer positions you’ve had, including the company your worked for. It should be arranged in chronological order, with the most recent at the top. Use bullet points to describe your responsibilities, emphasise any skills you gained or responsibilities you had. 

Don’t forget to include the dates/duration that you had the job for. 

Here’s an example:

The Sunshine News 

Newspaper Editor, May 2022 – August 2022

  • Edited articles submitted to the newspaper. 

  • Planned the content to be included in each edition of the newspaper.

 

Key Skills

Under a heading titled ‘skills,’ list out any hard and soft skills you have, with a very short description. 

Hard skills are specific, measurable abilities acquired through education or experience. These may include competency with a software package or familiarity with a coding language. Soft skills are non-technical attributes like communication, teamwork, and time-management, and are developed through life experiences. They’re both important to have!

Don’t list out every single skill that you are good at, its best to keep this list short, but specific. Therefore, make sure you list out the skills that make you unique from other people and are most relevant to the job. 

 

Extracurricular Activities

In this section, showcase involvement in clubs, organizations, or community service. You might be in a sporting club, have a passion for performing or are secretary of a university club. Emphasize leadership roles or special projects that demonstrate initiative and teamwork.

Showcasing your extracurricular activities tell your employer that you’re a well-rounded individual.

 

References

Referees are individuals that are familiar with your capabilities, often from past workplaces, university, or activities like volunteering. Employers may contact them to gather additional information or address concerns during the hiring process, so it's crucial to select referees who can confidently speak about your skills. 

You may choose to write ‘references available upon request’ or list out each by their name, contact details and relationship to you. 

 

Formatting Advice

It’s important that your resume is formatted well and easy to navigate. Therefore, ensure that you use a clear font (such as Calibri or Arial) and keep your font size between 10 and 12. 

Make your headings stand out by bolding the text and use lines and gaps to separate sections. Don’t make your resume too colourful, but you might decide to implement one colour for use as headings or lines between sections. 

Also, make sure you are consistent in your use of punctuation throughout the document. For example, make you decide whether you’re going to have a period at the end of a bullet point or not. On that note, make sure all your bullet points are aligned. 

If you’re having trouble formatting your resume, there are plenty of ready-made templates that you can use!

 

General Tips

  • Make sure that you customize your resume for each position by emphasizing experiences and skills relevant to the specific role.

  • Whenever possible, use numbers to quantify your achievements, showcasing your impact.

  • Avoid using the word ‘I’ or any other first person pronouns. 

  • Aim to keep your resume within two pages, by focusing on the most relevant information.

  • Make sure you read over your resume multiple times and check for typos and grammatical errors.

  • Use strong action oriented words. Avoid simple words like completed or did and use words like delegated, developed, and executed. 

Hopefully this article gave you some insight into how you can craft a great resume. There are lots of other online resources that you can use to help you, and oftentimes, your university may also host workshops to help you out on writing resumes. Writing a good resume takes time and skill, so just keep working on it!