You’ve just graduated high school, and you’re getting ready for college. Or maybe, you’re already in college and you’ve already heard the word “resume” and “CV” being thrown around. You vaguely know that they are the documents that you prepare when you’re applying for jobs… later on in the future. No need to worry about it now, right?
Nope.
The first time I’ve ever heard of them was when I was in 10th grade. My school required all of the students to go on a week of Work Experience. We had to submit our CVs to our homeroom teacher and use it to try find a job somewhere. I remember being confused – not knowing what to put into mine. I had no prior work experience. I don’t know what I have to include. There are so much information on the internet, but sometimes they contradict each other.
Only now, after my first year of college and joining several workshops about building a resume/CV, taking a look at what other people have, and stalking many people on LinkedIn, that I start to get a clear picture of what this document is supposed to look like.
This summer, I started a tiny business in designing and developing people’s resumes (contact me at samantha.chandra@gmail.com if you’re interested!) and I’ve noticed a couple common mistakes, differences between location and industry, and other things that I want to address here.
(Disclaimer: This blog post will put together a few things I’ve learned along the way, and takes from my experiences in the U.S. and Indonesia. Also, my post is tailored specifically towards students and recent graduates – things might be different for professionals with years of experience already!)
Why should you care?
There is a surprising amount of college students who do not have one – not even a rough draft. There’s also this misconception that only business majors require them, but honestly I don’t know why other majors won’t need one. I mean, you’re accumulating experiences as you go through your college years, so might as well document them, right?
If you want to get a part-time job, or an internship, then the first thing your future employer will ask is your CV or resume. Maybe they’ll ask for a cover letter as well (basically a letter that goes with your CV/resume, explaining why you’re the best candidate for the position). Most professional clubs on campus (the ones that you have to apply to get into) will usually ask for your resume to determine what kind of person you are before inviting you for an interview.
And trust me, you don’t want to be sitting there at midnight frantically researching on how to build a resume before you miss the deadline to apply to these things.
Hence, having a template ready is always a good idea. You can tweak it along the way, and customize it for each position that you’re applying for. You’ll never have to rush on formatting one if you already have one ready – and instead you can work on making the content of your CV/resume amazing.
What’s the difference between a CV and a resume?
Essentially, both are summaries of who you are as a person. Ideally, a person looking at either of these documents will have a good idea about what you’ve done professionally, what kind of person you are, and what skill set you possess.
If you’re an international student, transferring from Europe or Asia to the U.S., you might be a little confused when everyone starts to talk about “resumes” instead of CVs. When I was in high school, I was in a British system where everyone refers to this document as “CV.” But the difference isn’t just a vocabulary difference. They actually serve different functions.
Curriculum Vitae (CV)
This is generally a complete summary of your professional journey. It can run into more than one page, and thus can fit a lot more information. It’s like a history of your experiences. Generally, you don’t change a lot of the content. You would add to this document as you accumulate more experiences, but you won’t be taking out information. It’s supposed to be a FULL LOOK at who you are.
CVs are usually more common in Europe and Asia. In the U.S., CVs are used more for people in the academia, or people in science/medical fields. The structure of a CV allows you to include numerous publications that you’ve written, long lists of awards and recognition, and other things that generally won’t fit into a resume.
Resume
Like I said, resumes are very common in the U.S. A resume is only one page long, and it’s a tailored summary of your professional identity. While you can get away with irrelevant information in your CV, people generally expect that what you present in your resume matches to the position that you’re applying for. Therefore, you will want to pick and choose what kind of information to present. You only have one page, and you want to convince the person reading that you’re a perfect fit for the position.
What should you include in your resume or CV?
This is THE BIG question. There’s so many information out there that seems to say different contradicting things – which one to trust? I tried including most of them here, and explain when to include certain things.
General Information
- Full name
- Contact information: Phone number, address, email are the standard information to include. You also might have a personal website that you want them to look at, or you want to include a link to your LinkedIn profile.
- Profile summary/Objective (optional): I have mixed feelings about this. This takes a large chunk of space in your resume, and sometimes it’s not even of substance. Especially if it says “I’m a motivated student, detailed-oriented, etc etc,” or something along the lines of that. You can so easily lie in this statement and people know that. You probably have better chances of letting your list of experiences speak for you – but if you really feel like you have something of substance/important to say, include this, but don’t take more than 3 sentences.
Indonesians also tend to include their race/nationality, religion, and their gender in this section. I personally feel that they are quite useless and irrelevant, because they don’t say anything about your professional life. But I heard that some employers might appreciate this piece of information, because they’re more comfortable in hiring certain races, or religion to fit the culture of their workplace (yes, this is pretty discriminatory, but I can’t do anything about this). So if you feel like including this would benefit you in some way, then… go for it, I guess.
Photo (?)
There are a ton of contradicting opinions out there about including photos in your resumes. Many people will tell you that this is highly unprofessional, but there is also a growing number of websites and people that think it’s a good way to differentiate yourself from the others.
After talking to some people, I’ve concluded that it really depends on what you want to do, your industry, and where you are.
I’ve noticed that the U.S. and U.K. (or possibly anywhere else that isn’t Indonesia) don’t really care for photos in your resumes. If anything, it’s pretty risky to include one because:
- Employers don’t care about your looks
- It might lead to unintentional discriminatory judgments (and this is illegal apparently, so they don’t want to be unconsciously doing it)
- Takes up a lot of space, which you can use to include more relevant things
It’s ESPECIALLY risky if you are applying for more conservative positions and industry, such as very corporate roles like Consulting and Investment Banking, where your resume will go through a very regulated & automated process. For these types of roles, the best you can do is stick to the most traditional form of resume possible, with a Times New Romans font and all that. Absolutely no photos.
However, if you’re in Indonesia… there’s a whole different attitude towards it. In a culture where the line between professional life and personal life is blurred, some people claim that the first thing they look at a candidate is their photos. Small boutiques, shops, and cafes might appreciate knowing what the applying candidate looks like. It’s definitely more acceptable here, and I actually recommend including a photo especially if you’re applying for a more creative related role.
If you decide to include a photo, however, make sure that the photo is a professionally taken head shot of yourself or something similar. Absolutely no selfies or pixelated photos. That just makes you look bad.
Education
As a current student, I usually put this section on top of the experiences. However, I’ve seen resumes where the education section is at the bottom and is quite brief – this is for people who have been in the industry for quite a long time that their years of experience have become more important than their education.
Things to include:
- Your university (if you’re in uni): Include your major/minor, location of the university, and the start year and completion year. You can also include a couple of bullet points highlighting any test scores that you feel are noteworthy, as well as relevant courses/classes you’ve taken in your university.
- Your high school: Include the location of your high school, start year and completion year, and any noteworthy academic accomplishments (e.g. a 2400 in SAT or anything impressive like that, which shows your accomplishments)
Experiences
This is where most of us get stuck. “I’m only a student, and I’ve never worked. I have zero professional experience, so what the hell do I put in here?”
Tons of things! You actually have a lot of things that can demonstrate your talent and skills that you’ve developed over time. Here are the things that you can include:
- Actual work experience: Part-time jobs, internships, and summer jobs
- Any positions in school/campus organizations: If you’re the Director of External Events in a school club – that’s a valuable experience. You’re actually doing work and gaining experience even though you’re not getting paid. People will understand that you won’t have a lot of paid experiences because you’re a student.
- Volunteering experience: Again, a valuable way to show that you’ve done some things in your life that might be relevant to the position you’re applying for.
For each experience, be sure to include:
- Company name/Organization name
- Your position/role in the company or organization
- Starting date and completion date
- A couple of bullet points explaining specific roles & responsibilities. Tailor these so that they’re relevant.
Personal Projects
Another way to display experiences/your skills. Do you have any personal projects going on? Small side businesses? Do you like to build programs, do photography in your spare time? Do you have a YouTube channel, a blog, or a book that you’re working on? List and explain them here. These are great because it shows initiative, and also shows that you’ve developed some skills along the way.
Skills
Here list out your skills that you want to highlight in your resume. Be careful though, because I heard that writing “teamwork” and “leadership” in your resume is actually useless, because there is no way to prove it and it’s very subjective. Instead, think of technical skills or software skills that are relevant to your industry/interests.
Good examples are: specific software that you can use, programming languages, etc.
Awards
Here list out the awards you’ve achieved (if any) in the past 3-4 years. Leave this blank if there is none. Try to make it relevant to what you would like to do (e.g. if you’re trying to be a barista, listing out basketball championships that you’ve won is kind of irrelevant).
Languages
List out the languages that you can speak, if relevant. Make sure to indicate your level of competence. If you’re Indonesian, indicating that you have a high level of English skills will be very, very useful.
Training/Workshops
List out any additional trainings/workshops that you’ve attended (if any) that shows that you’ve learnt a specific skill + just increases your credibility. If needed, explain what the workshop is about and what you’ve learnt.
Interests
Just list them out, no need to get into details. Sometimes this helps to make your resume more human, and people can connect more with you. Keep this very short, though, and don’t list out anything too weird.
How are resumes/CVs different for different industries?
The reason why there are so many differing opinions out there on how to format your CV and resume is because there are different industries that would look at CVs and resumes differently.
Very many positions will have very automated processes (e.g. investment banking, etc.) and a very corporate culture which will not appreciate resumes that deviate from the norm. Thus, having colors, fonts other than Arial or Times New Romans, and having elaborate designs will probably harm you more than it helps you.
However, if you’re applying to a marketing job, or a creative role – it certainly wouldn’t hurt to show that you have a good eye for aesthetic, and having your resume different from the rest of the pile. If anything, this will help you stand out from the crowd and help you land that interview.
In Indonesia, people will definitely appreciate a good design more than anywhere else – it’s less risky to have a uniquely designed resume when applying to your local cafes, hotels, bridals, or wherever it is that you want to work in. Of course, if you’re applying to one of the more conservative/traditional firms, you might want to tone down the design.
Common mistakes
After designing about a dozen resumes for others, both in the U.S. and Indonesia, I feel like there are some stuff that I have to address (especially things that I see in Indonesian resumes)
Too much unnecessary details
So many people include way too much details for the general information section. I’ve seen people include their height and weight, their ID number, birthdays, etc. Unless you’re a model or an actress, people generally will not care about your weight, or your height. Including this would be a waste of space.
People also tend to list out every single school that they have attended, starting from elementary school. Do employers care, though, about where you went to elementary school? Does that information really tell anyone anything about who you are as a person, and what you are capable of? Nope. So take them off your resumes.
Not explaining what you did in your previous experiences
THIS IS A BIG ONE. Too many times I’ve seen people merely listing out their experiences. “Intern at Hotel A,” “Account Executive at Newspaper B.” No further explanation. Just a long list of titles. Even worse, sometimes the job title itself can be very vague, like “Volunteer at Wedding C.”
Think of your resume as a well formulated essay, arguing why you are a perfect candidate for the position. Merely listing out your job titles, at this stage, is like stating your topic sentences/arguments without any backing evidence. If you want to argue that you’re qualified for a job because you’ve been the president of a club, then you should provide some points that specifically describe what you did during your time as the president. If you did absolutely nothing, the least you can do is describe what kind of things you do in the club – just to give the person reading a little bit more context.
What tasks did you have to do while you were an intern? What experiences did you get when you volunteered at that wedding? Did you handle the logistics? Did you do some interaction with guests? If it’s relevant, you should explain that in your resume rather than leaving it to the imagination of the person reading.
This is very important, because most of the things we do as students are quite vague. Yes, if you’re a seasoned professional with 10+ years under your belt, describing your day to day task might seem a little redundant. If you’re a “CEO of Company D” people can already assume what kind of work that you do. However, our experiences as students vary a lot – some internships are more fulfilling than others, sometimes we take on extra responsibilities on a summer job, and perhaps you accomplished something noteworthy during the time at the job. Why not include it in your resume?
Examples of resumes that I’ve designed
Here are some examples of resumes that I’ve designed. Take a look at the format and all the different combination of things you can include in your resume or CV. Also, if you want me to design your resume, don’t hesitate to contact me! I am currently providing my services in Indonesia and the U.S.
(Another disclaimer: If you disagree with some of the points I said here, or if I’m being horribly wrong about something, please message me so I can learn more + fix things!)
Sammy Online 