Optimise your resume

Your resume or CV is the first point of contact between you and a potential employer. The way you present yourself in your resume will determine whether you progress through to the next stage of the recruitment process.

Guidelines

In order to write a successful resume, make sure to follow these guidelines:

  • Your resume should not be longer than two pages.
  • Make sure it is grammar and spelling errors free.
  • Tailor the content to address the selection criteria from the job advert.
  • Organise the content in order of importance for the role.
  • The overall presentation and layout must be clear and professional with plenty of white space and clear headings.
  • Use a mixture of paragraphs and bullet points for ease in reading.
  • In Australian applications, do not include:
    • photo
    • physical characteristics
    • date of birth
    • age
    • gender
    • disability or health issues
    • ethnicity
    • religion
    • marital status
    • lies or sarcasm

Structure and content

Follow the following format and tips to build your resume:

  1. Your name and contact details – phone, email, address, LinkedIn
    • State your full name and contact details in an easy-to-read font.
    • Keep it brief.
    • Avoid using labels eg “Personal Details”.
  2. Career objective/profile or summary of skills: one to two sentences on what job you want to do now and what is your long term career goal and what you will contribute to the role. Or, you may include three to four statements on some of the following: your experience, credentials, expertise, personal values, work ethics, background or your personality.
    • Include information relevant to the position you are applying for.
    • Sample sentence starters:
      • "I seek to achieve a career as a…”
      • “My aim is to develop a career in the … industry”
      • “My long term career goals are to….”
      • “I seek to apply the skills and knowledge gained during my degree of … to a career as…”
  3. Educational qualifications: Information on each study you have undertaken/ are undertaking, including:
    • start and end dates
    • name of degree/diploma
    • institution
    • major
    • academic achievement
  4. Professional memberships: start and end dates, membership status and organisation.
    • associate member
    • shows career intent
  5. Employment experience: Information on your work experience, including:
    • start and end dates
    • position
    • organisation
    • three to five dot points to list your responsibilities and achievements, rather than just general job duties. The aim is to describe the transferable skills you gained in this job that could be used in your next job.
    • address the selection criteria – use RATES model:
      • R – Relevant
      • A – Achievements
      • T – Task
      • E – Experiences
      • S – Skills
    • achievements (eg statistics, met sales targets, innovation, the success of programs or services you were involved in).
  6. Core skills: IT, languages and soft skills along with specific examples on how you have developed and acquired those skills.
  7. Extracurricular activities or volunteering experience: information on these type of activities, including:
    • start and end dates
    • position
    • organisation
    • three to five dot points on responsibilities and achievements demonstrating evidence of transferable skills and explaining the extent and level of involvement for each activity. Give examples to illustrate relevance to the job you are applying for.
  8. Referees: professional referees – can be voluntary, paid or unpaid experience. Try not including friends, family or social acquaintances.
    • write “Referees available on request” OR for each referee write:
      • name
      • position
      • organisation
      • phone and/or email address
  9. Footer: Your name and page number. For example, John Smith, page 1 of 2.

For more information, view the resume writing section on MyMQ Career Zone.