Resume Sections

Contact Header

  • Include personal data, such as name, location (city & state), email address, and phone number, and a URL to your online portfolio or LinkedIn profile, if applicable
  • Your name should be the most prominent thing on the page. Bold the text and choose a font size that is 1-2 sizes points than the rest of the text
  • If you use a nickname, include it with your full name. For example: Edward (Eddie) Williams, or Yi-Ling “Susan” Huang. Align the name on your resume with the name used for your LinkedIn profile, including the contact header used on your resume and cover letter, so your personal brand is easy to align and identify
  • Ensure that your voicemail box is set up with your personalized message stating your name and that you are away from your phone. NOTE: It is very important for you to activate your voicemail! If a potential employer tries to call you and gets the auto message that your voicemail box is not set up, the employer will immediately discard your application! You won’t receive a second chance
  • Ensure your email and website content is appropriate for a potential employer

Examples of Heading Styles

Example 1:

First Name Last Name
San Francisco, CA
415-123-1234
yourname@dons.usfca.edu
www.linkedin.com/in/username

Education

  • Include name of school, location (city & state), degree and major, and graduation date or expected graduation date
  • If you graduated from more than one school, list the most recent school first
  • If you attended more than one school (e.g., transfer student), only list the school that you're graduating from
  • Do not list high school information
  • Include any relevant coursework applicable to the desired position
  • Highlight your GPA if it’s above 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, and indicate whether it is your major or overall GPA
  • If you're a graduate student, you may include any relevant coursework and GPA if it's above 3.5 on a 4.0 scale. You do not need to include undergraduate GPA and coursework any longer.
  • Optional information for this section can include Study abroad, academic achievements (i.e., dean’s list), and certifications

Examples of Education Styles

Example 1:

University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA
Bachelor of Arts, Psychology; Minor: Spanish
• Overall GPA: 3.84
• Dean’s List (four semesters)
Relevant: Cognitive Psychology, Child Development, Theories of Personality 

Example 2:

University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA
Bachelor of Arts, Advertising
Major GPA: 3.78/4.00; Overall GPA: 3.24/4.00

City College of San Francisco San Francisco, CA
Associate of Arts

Note: Please include graduation dates on the flush right side.

Experience

  • Include the company/organization name, location (city, state), your position, and month and year of employment
  • List experiences in reverse chronological order
  • Use Accomplishment Statements to describe the responsibilities you had, emphasizing skills and achievements, and add quantifiable data when appropriate; see Accomplishment Statements
  • Start each bullet point with an action verb, paying attention to the verb tenses for past and present experiences. Variety is also important; see Action Verb list.

Examples of Experience

Example 1:

Go Team, University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA
Orientation Leader 
• Communicated resources and directional information to 400+ incoming students and families
• Selected to represent university for strong communication skills and excellent customer service
• Individually led 20 students at each orientation session (two sessions per week for twelve weeks)
• Effectively managed conflicts and crises when needed 

Example 2:

Target San Francisco, CA
Customer Service Associate
• Engage customers with helpful attitude while utilizing company point-of-sale systems to process return/exchange and online order pickup
• Trained 6 new employees on procedures and store policies
• Maintain a clean environment and organize floor displays for positive in-store experience for customers 

Note: Please include experience dates on the flush right side.

Optional Sections

Summary of Qualifications

  • This is an optional section that highlights your accomplishments in bullet point or paragraph format. It emphasizes your key strengths and summarizes your value to the employer.
  • Summary of Qualifications is included on the Graduate Student resume on page 37. This space allows you to tell the story of your pivot and transition, highlighting transferable skills and experience.
  • If you have a Summary of Qualifications in your resume, you may also consider adding these details to your "About" section on LinkedIn.
  • Remember, this summary should be based on the skills and qualifications of the job/internship description

Skills

  • Include foreign languages. List how skilled you are in the language, i.e. fluent in Mandarin, conversational Spanish, or read and write French. List specific computer skills, office skills, and lab techniques not referred to somewhere else in the resume
  • The skills section is especially important if the employer uses an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Ensure you are using this section strategically as a place for keywords that match the job you’re applying for
  • Show, don't tell your interpersonal skills, such as communication, leadership, teamwork, problem-solving, dependability, and time management. Instead, these skills should be demonstrated in your bullet points/accomplishment statements.

Note: Typically do not include “Microsoft Office” or “Google Suite” since most people are competent in these computer skills, unless specifically mentioned in the job description; instead focus on skills that are not typical (i.e. Salesforce, Tableau, Adobe Creative Cloud).

Examples of Skills

Example 1:

Language: Spanish (Fluent); Mandarin (conversational)
Technical: CSS, Python, R, React, Javascript
Other Programs: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Google Workplace (Docs, Sheets, Slides), Slack, Notion, Trello

Activities or Campus Involvement or Leadership Experience

  • List any collegiate athletics, campus activities, student organizations, professional associations and committees that you are associated with. Include dates of affiliation and list in reverse chronological order.

Example 1:

Assistant News Editor, XYZ Newspaper 
Treasurer, USF Kasamahan (Filipino Student Association)
Spanish Tutor, USF Learning Center 

Example 2:

Fundraiser, Relay for Life, San Francisco, CA 
• Coordinated two donor events for 150+ members, raising over $5,000 to support cancer research 

Note: Please include graduation dates on the flush right side.

Volunteer Experience or Community Experience

  • List volunteer projects or community service, formatted similarly to the Activities section. Your Community Engaged Learning (CEL) class can be listed here as well
  • Include the organization name, location, position (i.e. volunteer), and the date range of service
  • If it was a single-day volunteer opportunity, simply include the month and year of service (i.e., May 20XX)

Honors and awards

  • This section can include dean’s list, honor societies, merit scholarships, magna cum laude, and awards and recognition received off-campus (work, volunteer, etc.) 
  • Include the organization name, location, name of award, and the date received 
  • Do not include high school honors

INternational Experience

  • Include study abroad experiences, or if you’re an international student, college education outside of the U.S.

Note: Study abroad experience can be included under Education section, as well.