THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE

TO RESUMES

In partnership with
CONTENTS

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES

3 | Common Types of Resumes 10 | Design & Formatting

4 | A Winning Framework 11 | Before You Click Submit

Header & Contact Info............. p. 5
Professional Summary.............. p. 5
Skills............................................... p. 6
Work Experience....................... p. 7 2
Education...................................... p. 9
Additional Experience.............. p. 9

W E LC O M E !

How long do you think recruiters and hiring managers spend reading your resume
before making up their mind — two minutes? Five minutes? Ten? The answer, believe it or
not, is just about seven seconds. So how, you might be wondering, can you make those
seven seconds count?

That’s where we come in. Glassdoor and Grammarly have teamed up to deliver expert
career and writing advice in one comprehensive guide. From the skills section to work
history and beyond, we’ll walk you through each step of the resume writing process.
Follow our lead, and you’ll have a recruiter-ready resume in no time.
 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES
COMMON TYPES

OF RESUMES
3

Most professional resume writers will tell you that there are three main types
of resumes: chronological, functional and combination.

Chronological Resume: A chronological resume is the format that you’re

probably the most familiar with — this is the type of resume that focuses on
your recent work history above all. List your positions in reverse chronological
order, with the most recent positions at the top and the oldest ones at the
bottom. Ultimately, the goal is to show how your positions leading up to this
point have perfectly prepared you for the role you’re applying to.

Functional Resume: A functional resume, on the other hand, emphasizes the

relevance of your experience. To create a functional resume, you’ll prominently
feature your professional summary, your skills and a work experience section
organized by how closely the positions relate to the one you’re applying to. This
format is best for those who want to minimize resume gaps, or are transitioning
into a new industry.

Combination Resume: As you might be able to guess, a combination resume

borrows from both of the aforementioned formats. You’ll combine the
professional summary and skills section of a functional resume with the work
experience section of a chronological resume. This format is a powerful way
to stand out to recruiters by emphasizing both your experience and skills, and
is useful for many different types of job seekers.
A WINNING FRAMEWORK

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES

No two resumes will look exactly alike (nor should they!), but it can be helpful to
see a strong example. Feel free to draw from the following example to inspire the
look and feel of your own resume.

JOSÉ SMITH 4
555-212-8533 • jose_smith807@gmail.com

SUMMARY
ROI-driven marketing professional who is equal parts creative and analytical.
Experienced in Marketo, Google Analytics and driving 27% year-over-year traffic growth.

KEY SKILLS PRIOR WORK EXPERIENCE

Hard Skills Marketing Intern

Google Analytics Umbrella Corp. Dec. 2016 - Present
Marketo
Salesforce • Collaborated with a team of 4 people to brainstorm 3 major
Excel creative campaigns which ultimately drove 100,000+ web
site visits and a 27% year-over-year increase in traffic
Soft Skills
Brand Positioning & • Drafted copy for 3 ebooks and associated email marketing
Storytelling campaigns, resulting in 10,000 downloads and 3,000 new
Project Management leads generated
Team Leadership • Analyzed data from Google Analytics and Marketo to optimize
Communication marketing efforts moving forward, leading to a 24% increase
in downloads from campaign 2 to campaign 3
ADDITIONAL
EXPERIENCE Barista, Shift Manager
Coffee 2 Go Sep. 2012 - Dec. 2016
• Recipient of the
Springfield University • Served 50-100 customers per day, driving roughly $800 per
Hispanic Marketing day in sales
Society’s Rising Star • Consistently upsold offerings and daily specials, resulting in
Award, April 2016 an average yearly revenue increase of 12%
• Volunteer, Springfield
• Trained, managed, and coordinated schedules for a team of 6
Animal Rescue
in order to ensure top-quality customer service
• Avid cyclist and jazz
piano player

EDUCATION
Springfield University Sep. 2012 - Dec. 2016
Bachelors of Business Administration (Specialization in Marketing)
Graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.7 GPA
H E A D E R & C O N TA C T I N F O
At the top of your resume, always include
a header containing your name. Your
contact info (typically your phone number,
personal email address and sometimes
links to social profiles or personal websites)
should be close by as well. After all, you
don’t want there to be any confusion over
who the resume belongs to, or make it
difficult for recruiters or hiring managers
to reach out to you. However, you may
want to avoid putting your contact info
in the header or footer of the document
itself — the headers and footers can
sometimes be overlooked by the software
that scans your resume.
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
The professional summary is a brief,
one- to three-sentence section featured
prominently on your resume that
succinctly describes who you are, what
you do and why you’re perfect for the job.
In contrast with the largely out-of-date
objective statement — a line which
describes the type of career opportunity
you’re looking for — professional
summaries aren’t about what you want.
Instead, they’re focused on the value
you could bring to a potential employer.
It’s worth noting that a professional sum-
mary isn’t an absolute must-have — if your
resume is missing one, it probably won’t
be a dealbreaker — but it can be a nice way
to give time-pressed recruiters and hiring
managers a quick, high-level overview of
why you’re the right person for the job.
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES
TIPS:
•• Observe Email Etiquette: Include a
professional-looking email address — nothing
silly or personal like loverguy22@hotmail.com,
and not your current work email address.
•• Location, Location, Location: Think carefully
before adding your street address to your resume
header. Recruiters may be hesitant to interview
candidates from another city or state, as they 5
often require relocation fees.
•• Be Smart About Social: If including links to
social profiles or personal websites, make sure
they’re appropriate — usually, a LinkedIn profile
and online portfolio are safe bets.
TIPS:
•• Ditch Generic Descriptors: Declaring yourself a
“hard-working, self-motivated professional” won’t
impress anyone. Terms like those are vague, and
honestly, those traits are a dime a dozen. Instead,
focus on the skills and accomplishments that set
you apart from the competition.
•• Mention Metrics: Nothing grabs a recruiter’s
attention like a data point that gives context to
your accomplishments. Cite relevant numbers like
sales deals you’ve closed, marketing leads you’ve
generated or users your product impacted.
•• Don’t Be Afraid to Drop Names: Worked with
any well-known clients or companies? Highlight
it! A statement like “Managed campaigns for
Facebook, General Motors and Wells Fargo” can
work wonders.
 SKILLS

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES

Once relegated to the bottom of resumes as an afterthought, the skills section
has become more and more important as recruiters and hiring managers increasingly
look for candidates with specialized backgrounds. Rather than making the folks
reading your resume hunt through your bullet points to find your skills, it’s best
to clearly list them. If they see right away that you have the ability to get the job
done, they’re much more likely to take your resume seriously.

TIPS:

•• Stack Your Skills: Prominently list your •• Less Is More: Only include the skills that truly 6
relevant skills, both hard and soft — all the make an impact — not ones that are basic
better if these skills were directly mentioned requirements (Microsoft Word, email) or
in the job description. irrelevant to the job you’re applying to.

•• Be Brutally Honest: It’s natural to want to make
yourself look good, but you shouldn’t lie about or
exaggerate your skills. You don’t want to get caught
in a fib, or perhaps even worse, receive a job offer
only to find out that you’re in over your head.
•• Take a Class: If you need to bulk up your skills
section, consider taking an online course.
Many online learning platforms offer free and
cheap courses on in-demand skills like Photoshop,
Google Analytics, Excel and more.

BONUS! FOR CAREER CHANGERS

Considering a jump from one industry
to another? Here are our tips on how
to make all of your skills and work
experience applicable to a future role:

Showcase Transferable Skills: Little to no experience in the new field? No problem.

Resume writer Anish Majumdar recommends detailing your abilities that are relevant
and helpful across different businesses and industries.

Choose Your Words Wisely: In the skills section, include traits like: managing change,
communication, leadership, complex problem solving, etc.

Show, Don’t Just Tell: Use numbers and facts to convey your transferable skills.

Example “Mitigated the effects of a $42 million revenue shortfall as a result of new policy
affecting direct marketing efforts and led a digital marketing campaign that cut
a $42 million loss into a $5 million loss in eight months.”
WORK EXPERIENCE

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES

This critical section of a resume is where you detail your work history in
a consistent and compelling format. The Work Experience section should
include company names, locations, employment dates, roles and titles you
held and most importantly, bullet points containing action verbs and data
points that detail the relevant accomplishments of each position.

This portion is essential for recruiters and hiring managers, who look to absorb
information about your career experiences and connect your skills to what
they’re looking for in a potential hire. Recruiters are often flooded with resume
7
submissions and have to carefully source and identify quality candidates in
a crowded pack — so make sure your work experience stands out.

TIPS:

•• Shoot for the STAR Format: Don’t just list
your day-to-day tasks in your bullet points.
Write each one in the STAR format — situation,
task, action, result — to demonstrate the
impact you had.
•• Quantify Whenever Possible: Use your resume
to explain concrete accomplishments. Make
sure your statistics are consistent, percentages
are properly placed and business jargon is used
appropriately based on the industry.
•• Reference Your Reviews: Look through prior
performance reviews to identify notable work
accomplishments. It’s also worth describing the
outcomes of your quarterly goals rather than
using fluff (results-driven, strategic thinker,
synergy) that doesn’t show true subject-matter
expertise.
•• Be Careful With Keywords: Use keywords from
the job description in order to catch a recruiter’s
eye, but don’t overuse them — recruiters can
sniff out “keyword stuffing.”
•• Demonstrate Reliability: If you frequently
change companies without changing levels or
positions, it can be a red flag to recruiters that
you are unsure or unreliable. Consider only
listing the companies that best align with your
desired industry — you can always add a foot-
note like “Prior work experience in a different
field, more information available upon request.”
•• Always Be Updating: Log a personal business
journal of your accomplishments as they come
up so you can reference them when you need to
update your resume. It’s also nice to keep track
of wins and detailed data points that can be
challenging to track down at a later date.
•• Mind the Gap: Be upfront about any gaps you’ve
had in employment — otherwise, recruiters may
draw their own unflattering conclusions. For
example, if you had to take time off to care for
a sick family member, you could list “Primary
Caregiver” as one of your positions. Highlight any
volunteer work, freelancing, consulting or course-
work you did in that time.
 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES
8

B O N U S ! F O R E N T R Y- L E V E L A P P L I C A N T S

Little to no work experience? First time writing a resume? Don’t panic.

Here’s what you need to know:

Think Holistically: Mine your life experience and academic achievements to

show that you’ll be an asset to the company.

Show What You Know: Throughout the resume, show recruiters how much
you know about the company you are applying to and how your life experiences,
skills and interest fit into the company’s mission.

Again, Use Keywords: Scan the job description to identify keywords and traits
that the job requires. Include those in your resume. For example, you could
describe yourself as a “self-starter,” a “leader” or “eager to learn.”

Don’t Pad: Recruiters can spot fluff and filler a mile away.

E D U C AT I O N
Since many jobs require a certain level
of education, it’s important to mention
your academic credentials on your
resume. However, this section shouldn’t
take up too much space. In most cases,
simply listing where you went to school,
when you attended and what degree
you attained will be sufficient.
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
An optional, but potentially valuable,
addition to your resume is Additional
Experience. This is a catch-all section
at the tail end of your resume that allows
you to highlight volunteer experience,
awards and hobbies. Again, it shouldn’t
be too long — you don’t want it to
detract from your skills or work
experience — but it can be a good
way to provide a more well-rounded
picture of who you are.
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES
9
TIPS:
Timing Is Everything: The longer it’s been since
you’ve left school, the less recruiters and hiring
managers will spend reviewing your education —
they’d rather read about your work experience.
If you’re a recent grad, however, you can expect
them to pay closer attention.
GPAs Can Be MIA: Only include your GPA in your
education section if you’ve a) graduated in the last
couple of years and b) received a 3.0 or higher.
TIPS:
•• Share That You Care: For some companies,
philanthropy or social good is a core part of
their company culture. Therefore, highlighting
volunteer work you’ve done is a great way to
demonstrate culture fit.
•• Hone Your Hobbies: Not every hobby is worth
adding to your resume. Select hobbies that
highlight your positive characteristics — for
example, running marathons shows discipline and
determination — or would benefit you on the job.
 THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES
D E S I G N & F O R M AT T I N G
10

The subject matter of your resume is ultimately what recruiters care about most.
However, that doesn’t mean you should slack off when it comes to design and
formatting. A cluttered, visually confusing resume makes it more difficult to read,
and therefore more likely that recruiters and hiring managers will cast it aside. On
the other hand, a sleek, polished resume will have the opposite effect. Use these
rules of thumb to ensure that your resume looks its best.

•• Use an easy-to-read font of no less •• If you’re going to print out copies

than 11 pt.
•• Add margins of at least .7 inches.
•• Make sure there’s sufficient white
space between sections.
•• Don’t go overboard with intricate
design or decoration — touches of
color are fine, but avoid any clashing
or visually busy details.
of your resume, invest in good paper
and use a high-quality printer.
•• Don’t save your resume as a PDF
unless the application specifically says
it accepts PDF files. Some applicant
tracking systems scan PDFs as if they
were one big image, which fails to
capture your information.
•• Keep your resume to 1-2 pages max,
unless you’re in a field like academia
or medicine and must cite papers
and publications.

Pro Tip: Want to use a template to help you get started? You can find attractive
and effective resume templates here and here.
B E F O R E YO U C L I C K S U B M I T:

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES

A CHECKLIST
Good news — you’re almost done! But before you officially apply, make sure to
complete these last few steps to avoid embarrassing resume mistakes.

Use Grammarly to edit your resume! Grammarly runs on powerful

algorithms developed by the world’s leading linguists, and it can save you
from misspellings, hundreds of types of grammatical and punctuation
mistakes and words that are spelled right but used in the wrong context.
11
Your resume is safe with Grammarly. Learn More

Check for word usage errors, such as confusing your/you’re or

their/they’re/there. These mistakes show a lack of attention to detail
and can seriously harm your candidacy for your desired job.

Correctly capitalize company names and titles. Check capitalization

on company websites and other job postings with similar job titles to
yours, and be consistent throughout your resume.

Have multiple people read your resume, including trusted friends, former
colleagues and mentors. If you know a recruiter, that’s even better. You
can also ask someone who just landed a new job to review your resume —
they’ve likely worked on their resume recently and can share insight.

Review your bullet points to make sure that you’ve focused on results.
Don’t simply rely on telling a story; tell the final outcomes of your
contributions.

Keep it concise. You don’t have to write the play-by-play of your job —
the details are the parts you’re going to talk about in your interview. And
the more you overwrite, the more you increase the chance of typos.

Verify your employment information to make sure it’s accurate and

identical to what’s on LinkedIn. This includes your current company,
job title and employment dates.

Save your resume with a simple file name — for example,

Lastname-Resume-2018.
 You’re an expert now! Time to put all of your newfound knowledge to use and create
a resume that recruiters and hiring managers can’t resist. If you’re truly qualified for the position,

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO RESUMES

and you have the resume to prove it, you’ve got a great shot at scoring the job of your dreams.

12

About Glassdoor
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Glassdoor helps employers hire truly informed candidates at scale through effective
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About Grammarly
Grammarly is an AI-powered digital writing assistant that helps millions of
people communicate more clearly, effectively, and mistake-free wherever they
type. Through a combination of natural language processing and advanced machine
learning technologies, Grammarly helps ensure your writing is not only free of
spelling and grammatical mistakes, but also more compelling and easier to read.
We’re available on multiple platforms — as a browser extension, an online web
editor, a mobile keyboard, a Microsoft Office add-in, and a native desktop app.

More than 10 million users rely on Grammarly every day to improve their
communication in their emails, text messages, documents, and social media posts.

Download Grammarly for free to make sure your resume is polished and flawless.