12.1 Resumes

Kessler, Low, and Sullivan (2019) explained that employers value students who gain prominent work experience during summer before their senior and junior years. This information aligns with many college programs now requiring their students to complete internships, thus making resumes and employee documents important.

A resumé́ is the central document of your job application because it is what employers focus on most when judging an applicant’s suitability for a position. Does the candidate have the right combination of skills to do the job? Did they acquire skills with the right combination of education, employment, and other experiences? Are they able to put a document together in a clear, concise, correct, organized, and reader-friendly way? The goal of the resumé is to convince the employer to include you in the small selection of candidates they will interview to find the right person for the job (Smith, 2019).

To have any chance of attaining a suitable position, actively apply to job postings and make your applications stand out with superior quality, knowing that your application will be just one of dozens, perhaps even hundreds, vying for interview spots. When an employer goes through the pile of applications that make it past the electronic filters, the resumés targeted specifically at that job make the generic ones look amateur and underdeveloped. Along with those marred by glaring errors, generic resumés are the first to go into the shredder. They annoy hiring managers because they mean more work, but they’re easy to spot and reject when the goal is to thin out the pile.

A targeted resumé́ is the result of the job applicant tailoring their resumé to present nothing more or less than what the job posting asks for. An employer’s job posting is a wish-list of all the skills and qualifications that would set up the applicant for success in the position advertised. It also informs the selection criteria the employer applies to every job application. This way, every application is measured objectively for how well it reflects what the job posting asked for, as well as how current and well-presented it is. The employer expects each section will prove that the applicant is perfect for the job, as well as meet general expectations for quality of writing—clarity, conciseness, correctness, and accuracy—as well as document readability and organization.

Think of your resume as a strategic way to represent yourself; a résumé can

• represent you when you are not there: Your résumé can be uploaded to online global job boards like LinkedIn and Zip Recruiter, and others, or can be sent to a company’s online database. It can then be shared with dozens of recruiters and hiring managers without you even knowing about it. In fact, it is a lot easier to get your résumé in front of a recruiter than it is to have a physical presence in their office; therefore, make certain it’s a well-written, well-positioned document that makes an exceptional first impression.
• quantify your accomplishments: Quantifying your accomplishments gives your résumé readers the specific information they need to know about your abilities and to be intrigued by what you can do for them. For example, instead of stating you have “leadership experience”, it is more impactful to describe the experience by stating “experience leading a team of 12 employees.”
• show your command of the written word: Remember that if it has misspelled words, wrong words, and/or incorrect punctuation, your résumé could easily be dismissed, along with your candidacy. It is critical that you write clearly and correctly. Ensure to proofread your resume multiple times before submitting.
• prove your worth to your past employers: Information relating to a company’s profits and output is exactly what employers want to read. Highlighting results such as reducing errors by 35%, increasing profits by 55%, or boosting repeat sales to 75% increases your chances of having your résumé noticed.
• demonstrate what you can do for your future employer: Past performance is an indicator of future success, so include and quantify your past performance, and future employers will be inclined to believe you can do the same for them. Remember that your résumé is introductory in nature; past performance can get attention and initiate interest in you as a potential employee.
• provide details about your skills. Instead of describing your skills as “excellent communicator,” use descriptive and specific statements such as “met weekly with executives and department managers to discuss the status of all ongoing engineering projects” and “Delivered updates on planned progress for the upcoming week” (12 Essential Engineering Skills for Your Resume, indeed.com, 2024).

This section has been adapted from the following sources:

Resume purposes and types in Communication for Professionals | Simple Book Publishing by Susan Oaks licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Resumes and Online Applications in Communication at Work – Simple Book Publishing (2nd Ed.) Copyright © 2025 by Jordan Smith licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.