Excellent professional documents—your resume, cover letter, and reference list—are an important part of professional branding. They are valuable tools to advertise you to employers and help you get interviews for great opportunities. Read below for details on how to make a great impression with each of these documents.

You can also download this information as a PDF.

What if there’s no space to add my cover letter and/or reference list?

If the application system doesn’t have spots for every document, you can combine them into one PDF and submit them, in this priority order:

• If there’s only one spot for documents, create a PDF with your cover letter first, then your resume, then your reference list.
• If there are two spots for documents, submit your resume separately, and combine your cover letter and reference list with the cover letter first.

Matching is essential

Your documents should match each other—use the same header and fonts on each. That way, they’re clearly branded as coming from the same person: you!

Tailor for each opportunity

Invest the time to customize your documents—it will pay off, because employers quickly see that you care about their specific organization and opportunities.

Do I customize my documents for a hiring fair?

No. For general events, bring a general resume—you don’t need a cover letter or a reference list.

Keep it professional

These are formal business documents, so avoid contractions and casual language.

Name your PDFs

Always send PDFs when you apply—they look the same on all devices.

Name your files clearly by including your name and the document type:

• • Solomon Seahawk – Resume.pdf
  • Solomon Seahawk – Cover Letter.pdf
  • Solomon Seahawk – References.pdf

Should I send a PDF for a resume review?

If you’re getting help with a resume review, please share/send an editable Google Doc or Word Document. That way, we can help you make changes on the spot!

How many pages should my resume be?

Usually just one, but there are exceptions, such as for federal government jobs and graduate school.

Should I include a photo?

Usually no, but there are exceptions, such as for some marketing or teaching positions.

How many sections should I use?

Usually just four: header, summary, education, and experience.

Should I use colors or fancy layouts?

Almost always no, unless you are a graphic designer, visual artist, or marketer. One column makes it easier for the employer to see all your information from top to bottom.

Keep it concise

• In most cases, you’re better off with just four sections: header, summary, education, and experience. Exceptions include federal resumes and resumes/CVs for grad school.
• Cut anything that doesn’t add value!
• Omit all first-person pronouns (I, me, my, mine), and also omit articles (the, a, an) if the bullet point makes sense without them.

Use a “Summary” section

• Don’t make employers dig for the information they need. Put a summary at the top to help employers quickly identify the skills and characteristics you have.
• You can more easily tailor the information in your summary than the information in your experience section. This helps impress AI systems and human recruiters with keywords.
• The first line should give you a title (like “Education professional” or “Aspiring psychologist”).
• If you’re applying for a position with a job ad (only 20% of jobs), use the qualifications and responsibilities/duties sections to tailor your information. Copy and paste phrases that are true for you, and then reword them as needed to fit.

How do I tailor my summary if I’m applying for one of the 80% of jobs that are not publicly posted?

Use related language from the organization’s mission and vision statements, on their website, in LinkedIn profiles of people in similar roles, and similar job postings.

“Objective” statements died in 2008. They’re not retro cool, they’re redundant—so skip them!

Highlight relevant education

List all of your college-level degrees in reverse chronological order. You’re a college student (or grad) now, so don’t list high school on your resume.

• Type the level of the degree (A.A., A.S., B.A., B.S., etc.) and your major(s) in bold.
• State only the month and year of your graduation—whether that’s in the future or the past. No start date, no “expected graduation”—just the month and year. The reset doesn’t add value!

Include all your experience

List all of your experience in reverse chronological order.

Should I list my volunteer work and internships?

Yes! Employers don’t care whether you got paid in $$$ or in ❤❤❤. They just want to know how effective you are at getting results.

Does my volunteer work go in a different section?

No! You are writing for the reader, so don’t add extra complexity. Highlight the fact that you were awesomely involved in school, work, and/or volunteer work at the same time by listing it all in one section. (Exception: Do list volunteer work separately in your grad school CV.)

Focus on results = PARQ

For each bullet point, focus on the results—who did you help (clients, community, team, etc.), and how did you make a difference? Whenever possible, list the result at the beginning.

Use the “PARQ Rule”:

• Power verb Start with a powerful verb that shows your result
• Action State what you did to get the result
• Result Tell how you made a difference and for whom
• Quantify Use numbers when possible to draw the eye and impress

PARQ rule examples:

❌ Put appointments on calendars.

• Very poor. Just an action—no result, no power verb, and no quantifier.

❌ Assisted wellness center staff to schedule appointments for students.

• Marginal. Still no result here, and “assisted” is not a power verb unless “assisted” was the main, direct action.

✅ Increased access to wellness appointments and services for 1,500+ students through meticulous organization of staff calendars and schedules.

• Impressive! Starts with a power verb, frontloads the result, shows details of the action, and quantifies the result with a number.

What if I can’t think of anything to write?

Talk it out! Find a friend, mentor or professor—or even your phone—and tell the story of the work you’ve done. Then take notes and use this to write your bullet points. We are always happy to help you in the Center for Career & Professional Development! You can visit us at 210 Glendening Hall, email us at careercenter@smcm.edu, or call us at 240.895.4203.

Dates & dashes

Types and usage

An en dash is the width of the letter “n” and is used in dates to mean “from–to”. Use this for all dates.

• Example: Apr 2022–Present

An em dash is the width of the letter “m” and is used to add information (similar to parentheses). Use it sparingly.

• Example: I enjoyed my time there—particularly the opportunity to serve.

A hyphen is the shortest dash, and in formal writing, should only be used in compound words.

• Example: We drove off-road vehicles to reach the remote site.

Symmetry

All dashes are symmetrical—you should never have space on one side.

Examples:

❌ I worked there from January– March 2022.

• This looks ugly, and “from” is redundant, since the en dash (–) means “from … to).

❌ The job was off- campus.

• Don’t add a space, and don’t hyphenate the word unless it’s an adjective.

✅ I had an off-campus internship January–March 2022.

• Here, “off-campus” is an adjective, and is correctly hyphenated. “January–March 2022

Margins & tabs

Start with one-inch margins. If you can’t fit all of your information cleanly on one page, you can narrow your margins, but don’t go smaller than 0.5 inches.

Use “right tab stops” for dates! If you just space over with the space bar or left tabs, you’ll get sloppy-looking, misaligned dates.

How do I add “right tab stops”?

The quickest way to find a video or how-to page is to search online for “how to add right tab stops”.

Body

• First paragraph: Tell the employer why you’re writing to them. Include the title of the position you’re applying for and how you found out about it. Find information about the specific organization and tell how it relates to your interests. It’s kind of like a love letter—you have to tell them why you’re interested in them, not just that you want a job.
• Second paragraph: Explain what makes you unique and valuable as a candidate for the position. If you’re applying for a position with a job ad (20% of jobs), use the qualifications and responsibilities/duties sections of the ad to tailor your information. Don’t just repeat your resume. Be concise in highlighting your skills, experiences, characteristics, and/or accomplishments with a specific example or two.
• Final paragraph: Ask for an interview and say thank you.

Signature—This is required!

Leave a vertical space below the final paragraph. Type “Sincerely,” (with a comma at the end), then leave a vertical space that’s big enough for you to sign your name. Below the signature space, type your full name (the same way you listed it in the header).

Note: A cover letter is a formal business letter, so it would look unprofessional and quite odd if you didn’t sign it.

How do I put a signature on my cover letter?

There are many ways to get a signature on your cover letter, including:

• Use a digital device (smartphone, tablet, etc.) to draw your signature.
• Sign a blank paper, scan it with a scanner, then add it to your document as an image.
• Sign a blank paper, take a photo with your phone, add the signature to your document, then adjust the brightness and contrast until the background is white.