Resume Resources

In this section, include your degree, major, university name, expected graduation year, and GPA (if applicable). If you have relevant coursework, include it to showcase your skills and knowledge.  

Education Section Checklist

• "B.S. (Your Major)"
• "Virginia Tech"
• Expected Graduation Year
• GPA (Optional - Include if you have a high GPA)
• Relevant Coursework

Include internships, employment experiences, undergraduate research, 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.

Quantify Your Experience:

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%. You can also show impact by mentioning a conference you attended for your research, or mentioning if you published a research paper.

Experience Section Checklist

• Use strong action verbs to begin each bullet point 
  List of action verbs       
• Quantify achievements with numbers and metrics
• Highlight Soft and Technical Skills
• List experiences in reverse chronological order
• Avoid personal pronouns (I, me, my)

Getting involved in school organizations and activities is a great way to build your soft skills and gain leadership experience. You should aim to make an impact in these organizations and strive for leadership positions.

Finding Organizations

Some ideas for organizations to join may include: Design Teams, Professional Organizations, Clubs, and Fraternities/Sororities. You can find all of these organizations at Gobblerfest, which happens each year in August.

Quantify Your Experience:

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 recruitment by 20%. You can also show impact by mentioning any large-scale events you hosted through an organization or your design team's placement in a competition.

Extracurriculars Section Checklist

• Showcase leadership roles
• Use strong action verbs to begin each bullet point 
  List of action verbs
• Quantify achievements with numbers and metrics
• Highlight Soft and Technical Skills
• List experiences in reverse chronological order
• Avoid personal pronouns (I, me, my)

Projects are an excellent way to showcase your technical skills. You can include both personal projects and class assignments. Be sure to highlight the tools and technologies you used in each project. Employers want to see that you are familiar with industry-standard tools and technologies, and projects provide an effective means to demonstrate this knowledge. 

Quantify Your Experience:

Showcasing the impact of your project is a great way to appeal to employers. This can be challenging, but if your project has had a positive effect on others, you should definitely mention it. You can include, for example, the number of people who used your project, or mention if your project benefited a local business or school organization.

Projects Section Checklist

• Showcase leadership roles
• Use strong action verbs to begin each bullet point 
  List of action verbs
• Quantify achievements with numbers and metrics
• Highlight Soft and Technical Skills
• Avoid personal pronouns (I, me, my)

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.

Note: This section will look different from major to major. Format it to what works best for you.

FOR FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS: Don’t be discouraged by not having an expansive resume. At university, you will gain professional experience and have many opportunities to express your passions. For the Engineering Expo, don’t be afraid to share high school experience in leadership and technical/engineering experience. As you develop as a university student, however, try to replace those experiences with university-level or other professional experiences.

REMEMBER: A resume is an advertisement of yourself as a professional to employers. As with advertisements, the optimal placement of relevant information is key to catching the eyes of recruiters looking for qualified candidates. Try to quantify experiences with numbers, tangibles (e.g., ‘managed 500 data points’, ‘R software (2+years)’), and group similar information into categories, such as ‘Computational’ or ‘Language’ skills.

CAUTION: When submitting applications online, many companies use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to quick-scan resumes. Avoid inconsistent formatting, hyperlinks, graphics, columns, and sidebars. Such details tend to make your resume difficult to read amid a sea of resumes, reducing the likelihood that your application will be seen.

FORMATTING & DETAILS: It is best to order experiences in reverse chronological order. Also, remember to keep experience descriptions concise but pointed, using active verbs and appropriate field terminology to convey your expertise and field exploration. It is perfectly fine to omit the location on a resume; typically, this is done when an applicant does not wish to be geographically limited by recruiters and has the resources to relocate and/or work at home.

RESUME VS. CURRICULUM VITAE (CV):  While often treated as the same document, a resume and CV  are vastly different.  Resumes are tailored documents meant to appeal to employees of interest. Resumes are best limited to 1 page; for this reason, relevance is key. When choosing among many experiences, you may have to choose to include and omit experiences on your resume. A CV, on the other hand, offers a comprehensive history of an applicant's technical experience, research, and academic exploration. A CV can span multiple pages. Most students should stick to a resume, as you most likely won't have enough experience to justify a CV.

FURTHER EDITS: Due to the tailored nature of resumes, you may find the need to create resume versions for different employers. Be sure to highlight the skills and experience most relevant to the job to which you are applying.

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.

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

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