Resume Checklist
Resume Outline
Your resume should be a concise, one-page document with most important attributes about you.
There is no one way to write a resume, the information here should serve as a guide to help create your own, unique resume.
Resumes should be dynamic documents, changing and updating as you develop in both college and your career. Having a friend/parent proofread over it for clarity and typos when you're done is a great way to improve your resume.
Education
In this section, include your degree, major, university name, expected graduation year, and GPA (if applicable). If you have relevant coursework or academic projects, highlight them to showcase your skills and knowledge.
Bachelors of Science...
"B.S. General Engineering" or "B.S. Computer Science General Engineering Student"
"Virginia Tech" or "Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"
Expected Graduation Year
GPA
Interests, Coursework, or Current Projects.
Experience (Most Important)
Include internships, employment experiences, club involvement, etc. If you are a freshman, don’t be afraid to put your high school experience and achievements on your resume. As you progress through college, however, try to replace these with college and professional achievements.
Highlight your achievements and demonstrate measurable results by using metrics in your descriptions. For example, instead of simply stating responsibilities, quantify them to provide a clearer picture. For instance, you can mention managing a team of 50 members or increasing performance by 20%.
Highlight Soft and Technical Skills
Make it versatile
Show your work ethic and achievements
Skills
To effectively showcase your skills, start by reviewing job postings from companies or positions you're interested in. Identify the key qualifications and responsibilities mentioned—these often contain the exact skills employers are looking for.
Focus on including the skills you already possess that align with those listings. Pay special attention to keywords—employers and applicant tracking systems (ATS) often scan resumes for these terms, so using the language from job descriptions can improve your chances of getting noticed.
While "Relevant Coursework" can be a helpful starting point, aim to replace it with more substantial content over time, such as hands-on projects, internships, or technical and soft skills.
Need to build more technical or soft skills? Click here to start expanding your qualifications.
Differentiate Yourself
Standing out in a competitive job market means strategically showcasing what makes you unique. Start by researching your competition—review LinkedIn profiles of professionals currently in your target role and connect with employees to gain insight into what employers value.
Ways to stand out:
Directed Passion: Make your interests and career goals clear, especially for the long-term. Employers appreciate candidates who show focus and enthusiasm.
Personal Touches: Include hobbies, volunteer work, unique life experiences, extracurriculars, or personal projects—especially those that reflect leadership, creativity, or initiative.
Soft Skills: Highlight communication, adaptability, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, ideally supported by real-world examples.
LinkedIn Presence: Your LinkedIn profile serves as your extended resume. Make sure it's updated and include a hyperlink on your resume.
You typically have 5–10 seconds to capture a recruiter’s attention—so include "eye-catchers" where appropriate:
Security clearances or special work authorizations
GPA (if strong and recent)
Double majors or minors
Language proficiencies
Professional Language
Be concise: Avoid full sentences. Use bullet points that begin with strong action verbs.
Use impactful language: Incorporate terms like ownership, authorship, initiative, collaboration, and responsibility to convey depth and professionalism.
Mirror job descriptions: Use keywords and phrasing directly from job postings to align your resume with what employers are seeking.
Minimize acronyms: Unless they are widely recognized in your field, spell out terms for clarity.
Resume Outline
Your resume should be a concise, one-page document with most important attributes about you.
There is no one way to write a resume, the information here should serve as a guide to help create your own, unique resume.
Resumes should be dynamic documents, changing and updating as you develop in both college and your career. Having a friend/parent proofread over it for clarity and typos when you're done is a great way to improve your resume.
Education
In this section, include your degree, major, university name, expected graduation year, and GPA (if applicable). If you have relevant coursework or academic projects, highlight them to showcase your skills and knowledge.
Bachelors of Science...
"B.S. General Engineering" or "B.S. Computer Science General Engineering Student"
"Virginia Tech" or "Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"
Expected Graduation Year
GPA
Interests, Coursework, or Current Projects.
Experience (Most Important)
Include internships, employment experiences, club involvement, etc. If you are a freshman, don’t be afraid to put your high school experience and achievements on your resume. As you progress through college, however, try to replace these with college and professional achievements.
Highlight your achievements and demonstrate measurable results by using metrics in your descriptions. For example, instead of simply stating responsibilities, quantify them to provide a clearer picture. For instance, you can mention managing a team of 50 members or increasing performance by 20%.
Highlight Soft and Technical Skills
Make it versatile
Show your work ethic and achievements
Skills
To effectively showcase your skills, start by reviewing job postings from companies or positions you're interested in. Identify the key qualifications and responsibilities mentioned—these often contain the exact skills employers are looking for.
Focus on including the skills you already possess that align with those listings. Pay special attention to keywords—employers and applicant tracking systems (ATS) often scan resumes for these terms, so using the language from job descriptions can improve your chances of getting noticed.
While "Relevant Coursework" can be a helpful starting point, aim to replace it with more substantial content over time, such as hands-on projects, internships, or technical and soft skills.
Need to build more technical or soft skills? Click here to start expanding your qualifications.
Differentiate Yourself
Standing out in a competitive job market means strategically showcasing what makes you unique. Start by researching your competition—review LinkedIn profiles of professionals currently in your target role and connect with employees to gain insight into what employers value.
Ways to stand out:
Directed Passion: Make your interests and career goals clear, especially for the long-term. Employers appreciate candidates who show focus and enthusiasm.
Personal Touches: Include hobbies, volunteer work, unique life experiences, extracurriculars, or personal projects—especially those that reflect leadership, creativity, or initiative.
Soft Skills: Highlight communication, adaptability, teamwork, and problem-solving skills, ideally supported by real-world examples.
LinkedIn Presence: Your LinkedIn profile serves as your extended resume. Make sure it's updated and include a hyperlink on your resume.
You typically have 5–10 seconds to capture a recruiter’s attention—so include "eye-catchers" where appropriate:
Security clearances or special work authorizations
GPA (if strong and recent)
Double majors or minors
Language proficiencies
Professional Language
Be concise: Avoid full sentences. Use bullet points that begin with strong action verbs.
Use impactful language: Incorporate terms like ownership, authorship, initiative, collaboration, and responsibility to convey depth and professionalism.
Mirror job descriptions: Use keywords and phrasing directly from job postings to align your resume with what employers are seeking.
Minimize acronyms: Unless they are widely recognized in your field, spell out terms for clarity.
LinkedIn - "The Extended Resume"
A LinkedIn profile can be a great, interactive supplement to your traditional one-page resume. Check out this training we recorded in 2020 about how to make an effective LinkedIn profile.
Purpose of the Resume
Your resume is a marketing tool designed to present your qualifications, skills, and relevant experiences to potential employers, interviewers, or internship coordinators. In most cases, hiring managers spend only 5–10 seconds scanning each resume—so yours should immediately communicate that you are a strong, capable, and relevant candidate. A well-crafted resume serves as your first impression. When done right, it can open the door to valuable academic, professional, and personal growth opportunities by showcasing your potential clearly and effectively.
Done? Already have a Resume?
Review the checklist to make sure you hit all the points.
General:
The resume is limited to ONE page- Equal Margins all around (0.5”-1”)
- Font (10.5-12 pt)
- New to old by end date within a category
- Includes bold lettering to accent strategic information (ex: job title)
- Categories are arranged in a logical order, most relevant first
- Looks Professional
- No awkward spacing
Header:
- Full name at the top in larger/bold font, so it stands out
- Did not label obvious facts such as “phone”, “email”
- Listed appropriate email (personal / work specific)
- Listed Phone Number
- Listed both campus and permanent city, state, and zip code (international students: may only list campus information)
Education:
- Post-sophomore year, high school information is removed
- Included GPA if above ~2.8 (can also include in major GPA or GPA from last few credits)
- Listed city, state
- Listed School Name (Virginia Tech)
- Listed major, minors, and expected graduation date
Experience:
(Experience includes class projects, volunteer work, internships, externships, part-time jobs, design teams, research, co-op, etc)
- Formatted the same within each section -> Included title, company name and location (city & state), and dates employed (start and end date)
- Demonstrates scope with numbers or frequency (How many people were on your team? How often did you do something?
- Listed all experiences in reverse chronological order (present to past)
- Did not use personal pronouns (I, me, my)
- Began bullet points with a variety of strong action verbs
- Each phrase is a sentence fragment (no punctuation)
- Used present tense verbs for current positions (teach); no “-ing” verbs
- Bullet points describe skills (professional and technical) & impact of actions
Activities:
- Listed relevant campus involvement, professional associations, or community involvement
- Did not use abbreviations
- Included leadership positions and described the specific activities that reveal leadership skills
- The amount of space given to activities is used appropriately
Skills:
- Includes relevant technical, language, and lab skills
- Does not list professional skills (ex: teamwork)
- Well organized to scan quickly
- After the education section or at the bottom of the page
Do NOT have...
- Clutter, full sentences, untailored
- Details that are too specific, objective, not about you
- Underlines / Bold if not heading
- Excessive Capitalization
- Course numbers, years in college, omit bad GPA
- Not including basic skills
- Style / Color / Headshot
- Just putting state and city