A Resume is a document that outlines your professional qualifications, such as your skills, education, and job experience, for a prospective employer, academic program, and more. In most cases, resumes are used to apply for jobs and are provided to employers to give them the opportunity to review whether or not you are qualified for a position they are hiring for.

A Resume may differ from person to person, depending on their qualifications or the job they are applying for. In general, a Resume will include:

• Your contact information: this includes your name, phone number, mailing address, and email address or however else you would like a potential employer to contact you (such as your LinkedIn profile)
• Your career objective: this is sometimes called your professional statement or profile and is typically an overview of your experience, skills, and education; it can also be used to summarize your future career goals or to disclose the type of employment you're looking for
• Your education: here you would list any relevant education, such as any diplomas, degrees, certifications, or licenses as well as any applicable high school, college, or university courses you may have taken in the past
• Your professional experience: this includes your past work and volunteer experience, specifically your job history (including temporary, part time, and full time work, the length of each job, and a description of your duties) and any time you've spent volunteering for a non-profit organization, community organization, club, group, or association
• Your skills: in this section, you can list your most important qualifications as they relate to the job you are applying for; often, individuals list hard skills (i.e. learned skills like typing, data entry, accounting, and more) as well as soft skills (i.e. personal attributes that make you stand out at work, such as specific social skills, character traits, communication abilities, and more)

Your Resume may also include your affiliations (such as an organization, group, or club you are a part of), your hobbies or personal interests, any awards or scholarships you've received, the languages you speak (if more than one), publications or journals you've been published in, and samples of your work.

Generally, a Resume will not include:

• "Resume" as the title of your document
• Unnecessary personal details (like your photo, marital status, Social Security Number, and more)
• Unprofessional information (like an inappropriate email address, profane work samples, the reason why you left a previous job, salary expectations, or details about previous earnings)

As well, your Reference List (e.g. past colleagues, teachers, mentors, or employers who can speak to your character and skills) should not be included with your Resume unless requested. References are typically provided to prospective employers during or after an interview.

While creating your Resume, there are a few important things to keep in mind. You should:

• Use professional language
• Avoid spelling and grammatical errors
• Use action words to describe past job responsibilities and accomplishments (e.g. writing that you "assisted customers" instead of using the phrase "customer assistance")
• Write in the proper tense (if you're describing an action that happened in the past, make sure to express it that way, e.g. you assisted customers, organized fundraisers, etc.)

Most resumes are around one to two pages in length. The length of your Resume will often depend on your past experience and education as well as the type of job you are applying for. A good Resume provides an adequate overview of your qualifications without excessive details.

Although you can send a Resume without a Cover Letter, it is not recommended. A Cover Letter, sometimes called an application letter, is used to explain how your skills and experience make you the best candidate for the job you are applying for. It complements a Resume and can help prospective employers to gauge how interested and qualified you are for a particular position.

The terms Resume and curriculum vitae (CV) are often used interchangeably but are not the same. A Resume is usually a short overview of your qualifications, whereas a CV is often a more detailed explanation of your education and experience. CVs are also commonly associated with positions in academia and research.

When you need to create a Resume but have no work experience, be sure to highlight other skills and experience you may have obtained in non-traditional ways. For instance, if you have volunteer experience or are a recent graduate with special training or certifications, describe any skills or credentials you may have obtained and relate them to why you are qualified for the job you are applying for.