Your Resume is Your First Impression
Your resume is often the first thing a potential employer sees, making it your most important marketing tool in your job search. A well-crafted resume can open doors to interviews, while a poorly written one can close them before you even get started.
This guide covers everything you need to know to create a professional, impactful resume that showcases your skills, experience, and personality in the best possible light.
Six Core Principles
Tailored
Customise your resume for your industry. Highlight relevant experience, skills, and achievements that align with the specific job requirements.
Proofread
Typos and grammatical errors can be a big turn-off. Proofread your resume multiple times and consider having someone else review it.
Personalised
People hire people. Get your personality across, highlight your aspirations, and include your outside hobbies and interests.
Keep it Concise
Ideally, your resume should be 2 pages long, especially if you have less than 10 years of experience. Be concise and to the point.
Online Profiles
Include links to professional online profiles such as LinkedIn. Make sure the dates and details match your physical resume.
First Impressions
Use a clear, professional font and layout to make your resume visually appealing and easy to read. Make sure it looks the part.
Essential Resume Sections
1
Name & Contact Details
Include all important details so recruiters can contact you effortlessly. Include your phone number, professional email address, and location (suburb/city). Optionally add your LinkedIn URL. Never include sensitive information such as bank details, date of birth, or Tax File Number. Ensure consistency between your resume and LinkedIn profile.
2
Personal Summary
Your first impression is crucial. Keep it concise (3-4 sentences), personalise it to the role you're applying for, and discuss your career aspirations. Strike a balance between confidence and humility — avoid sounding arrogant while still showcasing your value.
3
Education & Certifications
Include your education and certifications with dates. List the institution name, qualification, and year of completion. If any certifications have expired, clearly indicate that. Recent graduates should place education near the top; experienced professionals can position it lower.
4
Skills
Include a list of relevant soft skills on your resume, typically 5-10 skills. Focus on skills that are relevant to your target role. Balance confidence and humility — don't claim to be an expert in everything, but don't undersell yourself either.
5
Technical Skills
Specify all technologies you are comfortable using in a commercial setting. Go into specific details — for example, list "Windows Server 2016/2019/2022" rather than just "Servers". Include version numbers where relevant. Most importantly, do not lie. You will be caught out in interviews.
6
Professional Experience
Make sure all information is accurate and consistent across your resume, social profiles, and LinkedIn. Include company name, dates (month/year), and job title. Optional: add a quick sentence explaining what the company does, especially for lesser-known organisations.
Writing Powerful Experience Sections
💡 The Power of Key Achievements
Including key achievements is one of the most powerful techniques for making your resume stand out. Achievements demonstrate your impact, not just your responsibilities.
Keep achievements relevant and concise. Quantify wherever possible to provide concrete evidence of your contributions:
- "Increased sales by 15% through implementation of new CRM system"
- "Reduced system downtime by 33% through proactive monitoring"
- "Achieved 100% positive customer feedback over 12-month period"
- "Managed migration of 500+ users to Microsoft 365 with zero downtime"
- "Reduced ticket resolution time by 25% through process improvements"
Roles & Responsibilities
- Include 10-15 bullet points outlining your roles and responsibilities
- Use action words like 'developed', 'increased', 'managed', 'implemented'
- Start each bullet point with a strong verb
- Focus on achievements, not just duties
- Tailor bullet points to match the job you're applying for
- Include specific technologies and methodologies used
- Quantify results wherever possible
Action Words to Use
- Developed, Designed, Created, Built
- Managed, Led, Supervised, Coordinated
- Implemented, Deployed, Launched, Executed
- Improved, Enhanced, Optimised, Streamlined
- Resolved, Troubleshooted, Diagnosed, Fixed
- Analysed, Evaluated, Assessed, Reviewed
- Collaborated, Partnered, Supported, Assisted
📝 Before & After Example
❌ Weak Example:
"Responsible for IT support and helping users with their problems."
✔ Strong Example:
"Provided Level 2 technical support to 200+ users across three office locations, resolving an average of 50 tickets weekly with 98% first-call resolution rate. Implemented new ticketing workflow that reduced average resolution time by 25%."
Additional Sections
🎮
Hobbies & Interests
Showcasing your personality and hobbies can create connections during interviews. Include genuine interests that might spark conversation or demonstrate relevant qualities (e.g., team sports show collaboration, coding projects show passion for technology). Keep this section brief — 3-5 interests is plenty.
📞
References
Consider adding reference names on your resume, but at minimum have at least two professional references ready when starting your job search. Always ask permission before listing someone as a reference. "References available upon request" is acceptable if space is limited.
Resume Do's and Don'ts
✔ DO
- Use a clean, professional font (Calibri, Arial, Segoe UI)
- Keep formatting consistent throughout
- Include your LinkedIn URL
- Tailor your resume for each application
- Use bullet points for easy scanning
- Quantify achievements with numbers
- Proofread multiple times
- Save as PDF to preserve formatting
- Use reverse chronological order
- Include relevant keywords from job descriptions
✗ DON'T
- Include a photo (unless specifically requested)
- List personal details (age, marital status, religion)
- Use unprofessional email addresses
- Include salary information
- Write in first person ("I managed...")
- Use graphics or tables that confuse ATS systems
- Exaggerate or lie about experience
- Include every job you've ever had
- Use clichés like "team player" without evidence
- Submit without proofreading
Technical Skills — Getting it Right
🔧 Be Specific With Technology
When listing technical skills, specificity matters. Hiring managers and recruiters want to know exactly what you can work with.
- Instead of: "Microsoft Office" → Write: "Microsoft 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint)"
- Instead of: "Servers" → Write: "Windows Server 2016/2019/2022, Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP"
- Instead of: "Cloud" → Write: "Microsoft Azure (Virtual Machines, App Services, Azure AD, Intune), AWS (EC2, S3)"
- Instead of: "Networking" → Write: "TCP/IP, VLANs, Cisco IOS, Ubiquiti, Meraki, VPN configuration"
- Instead of: "Scripting" → Write: "PowerShell, Python, Bash scripting for automation"
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Inconsistent dates between your resume and LinkedIn profile
- Listing expired certifications without noting they've expired
- Claiming expertise in technologies you've only used once
- Using generic job descriptions instead of specific achievements
- Submitting the same resume for every application
- Including outdated technologies that are no longer relevant
- Making your resume longer than 2-3 pages without good reason
- Using fancy formatting that breaks in Applicant Tracking Systems
📋 Final Checklist Before Submitting
Before you hit send, run through this quick checklist:
- ✔ Contact details are correct and professional
- ✔ No spelling or grammar errors
- ✔ Dates are accurate and consistent with LinkedIn
- ✔ Resume is tailored to the specific role
- ✔ File is saved as PDF with a professional filename (e.g., "John_Smith_Resume.pdf")
- ✔ Key achievements are quantified where possible
- ✔ Technical skills are specific and accurate
- ✔ Length is appropriate (2 pages ideal for most roles)
- ✔ Someone else has proofread it
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