Whether you're applying for an internship, job, or graduate program, your resumé is a personal marketing tool that tells employers:
“I’m qualified, I’m capable, and I’m ready to contribute.”
This page walks you through how to build a strong, strategic, and professional resumé—step by step. You’ll learn how to format your resumé correctly, write bullet points that highlight your impact, and prepare it to pass applicant tracking systems (ATS).
A resumé is a professional summary that markets your most relevant qualifications to an employer. It highlights your education, experience, skills, and accomplishments in a format that is clear, concise, and tailored to the specific position you’re seeking.
The purpose of a resumé is to quickly communicate to the employer:
A well-crafted resumé should answer three key questions:
A resumé is not a comprehensive list of everything you’ve ever done—it’s a strategic marketing document that is achievements based and highlights your most relevant qualifications for a specific opportunity. The primary goal is to get you the interview. Most employers only spend 10–15 seconds scanning a resumé at first glance, so it must be clear, targeted, and results-driven.
Lists your experience starting with the most recent and working backward.
Best for: Students with consistent work, internship, or leadership experience
ATS-friendly: Yes
Organized by skill categories rather than job titles.
Best for: Career changers, students with limited experience, or gaps in employment
ATS-friendly: Use with caution—some systems may not parse it correctly
Highlights skill categories or projects first, followed by chronological work history.
Best for: Students with project-based or transferable experience
ATS-friendly: If formatted clearly
The following sections are commonly included on a student resumé. You may not have all of these—and that’s okay. Choose the sections that best highlight your background and are most relevant to the opportunity you’re applying for.
1. Contact Information
Include:
Do not include your home address, photo, birthdate, or personal details.
Example
Jane Smith
Orem, UT | 801-555-5555 | [email protected] | https://www.linkedin.com/in/janesmith
2. Professional Summary (Optional)
A short branding statement (2–3 sentences) that explains what you bring to the table. Focus on value, not personal goals. Do not include any personal pronouns.
Example:
Marketing student with internship experience in digital campaigns and event planning. Skilled in Canva, content creation, and driving engagement through targeted strategy.
3. Education
Include educational information for degrees that are completed and/or in progress. List the most recent degree first. If you are a current college student.... or a college graduate .... do not include high school information. GPA should only be listed if it’s 3.5 and above. Relevant coursework may be listed as a sub-heading. Use bullet points to list course titles, or separate titles by commas.
Example:
Bachelor of Science, Psychology
Utah Valley University, Orem, UTAnticipated Graduation, May 2026
Relevant Coursework
4. Certifications
List current, relevant certifications with expiration or completion dates.
Examples:
5. Achievements
Use this section to showcase academic and professional honors. If you include an ‘Achievements’ section, GPA may be listed here instead of in the ‘Education’ section if you prefer.
Examples:
6. Skills
Include technical or job-specific skills relevant to the role. Group by category if needed.
Example 1:
Example 2:
Avoid generic soft skills such as organized, time management, teamwork, hard worker, etc. Show those through your experience bullet points instead.
7. Work Experience
This section tells employers how you've applied your skills in real-world settings. It includes jobs, internships, leadership roles, volunteer work, or relevant freelance experience.
Formatting Basics
Sample Experience Entry
Utah Valley University - Career & Internship Center, Orem, UT
Peer Career Advisor Aug 2023-Present
8. Leadership Experience (optional)
9. Project Experience (optional)
Not every student will have all of these sections. If a section doesn’t apply to you, leave it off and focus on what is relevant and current.
Your bullet points are not just task lists—they’re proof of your value.
Use this formula for each one:
Strong Action Verb + Accomplishment + Outcome/Result
Your bullet points should be detailed and specific, helping the reader understand exactly what you did, how you did it, and how it added value. Avoid vague or generic phrases—employers want to see the impact of your work clearly.
Before and After Bullet Point Examples
Weak:
Strong:
After polishing your resumé, save it as a PDF and upload it to Handshake—our online platform that connects you with internships, part-time jobs, full-time roles, and exclusive events.
Keep your resumé updated each semester to reflect new skills, roles, and achievements.
Want instant, personalized feedback on your resumé? Use Quinncia, our AI-powered resumé review tool designed specifically for students. Upload your resumé and get detailed insights on formatting, grammar, word choice, and how well your content aligns with your desired industry.
Quinncia provides:
An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a type of software used by nearly 90% of employers to manage and filter job applications. It acts as a digital gatekeeper, scanning resumés to determine which candidates are the best match before a hiring manager ever reviews them.
Whether you're applying through a job board like LinkedIn or Indeed—or directly through a company’s website—your resumé almost always goes through an ATS.
These systems extract plain text from your document, parse the information into structured data fields (like education, skills, and job titles) using an algorithm, and then scans for keywords and phrases that align with the job description. And here’s the hard truth: Roughly 70–80% of resumes never make it past the ATS.
That means even highly qualified candidates can get rejected—not because they lack experience, but because their resumé wasn’t formatted correctly or didn’t include the right keywords.
Avoid:
Use 11–12 pt for body text, with slightly larger font sizes for your name and section headers. Avoid using more than two different font styles and three sizes total.
Want to know if your resume will pass the test? Here’s a quick trick:
While two-column resumes might look modern and sleek, most ATS systems can't interpret content in the second column. This can lead to missing or misplaced information. Play it safe: Use a clean, single-column layout for any job you’re applying to online.
Note: This doesn’t mean you can’t organize specific sections (like Relevant Coursework or Skills) into two or three bullet columns within a single-column resume. That’s totally fine. ATS systems can still read those because the layout remains linear, and content stays within one main text stream. It’s the overall two-column structure—where entire sections like experience or education are off to the side—that causes problems.
Make sure your resumé doesn’t get filtered out by technology before a human ever sees it.
DOWNLOAD OUR FULL ATS RESUMÉ GUIDE This comprehensive handout includes formatting tips and real-world dos and don’ts to help you create a polished, professional resume that makes it past ATS and into the hands of hiring managers.
Use these strong action verbs to enhance your resumé and clearly showcase your skills, achievements, and experience. These verbs are categorized to help you select the most appropriate language for various types of roles and responsibilities.
Leadership
Communication
Research & Analysis
Technical
Creative
Financial
Teaching & Training
Problem-Solving
Teamwork
Sales & Customer Service
Operations & Logistics
Achievement-Oriented
