How To Write A Winning Resume Guide

How To Write A Winning Resume Guide is a Villanova Career Center resource that helps students build a strong resume section by section. A resume is a self-marketing tool used to apply for jobs, internships, research experiences, graduate school, and other opportunities. It should advertise the skills, knowledge, and experiences that make a candidate a strong fit for a specific role, so students should tailor their resume whenever possible.

This guide explains how to organize resume content, format the document professionally, write meaningful descriptions, use strong action verbs, and avoid common resume mistakes. It also includes Villanova-specific sample resumes that students can use as models.

Resume formatting basics include:

  • Undergraduate and entry-level resumes are typically one page
  • Font size should usually be between 10 and 12 point
  • Margins should usually be between ½ inch and 1 inch
  • The resume should be clean, easy to read, and error-free
  • Experiences should be organized into clear sections based on the student’s background

Common resume sections include:

Contact Information
Students should include their name, email address, phone number, and optional LinkedIn profile URL. The name should be large, bold, and easy to identify. Students should use a professional email address and only include one phone number and one email address.

Profile, Summary, or Objective
This optional section can explain the type of position a student is seeking and the skills they offer. It should be short, specific, and tailored to the role. If the rest of the resume already clearly shows relevant experience, this section may not be necessary.

Education
For undergraduate students, education should usually appear first. Students should list the school name, location, degree, graduation date, major, minor, and concentration. Optional details may include GPA, major GPA, class rank, honors, scholarships, thesis, research, relevant coursework, certificates, study abroad, or other academic experiences.

Academic Projects, Papers, or Research Experience
Students can include academic projects, papers, or research to show hands-on learning that may be relevant to employers. These entries should include the project, class, organization if applicable, date or semester, and descriptions that focus on accomplishments, results, and skills.

Experience
This section can include internships, part-time jobs, summer jobs, volunteer work, externships, and other experiences. It can also be split into more specific sections, such as Work Experience, Marketing Experience, Engineering Experience, Healthcare Experience, or another industry-focused heading. Descriptions should begin with strong action verbs and focus on skills gained, contributions made, and accomplishments.

Honors and Awards
This optional section should be used when students have several honors or awards. If there are only one or two academic honors, they can often be included in the Education section instead.

Activities and Leadership
Activities and extracurriculars help show what students care about and how they spend time outside of class. This section can include campus involvement, community service, volunteer work, athletics, professional organizations, and leadership roles. Meaningful activities can include descriptions that explain responsibilities, accomplishments, and transferable skills.

Skills
A skills section should highlight hard skills, technical skills, certifications, language abilities, software, lab skills, clinical skills, or other measurable abilities. Students should avoid listing soft skills such as communication, teamwork, or responsibility by themselves. Instead, those skills should be demonstrated through bullet points in the experience, leadership, project, or activity sections.

Final resume tips from the guide include:

  • Proofread carefully and make sure the resume is free of errors
  • Avoid templates that are difficult to edit or may not work well with applicant tracking systems
  • Tailor the resume to the audience and include relevant keywords from the job description
  • Save and send the resume as a PDF unless instructed otherwise
  • Ask for feedback from the Career Center, faculty, staff, or professionals
  • Schedule a resume review appointment or visit Career Center drop-in hours for support

The guide also includes a list of descriptive action verbs students can use when writing resume bullet points. These verbs help students describe experiences more clearly and can strengthen sections related to analysis, communication, coordination, management, organization, research, teaching, helping, manufacturing, creativity, and accomplishments.

Students can use this guide to draft or revise their resume and then review the Villanova sample resumes included in the PDF for examples across different fields and experience levels.

https://connections.villanova.edu/channels/resumes-cover-letters-applying

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