gossip katydids GIF by Teachers on TV Land

So it's that time... time to update your resume and start applying for professional jobs. It's kinda always that time.... but in Feb-April every year there is always a surge of graduate jobs available (Career Expo season) and in June-August every year there will be lots of extra internships and summer vacation jobs available.

So here are tips for your next professional resume and check out the Career Services prep sessions to update your docs!

  • Don't put your address - no one needs to send you mail. You can put your location (Adelaide, South Australia) although even your location is becoming less relevant!
  • Sections like your 'objective' or 'summary' are optional. Only use them if you have something unique to communicate.
  • Include your GPA if you are proud of it, don't if you're not! 
  • You should always send/upload documents in the format requested (sometimes a machine reads your resume before a person) but if have a choice and you've used funky fonts, have design elements or have been creative, remember to PDF it otherwise it will lose all of the formatting on the receiver's end. 
  • Instead of listing your job responsibilities, focus on what you have accomplished. If you've worked in retail instead of saying "assisted customers" say "assisted 80+ customers each day"
  • Include your anticipated graduation date
  • This is a biggie.... save your resume with your first and last name "Joe Bloggs - Resume" ... not just 'resume' - on your computer 'resume' will do, but for the recruiter it will get lost and they'll never be able to find it for the 146 'resume' docs on their desktop!
  • TAILOR TAILOR TAILOR! Make sure you tailor your resume to the job you are applying to and match the keywords from the role to your application.
  • Remember that the purpose of a resume is to get to an INTERVIEW. Think about what information you need to include to get them interested enough to want to meet you. 

The amazing team at @shityoushouldcareabout posted some of these tips for US college students and we've adapted them for the Australian market.