What Should be Included in my Resume?

By: Kandice Thorn

One of the most frequent questions I get from international students regarding their resumes is whether it really needs to be limited to one page.  European-style CVs typically span at least two pages, and the idea of shifting to a one-page resume can be daunting.  But it is very important to limit yourself to one page, at least until you amass enough experience to warrant a second page.  The difficult part is figuring out what to include in order to prune your accomplishments to fit onto one page.



People frequently use the terms "resume" and "CV" interchangeably, but they are actually quite different.  A CV is meant to provide a comprehensive list of accomplishments; a resume is meant to provide a snapshot of the most important, relevant, and impressive accomplishments.  Your resume should only exceed one page if all the information that is important, necessary, or highly relevant cannot fit onto one page.

Because a CV is meant to be comprehensive, a short CV can be viewed as indicating a lack of accomplishment.  By contrast, when drafting a resume, brevity is valued.  Resumes require more care and attention to draft because you must be selective about weeding out unhelpful information.

You should note that there are many reasons that a particular piece of information could be important to include on your resume, but these reasons tend to fall into four categories, as follows:

1. Necessary elements.  There are some things that must be included, for example:
• Name/contact information
• All schooling/experience that covers a gap in time (there should be, if possible, no extended periods of time that are not accounted for by school or work experience)
2. Directly relevant experience.  This should be obvious, but all directly relevant experience must be included.  Directly relevant experience includes experience doing the same type of work required of the position for which you are applying.
3. Prestigious accomplishments/experiences.  If, for example, you are an Olympic athlete or you were awarded a Fulbright fellowship, that information should be included, even if not directly relevant.
4. Experience/accomplishments that demonstrate a skill/quality that is particularly useful for the position.  Most people have a lot of things like this on their resume, and this is where things get sticky.  The questions you should as yourself with each of these items are
• What skill/quality does this demonstrate?  (If you can't answer this, it should probably be left off.)
• How important is that skill/quality to the employer?  Use your judgement here, but try to keep it to information the employer will truly find important.

When drafting your resume, look at every piece of information to figure out which category it falls into.  Anything that falls into the fourth category should be especially scrutinized to determine whether it should be included.   With proper vigilance, you'll be able to draft a resume that is brief and that highlights exactly the qualities that the employer will want to know about you.