Resume Writing Guide

What is the purpose of a resume?

Your resume is a marketing tool that aims to convey your relevant skills, education, and experiences for a specific position.

While writing a resume might seem pretty straightforward, there are a lot of nuances. It’s the first thing recruiters will read about you, so it's crucial to make a good first impression.…And you need to make that impression fast. Recruiters spend an average of six seconds reviewing a resume.

Almost all that time is spent on your name, companies, job titles, start/end dates, school, major, and project titles. Everything on your resume should be tailored towards helping recruiters find these key pieces of info as fast as possible.

Getting started in creating a resume

If you don’t already have a resume, you can use one of these resume formats to get started. You can also check out examples of real student resumes for additional inspiration.

The most important thing about choosing a resume format is not the design, but the content. You want to make sure you're able to easily showcase your experience and skills on one page as well as edit your resume to tailor it for specific positions.

Flashy resume builders don't always make editing and saving different versions of your resume easy. They are also generally more difficult for Applicant Tracking Software systems to read. Whatever you choose, clean and consistent formatting is required!

Key resume guidelines

➡️_Check out our_ full resume checklist here!

Things to include:

• Languages, frameworks, platforms and tools that you are most familiar with and that are asked for in the job description (Make sure everything you list is something you'd be comfortable speaking about)

• Projects (3-4...prioritizing side projects over academic projects).

  • Include projects that showcase things you’re passionate about and your technical experience.

  • Include a link for each project (to GitHub repo, deployed version, blog, app in store, etc.) if you can

• Include links to your GitHub, LinkedIn and a web portfolio/website (if applicable)

• If either cumulative GPA and your major GPA are close to or above 3.5, you should include!

• Include the languages, frameworks, platforms and tools that you are most familiar with

• Look at the job description and make sure to include relevant skills/experiences. E.g. if you’re applying for a mobile role and you’ve used languages they’re asking for, make sure to list them in the work/project descriptions!

Making your resume easy to scan:

• Make your name BIG (16-20 pt. font)

• Highlight company names, job titles, start/end dates, school name, major and project titles.

• Important content should be higher up. For a student or new grad, resumes are one page and the order of importance is usually Education > Experience > Projects > Skills.

• Recommend no more than 2 different font sizes and two different colors total per resume.

• Stick to a standard format (reverse chronological order within each section, no weird fonts, 10.5 to 12 pt. font size, 0.5 to 1 inch margins). Standard formats (one-column resumes) are more readable by resume-parsing programs and easier to skim by recruiters.

• Bullet points (real ones, not dashes) are your friend. Text walls discourage readers.

Everything on your resume should have a clear purpose:

• Objectives or summary sections are generally unnecessary.

• Descriptions should say something tangible. “Exceptional team player” doesn’t work. “Increased user conversion rates by 20%” does. This should describe the project specifically and quantify impact if possible.

• If your bullet points could have the same impact in fewer words or simpler terms, you should probably edit them.

Including CodePath on your resume:

• Tech Fellows: Check out this guide demonstrating how to add your leadership experience to your resume.

• If you took a course where you did not build a project: You can list yourself as a CodePath course alum under "Relevant Training", "Activities", "Relevant Coursework" or "Certifications".

• If you built projects in our courses: Include those in a “Projects” section alongside other portfolio pieces. Be sure to describe the project (“Built and published a functional Instagram-like Android app which allows users to share photos with friends and family”) and include a link to the GitHub repo.

Getting feedback

After finishing your resume, have your peers review it. Ask them to be honest and harsh. If you then want even more tips, check out this article.

How is a resume actually used?

Once you’ve created your resume, here are a few ways it might be used.

• Career Fairs. You will hand out your resume at career fairs (at your campus, or at CodePath virtual career fairs). The company representative (usually an engineer or recruiter) will spend the cursory 6 seconds looking it over, and then ask the “tell me about yourself” question. It’s really important to be able to provide a concise and enthusiastic pitch about why you are interested in the company-- essentially your cover letter in verbal form. At career fairs, many companies actually assign a number to each student about their likelihood to be a good fit.

• Submitting Online. Perhaps the primary way your resume will be used is as the first touch point with a recruiter at a company after you apply for a technical role, either an internship (see our guide on searching for technical internships here!) or full-time position. A technical recruiter receives a lot of resumes in most cases, and they are the one processing incoming applications. Connecting with people and working through referrals can often make all the difference in getting access in your resume getting a longer look and hopefully you getting an interview invite.