career center resume review

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How to Prepare Your Resume

Often times, your resume will be the first impression an employer will have of you, so it’s important to make it compelling and strong. Effective resumes will highlight strengths and abilities you can bring to the position. Here are some guidelines to start:

Provide your full name (first and last, no nicknames) and contact information. Contact information includes phone number, professional e-mail address, and home address.

Use professional fonts that are easy to read (Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri). Stay within one page for your resume, and make sure that the font size is legible when printed.

Objective Statement

Typically one to two lines, objective statements provide a clearer understanding of why you are applying to the position. It tends to answer one or more of the following: What are you trying to gain from the position you are applying for? What skills do you hope to build? What skills do you have currently that you can offer to the position?

List your education, with the most recent first. Include your anticipated graduation date, location of the school, major(s) and if applicable, minor(s).

Honors, Awards, and Certifications

List any honors and awards you have earned as well as any notable certifications.

Experience comes in many different forms, from part-time work, full-time, internships, and more. Use this section of your resume to showcase skills or abilities gained through your experience(s). List your experience in reverse chronological order, with the most recent first. Include the name of the organization, position title, start and end date.

State duties, responsibilities, and accomplishments of your position. Use action verbs to describe what you have done.

Activities and Volunteer Experience

Activities are a great way to supplement your resume with skills gained while also showcasing involvement. List activities you have been a part of and any positions held. Any volunteer experience can be useful to include as well.

More is not always better! It is better to be dedicated to a few clubs and do more with them than be a part of many but not as involved.

Highlight any relevant skills on your resume. These are typically technical and foreign language skills such as:

• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Publisher, etc)
• Adobe (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

Softer skills such as teamwork, multitasking, group work, etc. are shown through your experience and activities.

Extra Tips and Tricks

Do research on the position and the organization/company. What are the qualifications the position stated? What skills are they looking for, and what are the duties you may be expected to perform? Use the job description to help tailor your resume for each application.

For resume and cover letter examples, check the  TCNJ Career Center Handbook .

Have multiple drafts of your resume you can edit and match to each new position. Also, when submitting your resume, try to do so as a .PDF unless stated otherwise. This eliminates the chances of your resume format being altered or accidentally edited.

Proofread, proofread, proofread! Make sure there are no spelling or grammar mistakes!

Lastly, schedule to meet with an advisor 1on1 for 15 minutes. You must have a draft resume to participate. Please use Handshake and select “15 Minute Resume Review” as your appointment to schedule your resume review. Once your appointment is confirmed a Zoom link will be provided via the Handshake comments in your appointment.  Please plan to share your resume via a Google doc for review and comments. For information on how to use Handshake to schedule your 15 minute resume appointment, click here: Handshake

Please note, advisors will not directly edit your resume. You must have a draft resume to participate.  To view information on how to develop your resume or to view samples of resumes please visit our Career Handbook located here .

Social Media Presence

Your resume is not the only impression employers may have of you. It is very common today for employers to search candidates on social media for further insight on who they are. Therefore, it is important to maintain a professional social media profile. Avoid posting anything that could reflect poorly on you, and when in doubt, keep your profile private on Instagram and Twitter. For Facebook, double check your privacy settings on who can see your posts, whether or not people can see what you have been tagged in, and more. It is a good idea to check these settings every few months to ensure nothing has changed.

Your social media brand is important to maintain both before, during, and after a job, so be conscious of what you post and say online. Having a strong social media brand that reflects the best of you is useful, but likewise, a poor social media brand will harm you in the long run. You can control what you post, and so you can control how others will perceive you online.

Further Resources

NACE has a list of  Career Competencies  they have determined are important to the workforce. Examine the list and see how you can incorporate these competencies into your resume, and in what areas you may need to improve on.

NACE Career Readiness Resources

The Career Center Roscoe West Library, Room 102 The College of New Jersey P.O. Box 7718 2000 Pennington Rd. Ewing, NJ 08628

609.771.2161 Staff Directory Office and Resumé Open Hours

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Career Center

Resume, cv and cover letter review services.

The Career Center offers a variety of ways that students can receive guidance and support in crafting their resumes, CVs and cover letters.

Resume Support Services

• Resume Review+ : A virtual service where undergraduate students and recent alumni (up to one year of graduating) can submit their resumes, CVs and cover letters for review. 
• Drop-in Peer Advising :   This 15-minute service is available to undergraduate students and recent undergraduate alumni and will provide a more detailed resume/CV and cover letter review. Students can meet with a student peer advisor at the Career Center in person only.
• Career Advising Appointments :   This 30-minute service is available to all students and recent alumni and will provide a more detailed resume/CV and cover letter review. Students can meet with a Career Center staff advisor in person or remotely.
• Resume and Materials Workshops : Every quarter we offer workshops covering how to write a resume or cover letter and how you can market your skills, education and experience to tailor your document for your next role. We also have a resume series on YouTube.

Student Affairs

The Career Center

Career pathways ⌄, professional development advice ⌄, jobs and internships ⌄, pre-health at illinois ⌄, resources for international students ⌄, resume/cover letter reviews.

Monday - Friday

2 pm - 4:30 pm (Last check-in: 4:15 pm)

Check Hours and Announcements for Fall/Winter/Spring Break Hours Updates.

For LinkedIn profile reviews and CV (curriculum vitae) reviews, please come to   Career Drop-In Advising   or make a   career coaching appointment

What is a Resume/Cover Letter Review?

An undergraduate Career Services Paraprofessional will spend 10-15 minutes reading your resume or cover letter and will give you specific, detailed feedback on changes and improvements that could make your document stronger and help you stand out when you apply to internships, jobs, or graduate schools.

This service is targeted to undergraduates and entry-level positions. For masters and doctoral students, please use our Career Drop-in Advising service or make a career coaching appointment.

Looking for a LinkedIn Profile Review? Beginning in Fall 2024, those are now done during our Career Drop-in Advising , 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

Resume and Cover Letter Reviews are a "Drop-in" service.

Title who will i meet with during the review.

Most of our resume and cover letter reviews are done by our Career Services Paraprofessionals (CSPs). CSPs are undergraduate student employees of The Career Center who have received special training in resume and cover letter best practices, and they are well-qualified to give excellent advice as peer mentors. Sometimes, our Graduate Assistants or Career Coaching staff will also step in to help with resume and cover letter reviews during very busy times.

Because the majority of resume and cover letter reviews are performed by undergraduate paraprofessionals, this service is targeted to undergraduate students. Masters and doctoral students will be referred to the following services: Career Drop-in Advising , career coaching appointments , or Graduate College Career Development .

Bring a printed copy of your resume or cover letter, or bring a laptop/tablet with virtual access to a draft of your document.

There is no public printing available at The Career Center. Documents cannot be reviewed on a device smaller than a laptop or tablet.

Your reviewer will take a few minutes to read your document. They may ask you some questions, or ask if you have any questions or areas you would like to focus on. Then, they will provide suggestions and feedback to strengthen the presentation of your experiences and strengths, based on their knowledge of what employers or graduate school admissions representatives are looking for. Don't be surprised if your reviewer writes on your paper! These notes will help you remember the comments later when it is time to edit.

We have online reviews too! If you can wait 3-5 business days for feedback, submit your resume or cover letter online and receive written suggestions from Career Center staff.

Related Resources

• How to Write a Resume
• How to Write a Cover Letter
• Action Words (pdf)
• Sample Resumes (pdf)
• Sample Cover Letter (pdf)
• LinkedIn Profile Checklist (pdf)