1. careers
2. resume writing and advice

RESUME FORMAT
NAME
Contact details
Provide contact details only; other personal information such as age, marital status not
required.
Option: Languages – list languages in which you are fluent; if only basic or beginners,
indicate this in brackets
International students:
Residency - if planning to work in Australia and you have PR, then mention it here; if you
have work rights in Australia but not PR, you might say ‘Employment Visa for Australia’
OBJECTIVE (optional)
An objective should indicate the sort of role in the sort of industry that you are seeking. The
statement should make a connection to your career interests and/or plans. This needs to be
compatible with the position and organisation you are applying to.
See below for examples
PROFILE or SUMMARY (optional)
A profile is a snapshot which pulls together key information about you, with particular
emphasis on what is relevant to the position. You might mention for example, relevant
experience, key skills and/or attributes. A profile can wind up with a statement about your
career objective if you haven’t included an Objective separately. A profile should be very
brief - if you try to mention too much, it becomes a sort of list and lacks focus.
See below for example
EDUCATION (core)
Tertiary
Dates
Name of Course/Qualification (in bold)
Institution
 .........................
 .........................
 .........................
List each tertiary level course separately, starting with the most recent.
Use dot points to add more detail. This helps to differentiate your degree.
Might include – Major or ‘stream’, other relevant subjects eg Breadth; GPA (if strong);
exchanges; scholarships; student rep roles (academic); relevant project work or major
assignments
.
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For Honours students – list your Honours course separately and give details of your thesis,
including title and give some details about what you did. How much detail and what detail
you give depends on relevance of your thesis work to the job you are applying for.
Secondary
Dates
Name of Course/Qualification (in bold)
Institution
 ...........................
 ...........................
Use dot points to give more detail. Might include - ATAR, Year 12 awards, significant
leadership or specialist roles if relevant and recent eg Magazine Editor. Be selective – you
don’t want this section to be longer than the tertiary section.
For postgraduate students, secondary education not really necessary – unless there is
something of particular relevance eg having studies overseas, a relevant leadership role,
exceptional achievement
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
List any professional memberships. These include student memberships of professional
associations, including student-run professional associations.
INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE
(or PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE or RELEVANT EXPERIENCE)
Dates
Job Title or Role
Organisation
One or two lines giving a snapshot of the organisation - optional but a good
idea if the organisation not well known; you might also include a brief
statement about your role if not clear from your job title



………………………………………………………………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Include here any experience which is professionally relevant to the position you are applying
for. This might include internships, and relevant part-time/casual work or voluntary
activities. Relevance might be based on the skills used/developed, or the organisational
setting in which you worked.
List job/roles in reverse chronological order
Use dot points to list tasks carried out - using statements starting with a verb. Use past tense
if job is not current; present tense if current
 provided customer service …..
.
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

prepared information for clients……
conducted phone surveys.....
Try to include some outcomes where appropriate ie what did you achieve? how can you
indicate that you did the task well? eg ‘conducted phone surveys and achieved a
consistently high response rate’.
Information about outcomes is best integrated with task statements, rather than in its own
section. Where possible and appropriate, quantify outcomes.
Where you have a substantial achievement which is not tied to a specific task eg gaining a
promotion, you might include a subheading such as ‘Special Achievements’.
EMPLOYMENT
Dates
Job Title (in bold)
Employing Organisation
One or two lines giving a snapshot of the organisation – optional but a
good idea if the organisation not well known; you might also include a brief
statement about your role if not clear from the job title



................................................................................
................................................................................
................................................................................
Include here any paid employment in addition to that listed under Industry Experience.
Use guidelines as for Industry Experience above.
VOLUNTARY AND/OR EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Include here any voluntary or extra-curricular activities in addition to that listed under
Industry Experience.
Particularly if you have a lot of activities, organise activities under subheadings eg
Community, Music, Sport….. This helps the reader to ‘make sense’ of who you are.
KEY SKILLS (optional)
A Key Skills section can be useful when you don’t have obviously relevant experience but you
have acquired relevant skills in a variety of contexts.
Focus on most relevant and significant skills (key skills) – more is not necessarily better. Skills
might include generic and specific from your studies, skills acquired through work experience
or extra-curricular activities, or skills from your personal life eg acquired through travel.
Start by identifying key skills in broad terms eg research, communication; then give some
detail about the specific skills which make up the skill area. For example – with research skills
– what does research entail? what can you actually do?
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
Research – experienced in using a range of secondary sources including………., able
to evaluate sources and assess the credibility and reliability of information, skilled in
summarising and synthesizing information from many sources
REFEREES (core)
Some employers ask for referee details in an application. If not specified, you can choose to
include referees (two is usual) or to write ‘Referees available on request’.
When providing referee information, include the referee’s name, relationship to you (eg
manager, thesis supervisor), and contact details.
EXAMPLES
PROFILES
A profile is a snapshot which pulls together key information about you, with
particular emphasis on what is relevant to the position. You might mention for
example, your qualifications, experience, key skills and/or attributes. The profile
usually winds up with a statement about your career objective.
Profiles can presented as: full sentences, abbreviated sentences or dot points:
Example 1
I am a recent Bachelor of Arts graduate with Honours in Political Science. I have
extensive voluntary experience working in student politics on campaigns, and also
experience in office administration. My writing skills are particularly strong and
include ability to produce a range of materials including press releases, brochures
and research papers. I am highly motivated to start my career in the political field
working with the party to which I have a strong commitment.
OR
Recent Bachelor of Arts graduate with Honours in Political Science. Extensive
voluntary experience in campaigning in student politics. Strong writing skills including
ability to produce press releases, promotional material and research papers. Highly
motivated to launch my career in the political field by working for the Greens.
OR
.
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 Recent Bachelor of Arts graduate with Honours in Political Science
 Extensive voluntary experience in campaigning in student politics
 Strong writing skills including ability to produce press releases, promotional
material and research papers
 Highly motivated to launch my career in the political field by working for the
Greens.
OBJECTIVES
An objective indicates the sort of role within the sort of industry or sector you are
seeking. The statement should make a connection to your career interests and/or
plans. You might refer to some of the skills you have to offer, but the focus is on
what you are looking for and where you’re headed. This needs to be compatible with
the position and organisation you are applying to.
 Seeking a career-entry role in public relations in the entertainment industry to
further develop and apply my skills in promotional writing and event
organisation.
 Seeking a position with a non-government organisation which will enable me
to work on environmental policy to make the most of my skills in policy
analysis, research and writing, and my great commitment to environmental
advocacy.
Melbourne Careers Centre Apr 2015
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