Your Résumé Is a Lifelong Process.
Before applying to jobs or internships, we encourage you to make an appointment with a Career Coach to have your résumé reviewed.
Writing a résumé is not a one-time task. It’s an ongoing, lifelong process. As you gain new skills, roles, and experiences, your résumé should evolve to reflect who you are and what you can do. Think of it as a living document that you continuously refine, update, and tailor for each new opportunity.
This evolution happens in three main stages:
Create.
Refine.
Evolve.
Goal: Get a basic, accurate document started.
- List core information: contact details, education, any work/volunteer experience, activities, and technical skills.
- Keep it to one page and use a clean format so it’s easy to read. (You can find our recommended template on Brightspace to get started!)
This is the “I have something on paper” stage, often created in your first year or early sophomore year. Use it for on-campus student employment, volunteer opportunities, etc.
Step 1: Reflect on Your Experiences
Review your education, work history, skills, accomplishments, and other relevant experiences. This self-reflection worksheet can help you identify the experiences you have now to include in your first résumé, as well as those you’ll continue to build and possibly include later.
Step 2: Craft Compelling Content
Write 2-3 bullet points for each experience using our strong bullet statement formula.
Step 3: Format and Polish Your Résumé
Use one of our customizable résumé templates to format your résumé. These templates are designed to help your résumé get through applicant tracking systems (ATS) while also making it easy for recruiters and hiring managers to quickly find your most important qualifications.
Goal: Make the résumé more strategic and aligned with opportunities.
- Understand the target role and the specific job you’re applying to, especially the job title and description, and use that to shape how you arrange and prioritize content in your résumé.
- Modify your résumé slightly for every job, even when roles are similar; many people tweak their résumé for every application they submit.
- Shift from listing duties to highlighting accomplishments and impact (“planned,” “organized,” “led,” “improved”).
- Tailor language and sections to fit specific roles (e.g., internships, campus jobs, leadership positions).
- Add relevant coursework, projects, and skills that match job/internship descriptions.
- Begin to remove less relevant or older items as new experiences emerge.
This is where you move from “generic résumé” to “targeted résumé” and start thinking about your career story.
Goal: Treat the résumé as a living document that grows with your experiences.
- Regularly add new experiences: internships, research, leadership roles in clubs/orgs, campus jobs, class projects.
- Strengthen bullets with measurable results (numbers, outcomes, improvements).
- Reorganize sections as your identity shifts (e.g., adding a “Relevant Experience” or “Leadership” section as those become central).
- Align the résumé more closely with your emerging pathway (industry, grad school, service, etc.).
Over time, the résumé becomes both:
- A record of growth (skills, responsibilities, impact), and
- A tool you continually revise to fit each new opportunity.
