How to Write a Modern Resume
5 Things you Must Include in Your Resume
We’ve come a long way, friends! Gone are the days of full mailing addresses, objective statements, and stating the obvious “References Available Upon Request!” Instead, we now have LinkedIn URLs, professional summaries, and more attractive formatting options.
Make sure you include the following foundational building blocks when you are writing or updating your resume:
Contact Information
Identify the best way for potential employers to contact you.
Notice that I didn’t say the best “ways” with an “s.” Pick one phone number and one email address and list those on the top of the first page of your resume. Whichever number and email you check and respond to most frequently should be at the top of your resume.
Only include the city and province you live in and your postal code. Your full mailing address is not relevant at this point in the selection process, and it makes your resume look cluttered and busy right off the bat.
If you have taken the time to complete your LinkedIn profile and it complements your resume, include the URL with the rest of your contact information.
Professional Summary
You could argue that the professional summary is the new objective statement, but that isn’t entirely true. Frankly, an objective statement is irrelevant to potential employers because it is about what you, the candidate, want. A professional summary describes the value you bring to potential employers, which are the details your reader needs.
Core Competencies
Always include a quick and dirty list of your top job-related and value-added skills. This list enables potential employers to quickly understand that you know what the job entails and have the expertise to do it. You can even use terminology right from the job description.
Employment Experience
Work history is and always has been the central focus of a resume. Most importantly, be sure to include the job title, company name, and dates. Take care not to get carried away with bullets. Break up the monotony by writing a short paragraph describing the day-to-day tasks, followed by 1–5 bullets highlighting special projects, past accomplishments, or one-time contributions.
Education/Qualifications
Consider your education, professional development, and courses you’ve taken to better yourself and further your career. If you’ve got 5 or more years of employment experience, you might have a pretty long list! Focus on the industry- and job-relevant details.
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