Formatting the Content of a Resumé

Here are some tips on formatting the content of a resumé while explaining things like how to write months, etc. 

Content: Consistency

Keeping consistent with your resumé and cover letter will show the employer that you have attention to detail and organizational skills. 

1. Use the contact information section as the first thing written on the cover letter, as well as the first thing written on the first page of the resumé.  The second page of the resumé need not have the contact information repeated (unless you count your name in the header for it).
   
2. The subject line of the cover letter should match the headline of the resumé.  It can name the job title and the organization, or it can name your career titles. 
3. When it comes to using bullets, you don't need to detail each employment entry or education entry with the same number of bullets.  The number of bullets you use depends on the relevancy of the entry to the job posting. 

Content: [Square Brackets]

Avoid using square brackets when sending out a resumé.

1. Square brackets are used when content needs to be changed or has been changed, e.g., when paraphrasing a quotation. 
2. In business correspondences, including sending resumés, square brackets commonly represent content that should be revised, e.g., [Job Title at Organization].  Therefore, they should be used in content only when a document is in draft mode and removed when the document is finalized.
3. Square brackets can be used in a master resumé but should be avoided in a targeted resumé. 

Content: Months

Write months appropriately on a cover letter and resumé. 

 

1. Months are used on the cover letter to date it, and on the resumé to state time frames for employment entries. 
2. In your resumé, you can either spell out months entirely or write them as such: Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec. 
3. The shorter-spelt months are spelt out because they are easily confused with other months if abbreviated. 
4. The abbreviated months may be abbreviated with or without a period, but be consistent with that format throughout the resumé. 
5. It is better to spell out all months on your cover letter. 
6. Years with months are the most common description of time frames on resumés. 
7. You can use a time frame of "Month Year to Month Year" on your resumé when experience entries are in the past, and "Month Year to Present" or "Month Year to Current" when experience entries are current. 
8. You can opt for "to" instead of "-" in the time frame for experience or education entries as dashes can change in their format. 
9. Some job applications require you to include the full dates (date, month, and year) on the time frames of your experience entries. Therefore, it is a good idea to keep a record of this on your master resumé for reference.
10. Education entries can be dated with a single month and year, or a single year, or have a time frame including years or months and years, or have a single month and year if it is a one-day certificate. 
11. Your high school diploma or equivalency should not be dated or have time frames as this ages you.  You can have a copy of your high school diploma or equivalency to show as proof of education at the interview level. 
    

Content: Bullets

All of the experience entries on a resumé don't need to have the same number of bullets. 

1. Bullets can be used in the highlights of qualifications (for typical Canadian resumés) or in the skills section after the profile (for typical U.S. resumés), and to detail each employment entry.  
2. Bullets can be used to detail education entries as well. 
3. Bullets should be one or two lines long.  If you need bullets that are three lines long, you can opt to use only a few of these on the resumé.
4. Bullets under each employment entry should be more "accomplishment statements" rather than "job descriptions".
5. Bullets detailing an education entry may include a description of courses completed, and/or a brief explanation of projects completed. 
6. Detail experience entries and education entries per relevance to the job posting.  All the experience entries and education entries on a resumé need not have the same number of bullets. 

Content: Paragraphs

Avoid using paragraphs under the experience of a resumé and use bullets instead.

 

1. The content of a resumé can be expressed in a combination of paragraphs and bullets. 
2. In a typical U.S. resumé, the profile section is a paragraph, and can be between one to an average of five lines long, and the skills section is done in bullets. 
3. In a typical Canadian resumé, the highlights of qualifications section usually covers the content of the profile and skills section instead, and that is done in bullets.  The profile can be incorporated into the first bullet of the highlights of qualifications. 
4. Sometimes a resumé has paragraphs called "job summaries" under each experience entry, or "program summaries" under each education entry.  But these paragraphs are no longer needed in many sectors.  
5. A better use of the space would be to use a battlefield bullet, aka an overview bullet, as the first bullet of each experience entry, which outlines your function in that position and why you were important to the organization.  
6. As for education entries, they can be detailed with bullets that can contain key courses in your program and you can include a bullet on your capstone project. 
7. Paragraphs have a tendency to run on and on, which is why they are often replaced by bullets on a resumé. 

Summary

Here is a recap on formatting the content of a resumé.

1. Be consistent with the content on your cover letter and resumé.  The number of bullets you use under each experience entry depends on the relevancy of each entry to the job posting. 
2. Avoid using square brackets on a targeted resumé. 
3. You can abbreviate months on a resumé as such: Jan, Feb, March, April, May, June, July, Aug, Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec.  But it is better to spell out the months on your cover letter. 
   
4. Use bullets and paragraphs where appropriate on a resumé.
   
5. The profile paragraph (typical for U.S. resumés) or the first bullet of the highlights of qualifications section (typical for Canadian resumés) should be one to an average of five lines long.
6. Bullets that detail an experience entry or an education entry should be one or two lines long, three if needed. 
7. The job summary under each experience entry can be replaced by a battlefield bullet, aka an overview bullet.  And you can detail relevant education entries with bullets that contain key courses or a brief explanation of your projects. 

Notes

This article contains no text pictures to ensure that every word can be read aloud by a text-to-speech application. And was tested using Google Chrome’s “Read Aloud” add-on.

Bio

Tiffany Persaud is a freelance writer and resumé writer who has helped dozens of people find jobs they like during the pandemic and coming out of it.

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