Dos and Don’ts for Writing an Entry-Level Resume

If you’re just starting out in your field, you probably have a pretty specific career goal in mind: landing an entry-level role with a company that will be the first step on your path to that career. You can’t quite say where that job will take you, but it’s not too much of a leap to imagine yourself as someone who works there one day. If that sounds like you, then read on for tips on how to write an effective resume for your first few months in the field. Whether you’re just graduating from college or recently switched careers, any job search at this point is going to feel disorienting and even a bit lonely. It’s easy to get bogged down by the details and lose sight of why we do what we do. This applies to any kind of job search, so it’s important to keep things in perspective if you don’t want to panic over every little hiccup along the way. Keep these tips in mind as you draft your resume and as you send it out into the world:

Write a concise, targeted resume

The most important advice you can give your resume is this: keep it short. In fact, many hiring managers and recruiters recommend skimming resumes altogether. To get your resume in front of the right eyes, you’re going to need to get creative. You can’t just send your resume out to every job in the world. Instead, you’re going to need to strategically put it in front of the right people — and this means thinking very carefully about which jobs to target, and what to put in that targeting. For example, you might have plenty of skills that are relevant to many different jobs, but if they’re only relevant to one specific job, they might not be worth including on your resume at all. On the other hand, you might have a specific set of skills that are only relevant to one job in particular. That’s the sort of fine-tuning you have to do with a targeted resume.

Include your strongest skills first

When it comes to the specific skills you want to include on your resume, you want to start with your strongest. You want to make it clear to the reader just how valuable those skills are, and how applicable they are to the job you’re applying for. That might mean starting your resume with a few of your strongest skills (and keeping those at the top of the resume). Don’t worry too much about how many skills you include at first, though. You can always add or subtract from your resume as you go. That’s one of the main advantages of a resume over a job interview: you don’t have to sit down and think about everything at once. You can take it step-by-step.

Don’t highlight your weaknesses

One of the most common mistakes entry-level job seekers make is highlighting their weaknesses on their resumes. When you do this, you’re allowing the reader to draw an immediate conclusion about your suitability for the job. Instead, you want to focus on showing why you’re the best candidate for the job — and, if you want to take it one step further, why the company is the best fit for you, too. At the same time, though, you don’t want to make it seem like you don’t have any weaknesses at all. You just want to make it clear that those aren’t the kind that will hold you back on the job.

Tailor your resume to the job you’re applying for

If you’re applying for a wide range of jobs, it’s worth looking at your resume and taking a close look at the jobs you’re applying for. You might notice that there’s a lot of overlap between them — which, again, may be worth looking at as a sign that you’re applying for the wrong jobs. If that’s the case, it’s worth taking a step back and rethinking your approach. You may be trying to apply for too many roles that are too similar. Instead, you may be better off splitting your efforts between fewer jobs.

Be persistent, but don’t be pushy

One of the keys to a successful job search is persistence. You have to be willing to keep trying, even if you’re not finding the results you want right away. At the same time, though, you don’t want to be pushy. That’s right: you don’t want to be the person who first emails the hiring manager, or who pings them on social media. You have to be respectful and polite, but you also have to be patient and persistent, while not seeming like you’re stalking anybody.

Final thoughts

There’s no one right way to write a resume, and the best approach will depend on your own strengths, the job you’re applying for, and the industry you’re in. If you’re working toward an entry-level position, one of the main things that will make your resume stand out is tailoring it to the job you’re applying for. You want to focus on the skills that are most relevant to that job, and you want to make sure that you don’t highlight any weaknesses that will come back to haunt you later. In this way, you want to create a resume that highlights the skills that will help you get the job, not a resume that shows how much work you did throughout college.