student resume template harvard

How To Use The Harvard Resume Format (Example + Template)

3 key takeaways

• Harvard invented a classic and clean resume framework.
• This resume format focuses on sections like education, experience, leadership, and skills. Unlike a standard resume, it prioritizes education above experience.
• You can create a Harvard resume and tailor it to your job application with Teal's Resume Builder .

You’ve probably heard that the Harvard resume format is one of the best templates for recent graduates. After all, it was created and is continually recommended by Harvard recruiters and counselors.

The Harvard resume is clean and professional and highlights education over work experience. Considering the minimal work experience most recent graduates bring, it can be an excellent framework for building your resume. 

But how do you use it to create your resume ? Below, you'll learn how to use the Harvard University resume format, including examples.

Need help to landing interviews with your resume? Sign up for Teal to make a free resume in minutes.

Understanding the Harvard resume format

The Harvard Offices of Career Services, in conjunction with the Career and Academic Resource Center, created the Harvard resume format.

The aim was to help both Harvard students and graduates of other universities create resumes that highlight their education and land them jobs.

Because of its more significant focus on education, leadership, and activities over job experience, this resume format works best for those just entering the job market.

Here’s an overview of the format:

Let's examine each resume section and how they differ from traditional resumes.

Typically, the education section of a resume is at the bottom rather than the top. The Harvard-style resume flips this on its head, listing education just after the resume header.

It’s acceptable for job seekers without experience in the job market to put education details at the top of a resume. Education also tends to carry more weight if you apply for internships or master's programs.

If you’ve gained experience within your projected career path and it’s been a few years since you graduated, move your education details to the bottom of your resume.

Your work history and experiences should make up the bulk of your resume. But if you’re a recent graduate, you might not have as much to show, as you can see in the Harvard resume example.

This is where you see more similarities with the typical resume format. The Harvard resume template holds a standard of four bullet points for each position held. Each bullet point should only be one sentence long.

Follow these rules when formatting each bullet point:

• Beginning with your most recent position, describe your experience, skills, and resulting outcomes in bullet or paragraph form. 
• Begin each line with an action verb and include details to help the reader understand your accomplishments, skills, knowledge, abilities, or achievements. 
• Quantify where possible. 
• Do not use personal pronouns; each line should be a phrase rather than a complete sentence.

This advice is standard across the recruitment and resume writing industries, but it’s still pertinent. 

The leadership and activities section on a resume is acceptable to feature if you’re fresh out of college and the activities are relevant to the position. However, on most resumes, there is little room or need to feature this section. 

It can be a great way to highlight skills, certain responsibilities you’ve held, or outcomes you’ve achieved to supplement a lack of work history. Most potential employers don’t need this information unless those activities can supplement work experience.

The Harvard resume template does something unique with the skills section—breaking the skills down into four categories:

The technical and laboratory skills bullet points are the most nuanced. Technical skills should list any computer skills or coding languages you’ve learned, while the laboratory line asks you to list any specific tools or techniques you’ve used.

Resist the urge to explain every skill. In some cases, you may need to specify your proficiency. However, if you are fluent in languages, list each language you know. You can write them in one line separated by commas, like this: 

Teal’s AI-powered Resume Builder allows you to add all of your technical skills in one easy form and then select and de-select the skills you’d like to feature on your resume.

How you lay out your resume will greatly depend on how much experience you have in your field, your skills, and which university you attended (including your grades and accolades).

But the four sections in the Harvard resume format generally benefit any new grad or student resume.

How to create a Harvard resume using a resume template

When you don’t have much experience on your resume, highlighting your education is a safe bet.

The Harvard format gives you a good launch pad for emphasizing the benefits of your education. If you understand each section and tailor it to the position, you’re much more likely to stand out in a candidate pool.

Consider the position

Your final resume isn’t going to look like a perfect replica of the template. That’s because the position you’re applying for will call for different highlights on your resume. 

For instance, you might apply for a competitive internship that values GPA more heavily than other internships.  In some cases, GPA isn’t just a qualification for admittance. An organization might also have a minimum acceptable standard. Still, it might also be a metric for whether or not you maintain your internship. 

In such a case, you’ll need to feature your GPA on your resume and any other accolades within your education that might give you a competitive advantage.

Fill in the sections of the template

In the previous section, you saw the differences between traditional and Harvard resumes. Here, we’re breaking down how to fill out your resume with those differences in mind. 

Enter your contact information

Filling out the top of your resume is straightforward. Your resume header should contain contact details such as your name, address, and email. You don’t have to include your entire email. Your city and state are enough.

Add your education

If you’re keeping the Harvard format, your education section is at the top, just under your details. Again, this is beneficial if you’re applying to further educational programs, such as a master’s program, an internship, or an entry-level position.

The template offers three possible rows of information within the education section—college, study abroad, and your high school.

Unless the position specifically requests high school information or it's required to enter the program, including it on your resume is unnecessary. This also applies to your study abroad program. While it’s advantageous in an educational program application, it’s not often necessary for employment.

Add your work history

The work experience section of the Harvard resume includes slots for just two places of employment. This is because it’s essentially a student resume.

To fill out this section, start with the company name, position, and period you worked there. 

Add three to four bullet points under your organizational header. The typical job seeker might add their responsibilities within those roles, but this won’t help you stand out among other candidates. 

Instead, focus on outcomes you’ve produced, contributions you’ve made, and skills you’ve developed. Here’s what that advice looks like on the resume of an applicant who’s only held a few entry-level roles:

You might not have a lot of experience, and it’s unlikely you were able to have a massive impact on the company in an entry-level or internship position. But you likely gained hard and soft skills by working on something for some time. 

Notice the action verbs in two of the three lines in the above example? Words like increased, improved, and boosted are “active” words to quickly demonstrate that you’ve had impact in your role.

Leadership roles and activities

Leadership and activities are optional on a resume and should only be included if they directly relate to the responsibilities listed in the job description. 

If you add your leadership projects and activities, be sure to include any outcomes that came from those activities.

You don’t need to include all of this detail. One or two lines should be enough to showcase the project unless you’re compensating for lower work experience. 

Relevant skills and interests

Skills and interests are another optional section on your resume. While Harvard offers four opportunities to include such information, you could include one or two and eliminate the rest if they’re pertinent or might increase your chances of getting hired. 

For instance, language skills are in demand across most industries. They may also be a necessary qualification for some roles or may position you in a higher pay grade upon acceptance for a role. In such cases, adding that information to your resume is essential. 

Technical skills are vital for roles in software, IT, or engineering. Laboratory skills will matter if you’re applying for a role in a STEM profession, such as a geneticist or food scientist. 

Proofread for red flags and typos

Certain resume red flags automatically take you out of the candidate pool. These red flags include:

Spelling and grammar errors

• Irrelevant information
• A lack of results-oriented experience

While recruiters and hiring managers aren’t going to examine your resume with a fine-toothed comb, obvious spelling and grammar errors stand out. As does an abundance of those errors. Always check your work before sending it.

Harvard resume example

Here’s an example of the Harvard resume in action.

You see education at the top followed by professional experience and technical skills. The example also shows active and powerful language for the bullet points of each position held. It’s a clear and professional demonstration of this resume format. 

Harvard resume template

If you want to use the Harvard resume template recommended by Harvard recruiters, here’s a template of the sections they use:

Name Location Email address Phone number Education Study abroad Experience Job title 1/ Employer 1 (your most recent employer)(month/ year-month/year) (Action verb) (Accomplishment with quantification) (Action verb) (Accomplishment with quantification) (Action verb) (Accomplishment with quantification) Experience Job title 1/ Employer 1 (month/ year-month/year) (Action verb) (Accomplishment with quantification) (Action verb) (Accomplishment with quantification) (Action verb) (Accomplishment with quantification) Leadership and activities Skills and interests

Common mistakes to avoid when using the Harvard resume

Your resume should always highlight your most vital assets and qualifications. You'll be in great shape if you focus on outcomes and key skills. 

However, you want to avoid a few common mistakes if you hope to get shortlisted for the position. 

It’s easy to misspell a word here and there, but on a resume, it can be the difference between getting shortlisted or being cut from the candidate pool. 

There are a few ways to avoid the latter:

• Use a tool like Grammarly to catch misspellings and grammar mistakes.
• Run your resume through ChatGPT to catch mistakes.
• Employ an editor to provide more detailed and nuanced feedback.
• Use Teal’s resume builder to catch mistakes and optimize your inputs to highlight your strengths.

Missing contact information

This isn’t a huge misstep, but if you send in your application without contact information, a hiring manager won’t be able to reach you if they’re interested. 

Similarly, the position you’re applying for could be dependent on location. You might face instant rejection if you’re missing, or misspelled, your location. 

Using passive voice

Most job seekers make the mistake of using passive voice on their resume. But sentences like "sales targets were consistently met" will not grab anyone's attention.

Always use active voice on your resume. Active voice requires the use of “I” as a pronoun and the use of power words like “boosted” and “improved”. 

So instead of saying, "Sales targets were consistently met," you'd say, "Exceeded annual sales targets by an average of 15%...". The goal is always to get as specific as possible with your real achievements within a role.

Lack of personalization

Resume personalization isn’t about including information about the company or the hiring manager. It’s about thoroughly understanding the job description and tailoring your resume to match it within reason. 

Teal’s AI-powered Resume Builder analyzes job descriptions to identify the keywords and most important details to include in your resume. 

For more tips on creating an effective resume, check out this post on the best resume format .

How to create your Harvard resume with AI

Harvard has made it easy to follow their resume format by opening their template in Google Docs or Word. However, if you plan to tailor your resume to multiple job applications, using Teal’s AI Resume Builder might be beneficial. 

With Teal, you can add variations of responsibilities, activities, achievements, and more while selecting and deselecting certain details to adapt your resume to the job description. 

Maintaining the Harvard format in Teal is also easy. You can choose from a resume template library and customize your whatever template you choose to mimic Harvard’s.

Customize your achievements

Because you're likely creating a dozen tailored resumes to match various job descriptions, use Teal's AI achievement writer to help you create powerful descriptions. Once you've covered everything, select the achievements most relevant to the job listing.

Find the keywords for every job

Consider the keywords and complex asks of the company. Take a look at the responsibilities section of this job description for a marketing position:

From this job description, you can pull out a few important details:

• There’s a high emphasis on content strategy execution
• There is some level of strategy execution and account management
• You’ll need writing skills
• You’ll be working with freelancers

If you use Teal’s keyword matching tool, you can see which keywords are most important to include in your resume.

This will help you determine the most important keywords and relevant information to include on your resume.

Create an Ivy-level resume

Whether you use Harvard's resume template or the more traditional reverse-chronological order, make sure the final format is compatible with application tracker systems (ATS). Teal offers free and paid templates designed to satisfy ATS requirements and impress hiring managers. Sign up for Teal for free to build a better resume.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many pages should a resume to harvard be.

According to Harvard, the resume used for a Harvard application should be one to two pages. They stress the importance of not exceeding that page limit.

Is there a proper format for a college resume?

Most resumes will have the same structure: Personal contact information, professional summary, work experience, and education.

You might add skills, relevant coursework, community service efforts, and accomplishment statements to your resume if you lack work experience or have achievements directly related to the role. 

Beyond that, the look and feel of a resume may vary. This is demonstrated in Teal’s library of 100+ resume templates .

Is the Harvard College Bullet Point Resume Template ATS-friendly?

Yes. ATS software is capable of reading resumes in various formats, and the Harvard resume template is simple, easy to read, and classic. Difficulties should only arise with images or specialized formatting.

Sarah Colley

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Harvard resume template

Harvard resume templates.

Harvard Resume Templates exemplify professionalism with clean layouts and clear headings, allowing individuals to highlight achievements effectively, aligning with Harvard’s commitment to excellence in career advancement.

A bold blue header to showcase your boldness and effectiveness. A distinctive coolness to showcase while focusing on your experience.

How To Use Harvard Resume Templates

Choose a template for your resume.

Fill the Asked Information in Our AI builder

Download/ Email the Document Prepared by you.

Characteristics of Harvard Resume Template

Harvard does not officially endorse or provide specific resume templates. However, there are various styles and Resume formats that people might refer to as “Harvard resume templates” because they are commonly used by students and alumni of Harvard University or are based on preferences seen in job applications from individuals associated with Harvard. there are certainly some common characteristics and best practices followed by many successful Harvard graduates when crafting their resumes.

Here are some key points to remember:

Professionalism: Harvard resume templates emphasize a professional appearance and tone, reflecting the high standards associated with the institution.

Clarity and Conciseness: These templates prioritize clarity and conciseness, presenting information in a straightforward manner to ensure easy readability.

Education Focus: Given Harvard’s reputation as a prestigious academic institution, these templates often place a strong emphasis on education, highlighting academic achievements, degrees, and relevant coursework.

Relevant Experience: While education is important, Harvard resume templates also emphasize relevant work experience, internships, research projects, and extracurricular activities that demonstrate practical skills and accomplishments.

Achievements and Awards: Harvard resume templates frequently include sections dedicated to showcasing achievements, awards, honors, scholarships, and other distinctions to underscore the candidate’s exceptional accomplishments.

Clear Structure: These templates typically feature a clear and well-organized structure, with distinct sections for education, experience, skills, and other relevant information. Each section is carefully formatted to draw attention to the most important details.

Customization Potential: While adhering to certain conventions, Harvard resume templates allow for customization to suit individual preferences and specific job requirements. Candidates can adjust formatting, add or remove sections, and tailor content to highlight their unique strengths and qualifications.

Professional Fonts and Formatting: Harvard resume templates often use professional fonts and formatting styles, such as clear headings, bullet points, and consistent spacing, to enhance readability and visual appeal.

Overall, characteristics commonly associated with resumes from Harvard-affiliated individuals include professionalism, clarity, emphasis on education and relevant experience , achievements , clear structure, and potential for customization.

The Structure of Harvard Resume

The structure of a resume associated with Harvard University typically follows a professional and organized format . While there’s no one-size-fits-all “ Harvard resume ,” the following is a common structure often seen in resumes from individuals affiliated with Harvard:

• Your full name, prominently displayed at the top of the page in a larger font size .
• Contact information, including your phone number, email address, and LinkedIn profile (optional).
• Optionally, you can include your address, but it’s not always necessary.

2. Summary (Optional):

• 2-4 sentences highlighting your value proposition for the targeted position.
• Focus on key skills, relevant experiences, and career aspirations.
• Quantify achievements where possible and tailor to the specific job description.

3. Education:

• Reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent degree.
• Include institution name, degree type, major/minor, graduation year, and any relevant honors (e.g., Dean’s List, Magna Cum Laude).
• For academic achievements, list relevant coursework, research projects, or publications.
• Consider including your GPA if it’s above 3.5.

4. Experience:

• Reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent experience.
• Include company name, job title, and dates of employment.
• For each role, use strong action verbs and bullet points to describe your responsibilities and achievements.
• Quantify results whenever possible (e.g., “Increased sales by 15%,” “Managed a team of 10 people”).
• Tailor your descriptions to the specific job requirements.
• Separate section listing your relevant hard and soft skills.
• Organize skills by category (e.g., technical, analytical, communication).
• Prioritize skills most relevant to the targeted position.
• Use keywords from the job description to enhance visibility for applicant tracking systems (ATS) .

6. Additional Sections (Optional):

• Awards & Honors:  List academic awards, scholarships, or professional recognitions.
• Publications:  Showcase any relevant research papers, articles, or other publications.
• Languages:  Include languages you speak, read, and write with proficiency levels.
• Leadership Experience:  Highlight leadership roles in student organizations, volunteer work, or clubs.
• Volunteer Work:  Demonstrate your social responsibility and engagement with relevant causes.

Additionally you should take care of Content:

• Action verbs : Emphasize using strong action verbs to showcase your initiative and impact.
• Quantification : Whenever possible, quantify your achievements with numbers, percentages, or metrics.
• Tailoring : Tailor your content to each specific job you apply for.
• Proofreading : Proofread your resume meticulously for any grammatical or spelling errors.

The Format of Harvard Resume

Formatting a resume in the style often associated with individuals affiliated with Harvard University involves attention to detail, professionalism, and clarity. While there’s no strict template, here are some formatting tips commonly seen in Harvard-inspired resumes:

Consistent Font and Size:

• Use a professional, easy-to-read font such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman .
• Maintain consistency in font size throughout the document, with larger sizes for section headings and slightly smaller sizes for body text.

Clear Section Headings:

• Use bold or slightly larger font sizes to distinguish section headings (e.g., “Education,” “Experience,” “Skills,” etc.).
• Consider using all capital letters or underlining to make section headings stand out.

Bullet Points for Clarity:

• Use bullet points to list achievements, responsibilities, and skills under each relevant section.
• Keep bullet points concise and action-oriented, starting each bullet point with a strong action verb.

Whitespace and Margins:

• Maintain adequate whitespace throughout the document to improve readability.
• Use one-inch margins on all sides to ensure sufficient space around the content.

Alignment and Formatting:

• Align text to the left for easy reading and a clean appearance.
• Use consistent formatting for dates, job titles, and other details (e.g., bold or italicize job titles, use consistent date formats).

Subtle Use of Color or Design Elements (Optional):

• While Harvard-inspired resumes typically lean towards a more traditional and conservative look, you may choose to add subtle color accents or design elements for visual interest.
• Avoid excessive use of color or overly decorative elements that may distract from the content.

Professional Header:

• Include your full name as the header of the resume, using a larger font size or bold formatting to make it stand out.
• Below your name, include your contact information, such as phone number, email address, and LinkedIn profile (optional).
• Aim to keep your resume to one or two pages, focusing on the most relevant and impactful information.
• Prioritize recent and relevant experiences, and avoid including unnecessary details or irrelevant information.

Consistency and Proofreading:

• Ensure consistency in formatting, spacing, and alignment throughout the document.
• Proofread your resume carefully to eliminate any typos, grammatical errors, or inconsistencies.

By following these formatting guidelines, you can create a professional and polished resume that reflects the high standards associated with Harvard University. Remember to tailor your resume to each specific job application and highlight your most relevant experiences and skills. 

Additional Points:

• Research : Analyze sample resumes of successful individuals in your target field, regardless of their affiliation.
• Feedback : Seek feedback on your resume from career advisors, mentors, or trusted colleagues.
• University Resources : Utilize resources offered by your university’s career services department, even if not Harvard-specific.
• Online Templates : Consider free online templates that offer professional and modern designs.
• Dynamic Approach : While there’s no rigid “Harvard” format, focus on a structure and content that effectively showcases your unique qualifications for each targeted position.

Remember : The key to a strong resume lies in impactful content, not just the specific template. Focus on highlighting your achievements, skills, and experiences in a compelling and tailored manner to impress potential employers.

Mistakes to Avoid While Creating Harvard Resume

It’s important to avoid certain pitfalls to ensure your document is professional, effective, and aligns with high standards. Here are some common mistakes to avoid when creating a Harvard-style resume :

Overcrowding the Page:

• Avoid cramming too much information onto the page, which can make the resume difficult to read and overwhelming for the reader.
• Maintain adequate whitespace to improve readability and create a clean, organized appearance.

Using Unprofessional Fonts or Formatting:

• Avoid using decorative or overly stylized fonts that may detract from the professionalism of the document.
• Stick to standard, easy-to-read fonts such as Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman, and maintain consistency in font size and formatting throughout the document.

Including Irrelevant Information:

• Focus on including only relevant and impactful information that directly relates to the job or field you’re applying for.
• Avoid including irrelevant work experiences, skills, or accomplishments that do not add value to your candidacy.

Exaggerating or Misrepresenting Experiences:

• Be honest and truthful in representing your experiences, skills, and accomplishments.
• Avoid exaggerating or embellishing your qualifications, as this can damage your credibility if discovered by employers.

Neglecting Proofreading and Editing:

• Carefully proofread your resume to eliminate typos, grammatical errors, and inconsistencies.
• Neglecting to proofread can create a negative impression and suggest a lack of attention to detail.

Using Generic Language or Clichés:

• Avoid using generic language or clichés that don’t add value to your resume and may make it less memorable.
• Instead, use specific, descriptive language to highlight your achievements and unique qualifications.

Failing to Tailor the Resume to the Job:

• Each resume should be customized to the specific job or field you’re applying for.
• Avoid using a one-size-fits-all approach and instead tailor your resume to highlight the most relevant experiences, skills, and accomplishments for each application.

Including Personal Information:

• Avoid including personal information such as age, marital status, or irrelevant hobbies on your resume.
• Focus on professional information that directly relates to your qualifications for the job.

Using an Unprofessional Email Address:

• Ensure that your email address is professional and appropriate for a job application.
• Avoid using unprofessional or outdated email addresses that may create a negative impression.

By avoiding these common mistakes, you can create a Harvard-style resume that effectively showcases your qualifications, professionalism, and attention to detail. Remember to review your resume carefully before submitting it for job applications to ensure it meets high standards and presents you in the best possible light.

Comprehensive Resume Guide

Are harvard r esume templates   free.

 If you’re a current student or alumnus, you have access to resources and assistance from Harvard’s Career Services. They might offer personalized help, workshops, and access to resume templates specifically designed for their career advising model. However, these resources often require affiliation with the university and might not be freely available to everyone.

What To Include In Harvard Resume?

Focus on crafting a document that highlights your:

1. Achievements: Showcase results and impact, not just responsibilities. Use strong action verbs and quantifiable measures (e.g., increased sales by 15%).

2. Relevant Skills: Highlight hard and soft skills aligned with the specific job you’re applying for. Tailor this section to each individual position description. 

3. Tailored Content: Avoid a generic resume. Ensure each section, from experiences to skills, speaks directly to the requirements and values of the targeted position and institution. 

4. Conciseness & Clarity: Keep it clear, concise, and ideally within 1-2 pages. Use clean formatting and headings for easy readability. 

5. Proofreading: Meticulously proofread for grammar and spelling errors. A polished resume shows your professionalism and attention to detail.

Can I Include Extra Circular Activities In My Harvard Resume?

Yes, you should definitely include your extracurricular activities in your Harvard resume! In fact, showcasing your extracurricular involvement is highly encouraged, as it offers valuable insights.

Choose a few meaningful activities that best demonstrate your diverse interests, skills, and commitment, and ensure you describe them in a way that makes them relevant to your academic aspirations.

By presenting your extracurricular involvement strategically, you can significantly strengthen your application and showcase your potential as a valuable addition to the Harvard community.

Are Our  resume templates word ATS Friendly?

While many websites provide a range of built-in and downloadable resume templates, not all of them prioritize compatibility with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). These systems are commonly used by companies to streamline the hiring process, but without ATS optimization, your carefully crafted resume might not even make it past the digital gatekeeper. Don’t let your masterpiece disappear into the digital void – ensure it’s ATS-friendly with our meticulously crafted templates.

Application Toolkit: Resume

On this webpage, you will find our advice and guidance for approaching the resume component of the application., instructions.

We require a resume as part of the application. Please limit your resume to 1 – 2 pages in length.

The following links are sample resumes from successful applicants in prior years. You do not have to follow the formatting used in these resumes, but all three are examples of well-organized, easy-to-read drafts.

Application Insights: Resume

• View All Application Insight Videos

Blog Advice

• Visit the Admissions Blog
• View All Resume Blog Posts

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Continuing our Overrated/Underrated series, this week, we shift our focus to highlight some of the overrated approaches that we recommend applicants avoid as they craft their applications. 

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This week, we continue our Underrated Approaches to the Application series with some additional advice.

October 21, 2021

Overrated/Underrated Part 1

The J.D. Admissions team recently came together to offer their thoughts on some underrated and overrated approaches that applicants might take towards their HLS application. We hope you’ll find some of these nuggets useful.

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Real Talk: The Resume

This week’s entry in the Real Talk series covers the resume. 

August 25, 2020

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Navigating law school admissions with miriam & kristi.

Miriam Ingber (Associate Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Yale Law School) and Kristi Jobson (Assistant Dean for Admissions at Harvard Law School) provide candid, accurate, and straightforward advice about law school admissions — direct from the source. They will be joined by guest stars from other law schools to discuss application timing, letters of recommendation, personal statements, and more.

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Resume Workshop

Our Resume Workshop provides applicants with straightforward advice on how to craft their resumes with a reflective activity and guiding questions to consider.

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How to Write a Resume That Stands Out

You finally found it! The perfect job for you. Now, all you have to do to get the process started is to submit your resume. The problem is that hundreds of your peers are probably thinking exactly the same thing. How do you stand out?

You finally found it! The perfect job for you. Now, all you have to do to get the process started is to submit your resume. The problem is that hundreds or even thousands of your peers are probably thinking exactly the same thing about exactly the same job. So how do you create a one-page document that will make you and your accomplishments stand out from the crowd?

Your resume is a key part of the job application process: it is the first document that an employer reviews to determine whether they will interview and eventually employ you. Remember that employers often have very limited time to perform this duty. Crafting a strong resume really matters!

Resumes communicate who you are and what you have accomplished. They may be the only document an employer sees to evaluate your record before making a decision to move forward with your application, or they may be used in conjunction with resources like LinkedIn or professional networking profiles and/or a cover letter. A resume that “stands out” in a positive way is one that has been written thoughtfully, clearly and concisely, effectively communicating your abilities and strengths in a very brief space.

Six basic tips will help you build an outstanding professional resume. Note that resumes may vary by professional field (e.g. engineering vs. non-engineering), by location or by other factors such as professional degree. These tips are designed around some of the most common sections and most useful points for resumes across different types.

Tip 1: How to Write an Education Section that Stands Out

The education section demonstrates that you have the academic qualifications for the position. The key questions you should ask yourself while writing this section is, “Have I clearly communicated the strongest and most relevant aspects of my educational experience?” The next question is, “Is this section organized in a way that is easily readable by the employer?”

The education section is important for all applicants but may be weighted differently depending on how long it has been since you graduated from a degree program. For instance, an employer may have a different level of interest in the educational history of a college senior, compared to someone who has been professionally working for several years after college. Understanding this fact may influence where you choose to place this section on your resume.

In general, you should include all of the higher education that you may have had, including undergraduate, graduate, or professional schooling.  You may also consider including online courses, certificates, and completed programs through companies like Coursera. Most people list their experiences in an order called reverse chronological, meaning that they list the most recent experience first, and work backwards down the page.

For each listed school, provide the full name of the school or online program, the years of your attendance, your major or majors, if applicable, as well as a minor if applicable. Include the type of degree received (e.g. a Bachelor of Arts or Master of Science) and the year of graduation. If you are graduating soon, include the month and year of graduation so employers know when you will be available to work. If you have studied abroad, include the institution, program of study, and any relevant coursework.

You may want to include which semesters you qualified for special academic recognition, if any.  Other special awards, scholarships, or competitive grants can also be listed in this section. If you have non-academic awards, such as for sports or community service, you may choose to create a separate section of your resume for honors and awards.

Tip 2: How to Make the Experience Section Stand Out

Along with education, your experience is one of the most important ways to show that you are qualified for a position. Use this section to clearly convey your strongest professional experiences, whether paid or unpaid. Be sure to give detailed aspects of your roles and responsibilities for each listed position. Emphasize any relationships or similarities between your past experiences and the job you want. You should also include the start and end dates of your involvement with each organization, and any key accomplishments from the role. Don’t forget to include where the company is located, including city and state/province, or even country if different from your home country.

Ask yourself: while involved with the company, did I win any awards, get any special recognition, make new discoveries, start a new program? If so, what happened and what were the results? Quantify your experiences when you can! As the expression goes, “Show don’t tell.” In other words, you can more effectively convey a point by giving concrete examples, rather than through vague descriptions. Consider the following examples.

Instead of:

Improved worker productivity significantly, leading to recognition from upper management.

(A resume reader may ask: What does ‘improved’ mean? What does recognition mean? How much have you improved it by?)

Improved quarter returns by 25%, exceeding projections and leading to the Top Manager Award, given to only one manager in the company per year.

When it comes to language, be honest about your job functions while thinking of professional ways to present your experiences.

Sometimes people fall into a trap of thinking that their job or internship experience won’t sound impressive enough to list. The job may have felt like “sitting at a desk, answering the phone.” True, but you may have been performing other responsibilities or developing useful job-related skills without realizing that you were!

When you were at a desk, were you at the FRONT desk? Were you the only person or the main person in this position? Were you overseeing anything while you were sitting there? Were you the sole person responsible for any tasks? Did you have to learn how to deal calmly and confidently with any customer issues? Did people occasionally ask you to take on additional responsibilities, even for a short time?

It is fair to say that a person sitting at a front desk, may have been MANAGING the front desk, or even managing the desk when the person’s boss was away. Time during which an individual is placed in charge of a business or an office, even if for a limited time, can convey responsibility to a prospective employer.

Look at your accomplishment bullet and ask yourself:

• What did I do in the job?
• Using what?
• To what extent or impact?

Sometimes you may need to pare down your list in order to avoid making your resume too lengthy. Try to select the accomplishments based partly on how impressive they are and partly on how well they relate to the position you want. To describe your experience, always use more than one sentence or bullet. That said, word economy in your bulleted descriptions is also important. Try to keep each bulleted description or sentence to one or two lines at most. You can often rephrase a description, eliminating words while keeping the meaning. The more information you can present clearly and concisely within the short resume format, the more the employer will understand what you can do for them.

Remember that by providing relevant details in each statement of your experience, you will give the employer enough information to evaluate you and also provide them with ideas of what they might want to discuss with you in an interview.

Tip 3: How to Create a Leadership and Activities Section that Stands Out

For many people, especially students and recent graduates, a Leadership & Activities section can be a fantastic differentiator for your resume. If you have not been in the workforce for long, or if you have only worked summers and part-time, then you may not have much relevant content to add to your Experience section. A strong Leadership & Activities section can help you fill that gap while also telling an employer something about you as a person.

When creating the section, you should first consider what student organizations and activities you would want to include. Then, you should consider what you would want to write about each one. In general, this section is much like the Experience section, except that it is about what you have done in a personal, rather than professional, setting.

Of course, because student organizations and activities are personal, you should be careful about which ones you choose to list; they should be appropriate to a professional setting. For example, you should probably not choose to share that you were chosen “Top Drinker” of your college’s “Beer Keg of the Day” club. On the other hand, if you volunteered at a food bank, wrote for a school publication, or had a membership in an honor society, those accomplishments would be worth sharing.

Most importantly, you should include student organizations and activities where you have made significant contributions or held leadership positions. Just as you did in the Experience section, you should think about what you did in the organization, any responsibilities you had, any skills you used, and any knowledge you gained. If you made improvements to the student organization or activity, definitely include concrete examples. Make sure to consider if any of your experiences with student organizations and activities could be related to the position you are applying for. Could any of the skills you have learned be useful in the job?

Because student organizations and activities can offer students leadership opportunities and experiences that are often limited to experienced professionals in companies, this section is your chance to show not only that you are qualified for the position but that you have even greater potential. Make the most of this opportunity to show the employer what you can do!

Tip 4: How to Highlight Your Skills

Another important component of what defines an attractive candidate in the modern economy is their skill set. Because employers want people who can quickly start being productive, they care about what skills a job prospect has, particularly in certain technical fields. In most cases, skills are incorporated into the Experience section, if you acquired skills as part of your internship or job, and in the Education section, if you obtained the skills through coursework, research, or projects. Sometimes people with additional skills, such as technical skills, foreign language, or certifications obtained outside of university, will place them into a separate section at the end of the resume. Whichever format you choose, you still need to emphasize the skills you have, so that an employer can easily see how you can help them.

You should ask yourself a few important questions. What skills do I have? What skills are my target employers looking for? Are my skills hard skills (i.e. technical, like computer programming) or soft skills, such as the ability to listen?

Make a list! Separate the skills into hard skills and soft skills. What skills are most in demand (on both lists) for the position you are interested in (One good way to decide this is to look at job listings for many similar positions and note how often a particular skill is listed.)? How can you highlight your proficiency in these skills?

Lead with your strongest skills and/or the ones that seem the most marketable. Let’s say you know the programming language Python. How well do you know it? How many years have you used it? Do you have any specialized knowledge and ability that may set you apart from a competing applicant? Do you have demonstrations of your work anywhere for a prospective employer to see?

Here’s an example of a skills entry that might be included into the Experience section:

Programming: 8 years of experience with Python and similar scripting languages, wrote MyFirstPythonProject software available on GitHub

Useful tip: Artists may have portfolios for their artistic work. Examples of appropriate work, such as for coding, may not be a bad idea to have available in addition to a resume!

Even if your field is not technical, you may still have important hard skills. Do you have experience with popular office software, such as Excel, PowerPoint, or Access? Do you know any foreign languages, even at a basic level? Think about not only what might be required in the day-to-day performance of the job, but what other skills could potentially be useful to the employer.

You will want to include all the relevant skills to demonstrate your qualifications, without including too much less-relevant information which could distract from your message. Think carefully about which skills you want to include, and which could be left out. Remember to choose your words economically to maximize content in a minimum of space. With a little effort, your skills details can transform your resume from a simple list of accomplishments to a document that gets an employer thinking about all the great ways you could contribute!

Tip 5: Formatting and Making the Resume Look Professional

Believe it or not, the appearance and organization of a resume can greatly affect the response. The first hurdle for any resume is to get the employer to read it. An attractively presented, concise resume is easy for a recruiter to pick up. On the other hand, if a resume is 5 pages, written in 6-point font, a prospective employer may not think that it is worth the time to find a magnifying glass and read it. In most cases, a resume should not exceed one page (sometimes two pages, mostly for more experienced candidates, or in scientific and technical fields where publication lists can be lengthy), which has a few key sections that are separated from one another or clearly delineated.

Here are some suggestions to make the format stand out positively:

• Use 10-12-point font or larger. (10 point may even sometimes be too small, and the choice can depend on the chosen font.) Your audience should easily be able to read the size of the writing. Often prospective employers may not have perfect vision, so readability may create problems if the text is too small.
• Use a clean, professional-looking font. Don’t use fonts that are overly artistic and hinder the ability for the reader to understand them. Some find fonts like Times New Roman most clearly readable; others find competing fonts better. The font is just an aspect of the writing; don’t let it overpower the words themselves.
• Use respectable margins. Don’t try to deviate too much from 0.5 margins at either side. Also, don’t make the margins too large, beyond 0.75 or 1 unit on either side. Around 1 unit on the top and bottom should be acceptable.
• Use adequate spacing.
• Abbreviate months of employment.
• Include proper contact information. Most people include full name, address, email address and at least one phone number at the top of the document.

Tip 6: Revision and Review 

One of the most important steps to writing a good resume is having others you trust look it over. A small spelling or grammar error on a resume could cause problems by making it seem like you lack attention to detail.

You can start with standard spelling and grammar checking programs. However, while these programs are very helpful, they are not enough by themselves. For example, the programs may not flag errors with homophones (e.g. hair and hare). They also have difficulty with uncommon, technical, or foreign words that may not be in their dictionaries. In addition, they are not looking for formatting inconsistencies or at the overall appearance of the resume. While computer programs can help with many issues, there is still no substitute for the human eye.

Start by printing a copy of your resume and looking for errors and inconsistencies yourself. Then, present copies to others along with a description of the job or educational opportunity that you are applying for. When presenting your resume to others, consider at least two kinds of people: a peer, and an experienced professional or teacher. Each may identify different issues with the resume.

Ask the reviewers to provide two types of notes: technical revisions and feedback on the writing, organization and effectiveness of the resume.

Once you get feedback, discuss it with them for a few minutes. Remember, don’t take constructive criticism personally! They are trying to help you, and their points of view may be similar to that of the employer. Your goal is to create a resume that most people will appreciate.

Once you obtain proper feedback, you can work on improving your resume. Try to incorporate your reviewers’ suggestions. Their ideas may even make you think of other ways to improve your resume! Most importantly, always remember that once you have made your revisions, review your resume again before you send it out!

The stronger your resume, the better your chance of getting an interview and landing a meaningful job. Just by following these simple tips, you will be well on your way to resume success, creating a clear, detailed, and concise document designed to impress employers. So, get writing and get yourself noticed!

A good resume can help you land an interview, but even minor errors can take you out of the running.  Schedule an appointment with a counselor  to ensure it will be effective.

Quick Resume Tips:

• Use the position description to decide what to include.
• Pick a standard and consistent format.
• Describe your experiences with specificity and strong action verbs.
• Record accomplishments and contributions, not just responsibilities.
• Revise carefully!
• Don’t include personal information about your age, religion, health or marital status.
• Photos are generally not preferred for U.S. resumes.
• Typically, you will not be expected to share past salary information on a resume.
• Employers assume that “references will be available upon request,” so you don’t need to include them on your resume unless asked.
• Employers may use keyword scanning on resumes, so know what words are relevant to the industry and position and ensure they appear in your resume.

• Resumes, CV's, Portfolios

Resume vs. CV?

Most students at the undergraduate level write resumes (even though they may call it a CV).  When you get to grad school, you need to decide whether you should write a CV, a resume, or both. A CV is appropriate if you are seeking an academic positions - postdoc, professor, and, possibly, some positions at government labs (e.g., DOE national labs and NIST).  But for most non-academic positions, go with a resume.  

So, what's the difference?  If you do a simple web search of "CV vs. resume," you'll find lots of explanations.  The MIT career office web site has a nice chart , highlighting some of the differences.  One huge difference is the length, CV's being several pages and resumes being limited to one or two.  But the content also differs.  If you don't know whether you will aim for an academic or industrial job, make up two separate documents. You will be continuously revising both documents, as you move through your graduate career and beyond, so get both started now.

A CV is a several-page document in which you demonstrate your accomplishments that are essential for academic appointments - research, publishing, and teaching.  Details are important.  The professors who read these will certainly develop strategies for sifting through the many applications they receive for any given position, but expect them to spend time going over the details on any that they consider possible. 

OCS has a detailed guide that you can download from the GSAS tab on their Resumes, CV's, Cover Letters web page.  In addition to the several examples within that document, I suggest that you look at the examples on the MIT Career Office website.

Resumes and Cover Letters

A resume is often the first document that you will send or hand to a potential employer or even someone who might advise you.  You may (and should) spend time revising it continually, but you should always assume that the person seeing it for the first time may only spend 10-15 seconds looking at it.  Think of the hiring manager who has been given a stack of 100 resumes (which have already been filtered beforehand by someone in HR), who is trying to fill one or two slots.  You have a very short time to catch that hiring manager's attention to be one of the few resumes to survive her/his first pass through that stack.

It is quite tempting to try to pack as much information as possible into your resume.  But always think about that brief time to make a first impression.  While it is quite reasonable for a graduate student to have a two-page resume (postdocs even longer), pay particular attention to the first page. 

What will a hiring manager (who could be an individual engineer, scientist, programmer, etc. or a manager of a group who is hiring a summer intern) look for in that initial pass through the resumes.  This can differ by organization, which is one reason we encourage students to connect to alumni for advice. However, let me emphasize one concept - what the hiring manager is trying to accomplish by hiring you.

The hiring manager will usually be hiring you to solve a problem during your internship or a broader, yet focused, set of problems in your post-graduate employment.  She/he will want to know if you have the skills necessary to solve that problem.  You want to convey the message that you have such skills, even though your particular thesis research may be focused on a different problem than hers/his.  Hence, make sure that you have skills section on the first page of your resume. List programming languages, expertise with fabrication or measurement tools, machining skills, etc. It is also important for you to show how you used those skills.  You may have several undergraduate and graduate research experiences that you can list.  Don't just focus on the goal of the research; make sure that you also mention the skills that you used in conducting the research projects.

There are several items that are critical parts of a CV, but have little or no importance on a resume. 

• Don't put references on a resume.  There may be an occasional job that will ask for them with your application, but most companies will only ask for them, when you are much closer to be hired.
• You can put teaching positions on the resume, but don't use too much space on them.  They mainly signify that you know the material for that class.
• Publications are often not nearly as important for an industrial job as an academic job.  If you have several publications, you can save space with a couple of techniques.  You could list one or two selected publications.  Or you could simply state the number of publications and provide a link to an online portfolio, where you list them.

There are many guides to writing a resume available online.  OCS has two guides that you can download from the GSAS tab on their Resumes, CV's, Cover Letters web page.   The first one is more general, aimed at the wide cross-section of Harvard PhD fields.  That one contains a page of action verbs that may prove helpful in composing your resume and a few example resumes.  Then there is also a guide (really a set of slides) aimed at Scientists, which will most likely apply to you.  The basics of writing a resume will be similar at most schools, but you may glean some additional ideas by checking out sample resumes elsewhere.  For example, I often encourage students to check out the sample resumes on MIT's career office website.  (Scroll down to the PhD resumes.) 

Portfolios and Github

Let's say that the hiring manager has put your resume into the small group of resumes to be examined in more depth.  At this point, if you have an online portfolio or github, they will likely want to spend extra time to look at your accomplishments and work/project history in more depth. 

If you are applying for a back-end programming job, have a well-organized github account that the hiring manager can search.  Don't put anything online that you don't want the outside world to see.  Obviously, if you did some work for a company, they will likely consider that proprietary.  But this caution may also hold for research work under a professor, as he/she may want to keep it secret until published.

For most other types of jobs - front-end programming, engineering, design, etc. - a portfolio is a better choice for demonstrating your skills and activities in a format that is much more extensive than a resume. 

Most students use templates provided commercial website companies such as Squarespace, WIX, Wordpress, Start Bootstrap, etc. - there are many out there.  A free alternative available to Harvard students is OpenScholar .

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• Resume Template & Proposal Tips

SCIENCE RESUME TEMPLATES

Resume is the first document that will portray you before professors. Please follow detailed instructions and template below, so that your science resume would showcase your education and research/work/volunteer experiences. Note, that science resume  format is different from the industry resume formats available through the Harvard Mignone Center for Career Success (MCS).

Freshman Resume

Sophomore Resume

FELLOWSHIP PROPOSALS

Ideally you should have confirmed a lab position far enough ahead (end of Fall term-January) of the summer fellowship deadlines to allow time to meet with your principal investigator and lab mentor to discuss a project. This will help enormously as you prepare to write the research proposal for your fellowship applications (note, that research proposal requires several drafts before final document can be submitted). The more time you have to prepare drafts of your proposal and get feedback from your mentor, the stronger your application is likely to be. You may find it helpful to set up a timeline for submitting drafts to your mentor to ensure that they will have enough time to read and return them to you with comments before the deadline.  DO NOT LEAVE THIS UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE . Your mentor may not have time to review your proposal if you send it to them the day before it is due.

Fellowship proposals have to be tailored to each specific fellowship application. Students are encouraged to read application instructions and include all required information in the specific format that each application requires, including word limit. Two common fellowship proposal guidelines are listed below. 

Harvard College Research Program (HCRP):  The HCRP application requires a 3-5 page detailed research proposal (see application instructions and make sure to include section headers and each item required for the proposal as well as  proposal tips ) and a letter of support from the lab principal investigator.

PRISE (Program for Research in Science and Engineering):   PRISE fellows are expected to find their own research positions. However, students may apply to the program before having secured a lab position. PRISE research proposal limit is 500 words. Obviously, students who have not found a lab placement by the application deadline will not be in a position to write a specific project proposal; however, they are expected to submit an essay that broadly outlines their research interests. The selection committee allows some leeway in these instances as long as the essay has some scientific merit and makes a connection between the applicant’s research interests and academic goals. The selection committee expects a more detailed research proposal from students who already have found research positions. Your lab mentor can provide you with background material and work with you on your project proposal. Be sure to phrase the proposal in your own words and not use wording taken directly from lab publications or their web site. You also are required to submit a second essay that describes how you plan to engage in and contribute to the PRISE community.

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