What You Should (And Shouldn’t) Be Including In Your Resume and Cover Letter

Oh boy. It’s that time again: time to brush up the resume and cover letter so you can land the job of your dreams. If you’ve recently entered the job market, this might seem like the easiest part of the process. But many people just like you find themselves submitting resume after resume with few or no responses. What are employers looking for? What makes them decide when to move forward with a candidate? How do you capture and present your experience in just a page or two?

These are all great questions, and the answers require a lot of discussion. This post will address the most basic question: What should (and shouldn’t) be on your resume in the first place?

Sectioning Your Resume

First, consider the categories of information you need to include. A six-section format is best, and you can adjust it based on your background.

1. Contact Information – include this at the top of your resume and, at minimum, provide your name, phone number, email address, and location (city & state or full address).
2. Summary & Goals – in 2-3 sentences summarize your relevant background and experience while highlighting your UVP (Unique Value Proposition). Lastly, emphasize how your particular set of skills can be of value to your next organization.
3. Skills – give the employer a list of 4-5 important skills you have that are applicable to the position. This is also where you’ll put your technology skills like Microsoft Office, Adobe, office applications, etc.
4. Work History – this is where you’ll include your previous experience with 2-4 bullet points detailing your job responsibilities (and the accomplishments/results of those responsibilities).
5. Education – your degrees, certifications, and any other education-related accomplishments should go here.

What to Include

Now to address the meat of your resume: what should you include in your resume and cover letter to get an employer’s attention? 

This is not a simple question to answer, but here are some solid guidelines to get you started:

• Read the job description thoroughly and note the specific experience and education they are requiring. These should each be called out on your resume. Even if you haven’t completed a certification, or have less experience than they are requiring, include it anyway. Some employers will accept fewer years of experience if they feel you can offset it somewhere else.
• Include start and end dates for each past position. If you have short periods of employment or employment gaps, don’t sweat it. In such a connected world – and especially in a near-post-pandemic world – it is not uncommon anymore for professionals to move to new positions frequently.
• Include a link to your LinkedIn profile. While your resume should only be a page or two, your LinkedIn profile can tell a much bigger story and include recommendations and other information that can move you to the top of the stack.
• Prioritize positions that are most relevant over a timeline-based strategy. Experience is experience, no matter how recent. If you took two years off to work at a coffee shop in France, include it with a brief description and move on to the positions they care about.
• Highlight accomplishments. Use the S.T.A.R method (Situation Task Action Result) to emphasize your impact within each role while adding context and detail to establish credibility.
• Get creative. When you find a job you want, but find you are lacking experience in an area or two, get creative. If you’re applying to a bank, you can likely find past positions that required you to manage money, even if it wasn’t the primary focus of the job.
• Wordsmith with passion. Employers are looking for committed and passionate people to interview. While skills and experience are important, it can go a long way to infuse some enthusiasm into your resume and work your personality into your cover letter.

What Not to Include

While staying focused on the meat of your resume is important, there are also a few things you should avoid.

• Don’t include any negative statements about a previous employer or experience. Find the good, and focus on that.
• Keep your descriptions pointed and as brief as possible. In most industries, you should sum up each position in 2-4 single sentence bullet points.
• Don’t include education or certifications that aren’t relevant to the job you want. It would certainly be impressive to be a certified underwater basket weaver, but it could lead a biology lab manager to believe you accidentally applied for the wrong job.
• Be honest in your resume and cover letter. Exaggerations are innocent enough, but with the inter-connectedness of our world today, dishonesty will likely come back to bite you.
• Don’t go overboard with resume graphics. Often simplicity is best – you want your experience to tell your story, and flashy graphics can distract from what you offer.

At the end of the day, remember this: relevance and personality go a long way on a resume. If you can go back to the job description and find somewhere on your resume and cover letter where you addressed each requirement, you’ll greatly increase your likelihood of getting an interview. 

If you’re looking for help to land your next position, consider reaching out to a personal coach for help. Guidance from a professional can help you make small and simple changes that can make a big difference.

If you’re still struggling with the tedious task of accurately capturing the essence of your personal and professional brand I’d love to help! You can book a free consultation with me at www.uworkresume.com/book-now

Regardless of if we work together or not I promise you’ll leave the conversation with a renewed sense of purpose and a wealth of knowledge 🙂