Resume and Cover Letter Building
Whether you’re applying for a job, internship, or volunteer role, your resume and cover letter are key tools employers use to decide who moves forward to an interview. Because recruiters often spend just 15 to 30 seconds reviewing each resume, it’s essential that your materials are clear, concise, and tailored to show why you’re the best candidate for the job.
Getting support from Career Success
We have multiple career coaching resources available to help you work on your documents – whether it’s resumes, cover letters, or CVs!
- Asynchronous feedback: To have your resume, cover letter, or CV reviewed asynchronously and feedback emailed to you within 3 business days, fill out the document feedback form.
- For quick, clarifying questions: feel free to email cc_coach@ucsc.edu.
- Live feedback: For longer questions or getting live feedback, please consider using our drop-in Peer Coaching Advising in person or via Zoom. See our drop-in hours calendar for specific days and hours. No appointment needed!
Resources
Resume – Get started
A well-crafted resume is your first opportunity to make a strong impression. It’s a summary of your skills, education, and experience—and a key tool in landing interviews.
Sections of the resume
Header
A personalized header is the first section on a resume. This section features key information and should begin with your name as the largest and most visually emphasized text on the page. It should also include your location (City, State), phone number, and email address. You can also add the URL to your LinkedIn profile, a personal website, or portfolio.
Education
The education section will typically come next. For each educational institution, list the full name of the institution (i.e. University of California, Santa Cruz), degree and area of study (i.e. Bachelor of Arts, Sociology) and graduation date (i.e. June 20xx). You can also include your GPA (if above a 3.0), minors, honors, certificates, or relevant coursework.
Experience
Experience can include previous and current employment, internships, projects (academic or personal), research, athletics, involvement with community and campus organizations, volunteering and more. You can have one Experience section or several that are tailored to the position you are applying for.
When listing information within an Experience section, include the full name of the organization, title of your position, location (City, State or Remote), and dates (in the format Month Year – Month Year and to Present for current experiences).
Within an Experience section, make sure your positions are in the order of most recent to least recent.
Next, include 1-5 descriptive action statements in bullet point format. See #4 above for tips on how to write strong action statements.
Skills (optional)
In addition to your education and experience, you likely have several skills that are relevant for the position to which you are applying. A targeted skills section typically contains technical, language or laboratory skills. It can also contain specific abilities or areas of knowledge relevant to the position.
Review our resume templates
Resume formatting tips
Learn resume formatting tips
- Font size between 10-12 points
- Standard, easy-to-read font (e.g. Times New Roman, Helvetica, Garamond) and layout
- Margins no smaller than 0.5inch
- Resumé to fit on one page
- Resumes can be 1-2 pages for Master’s students, and 2-3 pages for PhDs and postdocs. Longer resumes may be relevant if you are applying to research positions or within the performing arts. Have you resume reviewed by us if you are not sure.
- Use black font color. If you choose to use color do so sparingly
- Bold, italics, bullets to be used in moderation
- Be consistent with: font size, underlining, spacing, indents, emboldening, date formatting, spelling and your use of punctuation
- Check spelling and grammar; avoid abbreviations and slang.
- Do not use pronouns.
- Use reverse chronological order where appropriate.
Resume or curriculum vitae (CV)?
A curriculum vitae (CV) is used in many research and academic positions. It is an opportunity to showcase your skills, much like a resume. It’s a summary of your skills, education, experience, research, and publications—and it’s key to landing interviews. Begin by taking a look at these resources and clicking the dropdown menus.
Find out more about a curriculum vitae (CV)
When to use a CV
It is common to use a CV when applying for:
- Academic and research positions
- Grants, fellowships, and awards
- Some graduate school programs
- Overseas employment and international organization (each country may have a different format for CV’s. Do your research.
Differences between a CV and a Resume
| Resume | CV |
| Industry employment in the U.S. | Academic, research, scientific & international employment |
| Brief synopsis | Detailed summary |
| Goal is to construct a professional identity | Goal is to construct a scholarly identity |
| Do not include references | Include references |
| 1-2 pages max | No page limit |
Writing bullet points
What you say is important, but how you say it can make all the difference.
Creating a great action statement involves putting together 3 specific things:
WHAT did you do? = action verb
- Start each statement with an action verb like: taught, created, supervised, collaborated, ensured, implemented, marketed, analyzed, collected, interviewed, inspected, led a team, produced, facilitated, wrote, reviewed, assembled, designed, maintained, calculated, researched, improved, pioneered, resolved, expanded, directed, planned, etc.
- Utilize a variety of verbs to keep the reader interested
- Remember to use appropriate tense for past and present experiences
HOW did you do it? = detailed description
- Use adjectives and adverbs to describe HOW you accomplished your actions
- Use numbers to quantify things (How many? How often? How much?)
- Be specific about what you did (With who? What tasks?). Utilize specific skill words that are included in job descriptions (including hard skills like “Photoshop” and soft skills like “collaboration”)
WHY did it matter? = impact and results
- End at least 1 statement per job heading with the impact or outcomes that were a result of your hard work
Example action statements
- Good: Filed and prepared sensitive documents
- Better: Maintained files and efficiently prepared and processed sensitive documents for the management team
- Good: Inserted streaming media and graphics onto a website
- Better: Integrated graphics and streaming media to the company website resulting in a 45% increase in clicks during the first six months
Tailoring your resume or CV
The key to success is tailoring your application materials to each position.
Review the position description
Look for keywords related to specific experiences or position requirements. Highlight the following:
- Specific skills desired
- Company or institution’s mission/vision statement or core values
- Keywords, phrases, or concepts that are repeated or emphasized multiple times
Look for areas in your experience that align with the position description
Compare your experiences and accomplishments with the desired skills and qualifications of each role.
- Think about where your skills, passions, and experiences align with this position or institution
- Don’t forget about your career readiness skills. See the Career Readiness page for sample behaviors
Revamp your resume or CV
Spend a few minutes tailoring your resume or CV in the following ways:
- Insert skills, coursework, and projects that align with a position description
- Choose your most relevant experiences, and focus on bullet points that emphasize the keywords highlighted in the position description
View resume/cover letter/CV templates & worksheets
View our worksheets and templates to help you get started.
Cover letter
A cover letter is a one-page, 3-4 paragraph “cover page” for your application and a writing sample for the employer. Your cover letter’s main goal is to convince the hiring manager that hiring you would benefit the organization. Its content must be interesting and grasp the employer’s interest enough to make them want to read your resume. Review our cover letter examples.
- Opening paragraph: Statement of purpose – Open with a captivating introductory sentence, name the position you’re applying for, and how you learned about the position.
- Middle paragraph(s): Explanation of qualifications – Write about why you’re applying to this organization. Include the organization’s purpose and/or goals and how the position relates to them. Explain why you’re a great candidate for the position. List the reasons you’re interested in the position and how your relevant skills will allow you to fulfill the responsibilities in the job description.
- Closing paragraph: Conclusion – Begin with one or two strong lines that summarize your qualifications, thank the reader for their consideration, and express your enthusiasm about meeting with them to discuss the opportunity.
General tips
- Cover letters should be tailored for each position
- Offer reasons why you are interested and demonstrate your passion for the role
- Provide examples of the skills you have to demonstrate how you can contribute to the company or institution (tie to the experiences you used in your resume or CV)
Access Jobscan Premium
Jobscan Premium helps optimize your resume keywords for each job listing to ensure your application is found by recruiters.
New User to Jobscan Premium? Request access to upgrade to a Jobscan Premium account.