CAREER SERVICES

[Link]/career/
careers@[Link]
508-793-7258

Resume for Your First Year of College

INSTRUCTIONS

1) Your resume as a student entering college will need to be one page long.

2) Brainstorm and list all of your experiences throughout high school. Include jobs, internships,
volunteer work, community service, academic projects, student groups, extracurricular activities
and hobbies. For your resume, you will want to pull items from this list.

3) Typically, a student resume will include: Education, Work Experience, Extracurricular

Activities, and Skills. You can include other categories, such as Volunteering, Related
Experience, Leadership, etc. Try sorting your experiences in these sections.

4) In each section, make sure that you are organizing your experiences most recent (at the top of the
section) to oldest (at the bottom of the section).

5) For each experience, list the key pieces of information (See sample resume for how to format
these pieces of information). This includes:
 Location- City, State (or for an academic experience, it will be the name of the school)
 Position- what role did you have for this experience?
 Dates- when were you actually involved in this experience?

6) Describe your experiences by using strong Action Verbs. Use numbers to quantify
accomplishments and skills, i.e. “Coordinated a team of #”, “Instructed # children ages # to #” or
“Managed budget of $”.
 Example: Cared for a group of 20 elementary school children.

7) Use short phrases and powerful words to stress accomplishments. Never use “I”.
 Examples: Assisted supervisor with office tasks. Provided friendly and engaging service
to customers. Direct members and guests to the proper locations.

8) Use the correct verb tense. For past experiences that you are no longer doing, use past tense. For
any experience that you are currently doing, use present tense verbs. Also, make sure for
experience you are still doing, you make the date range read, “June 2012- Present.”

9) Avoid “responsible for” and “duties included,” which use passive tone.

950 Main Street · Worcester MA 01610-1477 · Phone 508-793-8819 · Fax 508-793-7189 · leepcenter@[Link] · [Link]/leepcenter
 FORMATTING CHECKLIST

 1 page in length
 Margins should be between ½ and 1 inch wide.
 Use font size between 10 and 12 and no more than 2 font styles (1 font style is preferred).
o Acceptable Fonts: Arial, Calibri, Cambria, Century Gothic, Times New Roman
 Be consistent with your formatting! Try to have everything line up on your resume.
 Save file as a PDF before sending to make sure the format does not change. Call the
document [Link].

CONTENT TIPS

 Proofread out loud to eliminate spelling or grammatical errors. Spell check does not
always catch all errors.
 List education and experiences in reverse chronological order (beginning with most
recent)
 Describe experiences using active voice and short phrases (no verbs ending in –ing)
 Match verb tense with the experience (Past Experiences = Past Tense Verbs AND Current
Experiences = Present Tense Verbs)
 Eliminate unnecessary words.
Ex. “I”, “a”, “an”, “various”.
 Use numbers to quantify accomplishment and skills.
Ex. Coordinated team of # students or Managed budget of $.
 Do not include personal demographic information
Ex. Age, nationality, gender, children, health
 Make sure all information is honest and accurate and can be discussed with an employer.
 Have your resume critiqued by Career Services and/or at least one person in your field of
interest.

950 Main Street · Worcester MA 01610-1477 · Phone 508-793-8819 · Fax 508-793-7189 · leepcenter@[Link] · [Link]/leepcenter
 If you already have a Name is the biggest
object on the page!
major in mind, you can Jonas Clark
write, “Bachelor of 950 Main Street, Campus Box 999, Worcester, MA 01610
Arts in [major].” Email: Jclark@[Link] | Phone: 508-793-1111

Education:

Clark University, Worcester, MA Expected May 2020

Bachelor of Arts

Mansfield High School, Mansfield, MA Received June 2016

High School Diploma
 National Honor Society and Spanish National Honor Society
 Awarded Suffolk book award for my interest in cultural and global studies

Experience:

Hockomock YMCA, Foxboro, MA January 2015- Present

Frontdesk Receptionist
 Greet and assist members as they entered the facility.
 Process membership and class registrations.
 File membership paperwork.

Private Child Care, Mansfield, MA September 2014- June 2016

Babysitter
 Provided afterschool care to three elementary school children. Use short phrases
 Assisted them with homework and projects. starting with action
 Brought them to their afterschool activities in a timely manner. verbs to describe
your experiences.
Extracurricular Activities:

Most Woman’s Track Team, Mansfield High School September 2012- June 2016
Recent Member and Co-Captain (Fall 2015 and Spring 2016)
 Practiced five times a week with the team.
 Helped lead group runs and stretches at captain’s practices.
 Achievement: 1st place in 1000m (3:03.26) dash at Hockomock League Meet

Math Team, Mansfield High School September 2012- June 2016

Member
 Competed in four math team competitions each semester with other local high
schools.
 Achievement: Most Improved Student (June 2012)

Oldest Mansfield Animal Shelter, Mansfield, MA June 2012- July 2016

Volunteer
 Worked with both cats and dogs in the shelter.
 Cleaned cages, food dishes, and bedding.
 Showed visitors cats and dogs that were available for adoption.

Skills:

Computers: Mac and PC

Software: Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) Only list hard skills in the skills section
Languages: Spanish (Intermediate) (i.e. no soft skills, such as good
Certifications: CPR, First Aid communicator or interpersonal skills)