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RĂ©sumĂš sections |
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 youâre 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 youâre completely satisfied with the structure and organization of your document, you will need to make sure that itâs formatted to add to your argument.
Navid résumé - test and refine:
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Great résumé - Navid Pishva example |
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Experience |
Good résumé | Great résumé |
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Navid put the âEducationâ section immediately following the âSummary of Qualificationsâ section. | Navid moved âEducationâ to the second page of his rĂ©sumĂ© so that âRelevant Experienceâ immediately follows âSummary of Qualificationsâ. |
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Rationale:Navid moved âEducationâ further down on his rĂ©sumĂ© because the skills he used to earn his degrees are more important to highlight than the credentials. Further to this point, although the job description asks for a masterâs 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 âRelevant Projectsâ section â both of which appear before the âEducationâ section. |
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Summary of qualifications |
Good résumé | Great résumé |
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Navid wrote the first point of his âSummary of Qualificationsâ as follows:âŻÂ
| Navid added the amount of experience he has in a university environment to the beginning of this first point. It now reads as follows:
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Rationale (first bullet point):Because the job description states that XYZ University is seeking someone with â2 to 3 years of university (or related) experienceâ Navid wants to clearly indicate that he meets this key qualification. He recognizes that itâs a good strategy to start with a strong, quantified experience bullet in the âSummary of Qualificationsâ section and to frame his experience in such a way as to map it onto the job description. |
Good résumé | Great résumé |
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Navid wrote the second point of his âSummary of Qualificationsâ as follows:âŻÂ
| Navid added additional information to the end of this second bullet in the âSummary of Qualificationsâ section. The point now reads as follows:âŻÂ
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Rationale (second bullet point):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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Doctoral researcher |
Good résumé | Great résumé |
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Under his role as a doctoral researcher, Navid put the following bullet point first:
| Under his role as a doctoral researcher, Navid reordered his bullet points. âIndependently wrote two...â is now the fourth bullet rather than the first. |
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Rationale (first bullet point):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 itâs important to strategically organize his rĂ©sumĂ©, so the most relevant information appears first. |
Good résumé | Great résumé |
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Navid worded the fifth bullet point under Doctoral Researcher as follows:
| Navid added more information to this bullet point to highlight the impact of his actions. It now reads as follows:
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Rationale (fifth bullet point):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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Teaching assistant |
Good résumé | Great résumé |
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Navid worded the second bullet point under his teaching assistant experience as follows:
| Navid refined his wording choice for this bullet point and added additional information. It now reads as follows:
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Rationale:Navid changed the verb in this bullet point from âgaveâ to âpresentedâ because the latter is a strong, action-oriented verb that is clearly associated with a skill set that Navid made claims about in his âSummary of Qualificationsâ â 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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Orientation facilitator |
Good résumé | Great résumé |
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Under his international orientation facilitator role, Navid described his experience using the following two bullets:
| Slightly altering these two bullets, Navid highlighted that he worked specifically with first year students:
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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 Centreâs programming. |
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Relevant projects |
Good résumé | Great résumé |
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Under Navidâs first relevant project, he described his data analysis evidence as follows:âŻÂ
| Navid altered this bullet point to make it less technical and content specific. It now reads as follows:âŻÂ
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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 Navidâs argument and makes it weaker. However, by describing his data analysis skills in more general terms (e.g., âquantitative analysis techniquesâ, âpredict outcomesâ), Navid focuses on the most applicable aspects of his knowledge for this particular job.âŻÂ |
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Activities and interests |
Good résumé | Great résumé |
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Under his âActivities and Interestsâ section, Navid listed his role as a graduate student representative as well as his interest in yoga, chess and trivia.âŻÂ | Navid reformatted his âActivities and Interestsâ 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.âŻÂ |
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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. |