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Analyse  |
The first step in building a great résumé is to analyze how your skills, experiences and personal attributes fit the job requirements.
To do this, you must first understand what the employer is looking for. Job descriptions provide candidates with information on what they need to be successful in the job. They outline any required experience, education, knowledge, technical and transferable skills well as personal attributes.
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Be sure to read the job description thoroughly. |
You’ll want to list these requirements outlined by the employer in the job description, in a chart within a column entitled What the employer wants. Finally, identify evidence of how you meet the job requirements. This can come from various experiences such as: volunteer work, part-time jobs, extracurricular activities, personal projects, and online courses. You may want to list this evidence in a second column of the chart entitled  Evidence I have itLearn more about analyzing your skills, experiences and personal attributes.
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Design and create  |
The next step is creating a great résumé that demonstrates how your past experiences qualify you for job you’re applying to.
A great résumé includes a combination of your skills, characteristics and attitude. When you are creating your résumé, the central organizing principle is relevance, how you decide what goes on the résumé and where it goes.
Basic information processing in English runs from top to bottom, left to right, with readers processing the information at the top of the page as most important. Knowing this, you want to organize your document, accordingly, arranging your sections in order of relevance to the job. You know what’s most relevant based on the analysis you’ve done of the job posting.
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Also at this stage, you want to articulate the experiences you’ve identified that showcase how you demonstrate the skills the employer is seeking. Be sure to do so in an action- and outcome-oriented way. |
Looking at the chart you developed in the Analyse phase, you will need to describe your experiences thinking through three components of information:
WHAT you did
HOW you did it
WHY you did it.
This is because simply stating what you did is often not enough in making the argument why a particular achievement or task is relevant to your argument for why you’re qualified for a particular role.
Example chat filled out below:
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Experience  |
What the employer wants: | Evidence I have it: | Bullet point: |
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Education |
What the employer wants: | Evidence I have it: | Bullet point: |
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Knowledge  |
What the employer wants: | Evidence I have it: | Bullet point: |
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Technical skills |
What the employer wants: | Evidence I have it: | Bullet point: |
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Transferable skills  |
FINISH FORMATTING SECTION ONCE CONTENT IS CLEARED UP
Ability to work independently Worked independently as a PhD and MSc student
Independently wrote two successful grant applications; awarded $50,000 of research funding
Ability to work as part of a team/ collaborate with campus and community partners
Collaborated with colleagues as a researcher
Worked with industry stakeholders on various projects
Collaborated with three colleagues to write a research report which was published in an academic journal
Developed relationship with industry stakeholders to clarify expectations and ensure specifications were built into predictive model
Ability to relate to students in a manner which builds trust and confidence
Interpersonal skills/empathetic
Built rapport with students as a teaching assistant; tutorials, office hours, emails, discussion boards (won TA award)
As volunteer orientation facilitator, worked directly with international students adjusting to life at UW
Won a Teaching Assistant Award for demonstrating teaching excellence within the Faculty of Engineering; nominated by students
Facilitated discussions and information sharing (in English and Farsi) with students regarding cross-cultural living and learning by establishing a respectful environment for open conversation
  Public speaking skills
Research presentations in courses, at brown bags, defense, conferences, etc.
Tutorials as a TA
Presented at an international conference and was subsequently invited by one of the attendees to give a lecture at their institution as part of a guest speaker series
Presented complex concepts in a clear, concise manner for up to 30 students during weekly tutorials using PowerPoint slides and interactive activities
Oral and written communication skills
Successful grant applications
Publications in academic journals
Independently wrote two successful grant applications; awarded $50,000 of research funding
Collaborated with three colleagues to write a research report which was published in an academic journal
Problem-solving skills
Helped students develop their problem solving skills
Mentored co-op student programmer in approaches to problem solving to effectively trouble-shoot and communicate with industry partners
Demonstrated initiative in developing new and improved services to meet the challenging needs of students and staff
 Ability to facilitate strong relationships with community partners
Built relationships with industry partners on various projects
Developed relationship with industry stakeholders to clarify expectations and ensure specifications were built into predictive model
Organization and project management 
Managed multiple research projects as grad student (balanced this with courses, teaching, extracurricular commitments, etc.)
Efficiently managed the design and implementation of multiple research projects by prioritizing tasks and adapting to changes in project timelines as they arose
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Personal attributes |
What the employer wants:
Evidence I have it:
Bullet point:
Self-confident, outgoing, personally engaging
Outgoing and enthusiastic personality evident through my interactions with students
Learn more about designing and creating your résumé.
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Test and refine  |
Once you have developed a clear and logical structure for your document, as well as crafted bullets that convey the relevance of a particular task convincingly, the third step in building a great résumé is to test and refine yours accordingly.
This requires doing a more detailed analysis of the elements that are most relevant in your document, including evidence on how your skills have developed. and most solid evidence for a particular skill set you’re making a claim about.
This might mean that you reorder bullets under certain role or project headings to ensure the most relevant bullet or most impressive achievement stands out primarily. When you’re completely satisfied with the structure and organization of your document, you will need to make sure that it’s formatted so that it adds to your argument.
Take a look at this helpful checklist to verify your document is as effective as possible.
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Résumé checklist |
https://careerhub.uwaterloo.ca/Private/assets/pdf/Marketing/Resume-Checklist-2015.pdf
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Note: Not everything on this checklist will be relevant to you. Use what is applicable to your situation. |
Examples by section
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Good résumé:
Navid put the “Education” section immediately following the “Summary of Qualifications” section.
Great résumé:
Navid moved “Education” to the second page of his résumé so that “Relevant Experience” immediately follows “Summary of Qualifications”.
Rationale:
Navid moved “Education” further down on his résumé because the skills he used to earn his degrees are more important to highlight than the actual credentials. Further to this point, although the job description asks for a master’s degree, Navid knows that he is not automatically qualified (or overqualified) for this position just because he has a PhD.
Navid realizes that he needs to provide evidence of the relevant skills he developed throughout his education. This evidence can be found under his role as a doctoral researcher and within his “Relevant Projects” section — both of which appear before the “Education” section.
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Good rĂ©sumĂ©: Navid wrote the first point of his “Summary of Qualifications” as follows: Â
Great résumé: Navid added the amount of experience he has in a university environment to the beginning of this first point. It now reads as follows:
Rationale: Because the job description states that XYZ University is seeking someone with “2 to 3 years of university (or related) experience” Navid wants to clearly indicate that he meets this key qualification. He recognizes that it’s a good strategy to start with a strong, quantified experience bullet in the “Summary of Qualifications” section and to frame his experience in such a way as to map it onto the job description. |
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Good rĂ©sumĂ©: Navid wrote the second point of his “Summary of Qualifications” as follows: Â
Great rĂ©sumĂ©: Navid added additional information to the end of this second bullet in the “Summary of Qualifications” section. The point now reads as follows: Â
Rationale: By adding that he won a student-nominated Teaching Assistant Award, Navid provides the employer with direct evidence that he is well-liked and able to connect with students. This statement also indicates to the employer where he/she can find additional evidence in support of the claim that Navid has exceptional interpersonal skills (i.e., under his Teaching Assistant role).  |
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Good résumé: Under his role as a doctoral researcher, Navid put the following bullet point first:
Great résumé: Under his role as a doctoral researcher, Navid reordered his bullet points. “Independently wrote two...” is now the fourth bullet rather than the first. Rationale: By moving this point further down under his Doctoral Researcher role, Navid is able to highlight his experience supervising students as well as his collaboration and presentation skills before drawing attention to his written communication skills. Based on the job description, Navid believes these skills are more central to the role than written communication. He also knows that it’s important to strategically organize his résumé, so the most relevant information appears first. |
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Good résumé: Navid worded the fifth bullet point under Doctoral Researcher as follows:
Great résumé: Navid added more information to this bullet point to highlight the impact of his actions. It now reads as follows:
Rationale: Rather than simply listing that he presented at a conference, Navid has identified the positive outcome that stemmed from this action. By adding that his presentation resulted in an invitation to present again, Navid provides tangible evidence of his ability to successfully engage an audience. |
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Good rĂ©sumĂ©:  Under Navid’s first relevant project, he described his data analysis evidence as follows: Â
Great rĂ©sumĂ©:  Navid altered this bullet point to make it less technical and content specific. It now reads as follows: Â
Rationale: Navid removed the specific content information from this bullet point because it is irrelevant to the position. Including extraneous technical details that are not meaningful to the employer distracts from Navid’s argument and makes it weaker. However, by describing his data analysis skills in more general terms (e.g., “quantitative analysis techniques”, “predict outcomes”), Navid focuses on the most applicable aspects of his knowledge for this particular job.  |
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Good résumé: Under his “Activities and Interests” section, Navid listed his role as a graduate student representative as well as his interest in yoga, chess and trivia.  Great résumé: Navid reformatted his “Activities and Interests” section and added more information. He specified his role in the various activities, the name of the organizing body and when he was a part of the activity.  Rationale: By adding additional contextual information and reformatting this section, Navid maintains the same professional formatting that appears in the rest of the résumé rather than having a list of activities and interests that appears like a brief afterthought at the end of the document.  |
Examples by role
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Good résumé: Navid worded the second bullet point under his teaching assistant experience as follows: Gave weekly tutorials to undergraduate students on various engineering topics. Great résumé: Navid refined his wording choice for this bullet point and added additional information. It now reads as follows: Presented complex concepts in a clear, concise manner for up to 30 students during weekly tutorials using PowerPoint slides and interactive activities. Rationale: Navid changed the verb in this bullet point from “gave” to “presented” because the latter is a strong, action-oriented verb that is clearly associated with a skill set that Navid made claims about in his “Summary of Qualifications” — namely, communication skills. He also explained how he presented the information using PowerPoint slides and interactive activities to refer to his computer proficiency and to highlight his engagement with students. |
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Good résumé:
Under his international orientation facilitator role, Navid described his experience using the following two bullets: Enthusiastically encouraged student participation and engagement in social activities by facilitating personal connections among participants Facilitated discussions and information sharing (in English and Farsi) with students regarding cross-cultural living and learning by establishing a respectful environment for open conversation.
Great résumé:
Slightly altering these two bullets, Navid highlighted that he worked specifically with first year students: Enthusiastically encouraged first year student participation and engagement in social activities by facilitating personal connections among participants Facilitated discussions and information sharing (in English and Farsi) with first year students regarding cross-cultural living and learning by establishing a respectful environment for open conversation.
Rationale:
By specifying that he worked with first year students and not just students in general, Navid can show greater alignment between his experience and what the employer is looking for. The job description explicitly states that supporting first year students is a critical component of the Student Success Centre’s programmingLearn more about Analyzing your skills, experiences and personal attributes.