Your resume is the first step in going from veteran to employee. However useful it is, to most people writing a resume is a daunting task. It can be an overwhelming idea that you need to compose a document listing all your academic achievements, extracurricular activities and any jobs you’ve had in a way that makes an employer want to hire you, all while keeping it to one page! Don’t freak out just yet. Writing a resume can be fun if you look at it from the right perspective. Begin by not thinking about it as a detailed list of everything you’ve done, but rather a snapshot of your successes; a way to entice recruiters to interview you. Remember a resume is just a tool to start a conversation with a potential employer. Here’s a few things to make your resume a complete success:

Get some (free) help

Staring at a blank Word doc with a blinking cursor could spell your doom. Don’t start there, begin online by searching for resumes of positions you’d like to have one day. Use these resumes as a roadmap of how your resume should look. Don’t copy them! Obviously, your resume needs to be of your accomplishments and skills, not a seasoned professional. However, by viewing these resumes’ formatting and vocabulary you’ll have a better understanding of where to start. Look at a couple of resumes, check out the formatting and a pay attention to the action verbs used to describe their accomplishments.

If you need more help, try googling key phrases like: effective resumes, veteran resumes, marketing resumes, etc. If you’re better in person than online, check out your campus’ career center. They often have resume writing workshops you could attend or you could schedule an appointment with your campus’ career center representative for a 1x1 meeting.

Formatting, grammar and length are critical

After reviewing a few resumes online, take a stab at starting to construct a resume. Start with the basic of all resume formatting:

• Name (first and last.)
• Contact information (email address and phone number are enough.)
• Objective (typically a 1 sentence summary of who you are and what you’re looking for.)
• Education (list college name, major, the semester and year you anticipate to graduate. If applying for an internship add your GPA.)
• Experience (this is the area where you can show your positive indicators; such as trustworthiness, willingness to take initiative, or accuracy. When listing experience write the name of the business, dates worked, your title, and give a brief description of what you did there. Items to mention could be handling $2M of equipment daily, training new Marines, managing a lab’s database, report writing, or organizing shipments.)
• Additional Information (add certifications, professional memberships or associations you below to. Put the dates you belonged and what positions you held. This is the perfect section for noting leadership qualities.)
• Technical skills, soft skills and languages (add in any software knowledge, communication or language skills you have. Note the item you know and the level of proficiency you are, such as intermediate Excel skills, Beginner Java skills.)

This format can vary, but generally all resumes have each section. One thing that can’t vary is correct grammar. Make sure you’re spelling and punctuation are correct. Ask a friend to proofread once you’ve finished for any fine-tuning needed. Unless you’re a PhD candidate, your resume should also be no more than 2 pages long with 11 or 12 point Arial font. This font is easy to read and that’s what you want; an easy to read doc that gets a recruiter excited to contact you. If you’re finding yourself writing a 3, 4, 5 page resume, take a break and come back to omit or summarize some areas. No recruiter is going to read past the second page, so try and condense.

Tailor it

Now that you’ve got a beautiful resume you may want to start sending it out to hundreds of potential employers. While we applaud your enthusiasm the resume you just wrote is your template. That’s right, you’re not quite done. The resume you’ve crafted is just a jumping off point for when you want to apply for an internship. When searching for a job, read each intern job description carefully. When you’ve decided you have the skills necessary to apply, you need to tailor your resume for that job description. By tailoring, we mean adding the key words from the job description into your resume. These are often action verbs; like assist, deliver, direct, manage, maintain, prepare, process, supervise, test, update, etc. For each requirement, make sure you call out how you’ve demonstrated this in the past. It can be in your academic work, military employment or certification. This relationship from your resume to the job description is key to getting call back.

Good luck!