A résumé is a strategic marketing tool designed to show an employer that you’re qualified for a specific role based on your skills, experience, and accomplishments. It is not a complete history of your work or everything you’ve ever done.
Therefore, your résumé must be tailored to each position you apply for, highlighting only the most relevant experiences and qualifications.
Formatting & Style Tips
- Proofread carefully: Your résumé must be error-free.
- Avoid abbreviations, slang, acronyms, and personal pronouns (I, my, etc.).
- Maintain consistent formatting throughout (e.g., if you bold one organization’s name, bold them all).
- Do not include personal information such as religion, birth date, or a photo.
- References belong on a separate sheet. (See the References Handout for formatting tips.)
Key Résumé Sections
Contact information
- Place at the top of your résumé.
- Include: your name (should be the largest text), city and state, phone number, and email address.
- If you have multiple addresses, use the one closest to the job location.
Objective (Optional)
- If you’re submitting a cover letter, you typically don’t need an objective.
- Use an objective when attending a career fair or networking.
- Keep it specific and focused on what you bring to the employer—not what you hope to gain.
- Formula: Active verb (“Seeking” or “To obtain”) + position and organization/industry + most relevant skills/experience.
Education
- List only institutions where you’ve earned or are earning a degree. Do not include high school diploma information.
- Include:
- Institution name
- City and state (and country if outside the U.S.)
- Full degree name (e.g., “Bachelor of Science in Public Health,” or “Master of Health Administration”)
- Graduation month and year, even if in the future (ranges are not needed)
- Majors, minors, and concentrations
- If adding multiple degrees, most recent or highest comes first
- Optional additions:
- GPA (if 3.0 or higher)
- Relevant coursework
- Certifications or trainings
- Academic honors or scholarships
- Languages (with proficiency level: fluent, proficient, conversational, or literate)
Experience
- Include full-time, part-time, volunteer, internship, clinical, lab, and extracurricular experiences relevant to the role.
- Employers care about skills and accomplishments, not just job titles or settings.
Sections & Experience Blocks
Custom Sections
- Use section headers to group relevant experiences (e.g., Healthcare Administration Experience, Community Health Engagement).
- Avoid generic headers like “Work Experience” or “Experience”.
- Sections can be reordered based on relevance, but experiences within each section should be in reverse chronological order.
Experience Blocks
Each block should include:
- Organization name
- City and state (and country if international)
- Your title
- Start and end dates (month and year)
- 2–4 bullet points describing your accomplishments
Bullet Points
Use this formula: Active skill verb + what you did + how/why/result
Example: Developed a health education program utilizing behavior change strategies to improve exercise habits among a population of 50 type II diabetic women.
- Active skill verb: Developed
- What you did: a health education program
- How/why or result: utilizing behavior change strategies to improve exercise habits among a population of 50 type II diabetic women.
(Tip: Always ask yourself “why did I do this?” or “what was the result?” to strengthen your bullet points.)
- Use present tense for current roles and past tense for previous ones.
- Quantify and qualify your impact whenever possible.
Additional Skills
- If requested in the job description, you may include separate sections for:
- Computer Skills
- Clinical Skills
- Laboratory Skills
- Otherwise, embed these skills into your bullet points for context.
