uc davis resume template

Washington Program

How to write a resume, what does a resume need to include.

View our resume sample and/or resume template before beginning to see the general format

• Name, phone number, email, and address centered at the top of the page
• Make sure your email address and the voicemail on your phone are professional
• Name of university, degree, major(s)/minor(s), expected graduation date
• Only include GPA if required by the organization
• Here is where you can also showcase relevant skills and abilities, such as fluency in a language or knowledge of coding languages like Python 

What if I have more space?

• Only include classes or projects that have a relevant bearing to the internship
• If the title of the course doesn’t accurately describe what you learned in the class, you can create a new title that briefly summarizes the content, i.e. “The Circle of Life” could become “Intro to Biology"
• List relevant honors or awards with a brief description
• Project title, where it was published, when, and brief description
• List only if applicable

Helpful Hints

• Avoid adding high school information (the only exception is if it is  extremely  relevant) .
• If you only have a few lines on a second page, make cuts so all information fits on one.
• Use a professional font (Times New Roman, Calibri, Helvetica, Garamond, etc.) in size 12 , and 1 pt spacing .
• Forget the “Character Traits” section. It doesn’t tell the employer anything about you, so focus more on your experiences.
• Writing in paragraphs may cause the employer to skim and miss important information.
• Prioritize the skills and experiences that fit into the internship position.
• If you want some suggestions, look at our handout to make your resume stronger.
• We are the best resource to discover what kinds of resumes are successful in Washington, D.C.

How to Elaborate on Your Skillset

• Many people fall into the trap of writing standard 2-4 word descriptions such as “Wrote reports” or “Dealt with customers,” which will be passed over by the person reading your resume, when often they were very significant portions of your position.
• Who  – Who did your job help? (The company? Clients? Customers?) Who did you work with? (Colleagues, Executives?)
• What  – What happened with the results of the job? If you did research, was it published? If you had to do a report, what was done with that information?
• When  – When did this happen? Daily, weekly, monthly? Talking about how often you did something is an easy way to show productivity in your job.
• Where  –Where did your duties occur? Were you responsible for interacting with people outside your organization? Did you have to travel?
• Why & How  – Why did you do this? Why was this skill/task important? How did your job duties help or add to the organization’s ability to function?
• Start each bullet point with an action word that sums up your accomplishments.
• Even if you can’t list quantities, always describe your achievements and how you achieved them, i.e. “Exceeded sales quota every week by providing excellent customer service and anticipating customer needs.”

Resume and Interview Tips

The Internship & Career Center  (ICC) informs students that when applying for a job or internship, employers usually require an assortment of written materials such as:

• Resume/CV A concise summary of your education, experience, skills and accomplishments.
• Cover letter A brief letter that introduces you and your resumes and explains why you are a good fit for an opportunity.
• References A list of 3-5 people you have worked with who can attest to your work performance, time management, punctuality, professionalism and ability to do the work.
• Writing sample A good example of your writing skills that demonstrates you have the necessary writing (and often research skills) to complete required tasks of the position you seek.
• Portfolio A collection of your best work. Common when applying for creative positions.

These are marketing documents that, if designed well, can promote you for an  interview . They identify what skills, education, and experience you offer to an employer. Use the advice and resources offered on these pages to help put your best foot forward.

Over and over, there is a discussion of Economists being "problem solvers" in many contexts, learn how to describe your skills in a resume as you work towards your future goal explorations and opportunities here. 

Review the ICC's recommendations on how to prepare and practice for interviews here! 

Human Resources

Cover letter instructions, template and sample, these are some helpful questions to ask about your cover letter before submitting your job application:.

• Does your cover letter enhance your job search packet?
• Is your cover letter an effective marketing tool by itself?
• Is your cover letter customized to the job you are applying to?
• Is your cover letter the same paper stock and follow the same heading format as your resume?
• Is your cover letter addressed to an individual, and is the name spelled correctly? (When in doubt, call and ask for the correct spelling of the recipient's name.)

Cover Letter Template

Download in MS Word format

Cover Letter Sample

Internship and Career Center

How to Write a Resume

An effective resume is more than a list of your skills and experience. It serves as your professional introduction and a way for you to market and differentiate yourself.

It is often the only information a potential employer will have when deciding whether or not to invite you for an interview. Moreover, most employers receive hundreds of resumes for any given opportunity and have very little time to evaluate each one. Your resume must therefore clearly convey your skills, strengths, relevant experience, and do so in an efficient and visually appealing manner.

The following guide will walk you through creation of a resume that will best represent you to the organizations, programs and opportunities you hope to pursue.

Step 1: Choose a Format

Select a simple and appealing format for your resume. If you are just beginning your career or working in a traditional industry, choose something simple. Avoid borders, colors, images or graphics, as these tend to be difficult for automated Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to read. Our basic formatting suggestions are below.

• Center name at top of page and make it two font sizes larger than the rest of the text
• Use a professional-sounding e-mail address that you check often; remove the hyperlink
• Include a physical address . If you prefer, you can list just city, state and ZIP code with no street address. You may include your current and permanent addresses, or just one.
• Optional: Include your LinkedIn profile URL
• Font: Arial, Calibri, Tahoma, Times New Roman (same font throughout)
• Font size: 10-11 point
• Margins:   .5 to 1 inch, all sides
• Page Numbers: Include if the document goes beyond one page (start numbering on page 2)
• Use consistent formatting for dates throughout (e.g., 2/18, Feb. 2018, February 2018)
• Consider aligning all dates on the right side of your document
• Use bullet points to give relevant details and explanation of your experiences
• Bullet point style and formatting should match throughout
• Bullet points in a resume typically do not use a period because they are usually not complete sentences
• Within each section, list information in reverse chronological order (most recent first)
• Consider using bold and all caps for HEADINGS in the body of your resume
• Consider using bold for Names of Degrees and Position Titles
• Consider using italics for Name of Organization, City, and State

Looking for visual examples? Check out these templates for reference:

• Resume Outline Option 1 (download)
• Resume Outline Option 2 (download)
• Resume Outline for First- or Second-Year Undergraduate Student (download)
• Resume Outline with Licensure and Certification (download)

Step 2: Collect and Fill in Information

Make a list of all your prior experience including but not limited to education, internships, co-ops, full-time work, part-time work, volunteering, service-learning, awards and scholarships, achievements, study abroad, training programs, student organizations, leadership roles, lab and computer skills, languages, and certifications. Use exact names for degrees , programs, organizations, and titles; you may have to look some of them up.

Then, use this information to populate the resume sections outlined below. Among the optional sections, choose those that help convey your unique strengths and skills. Remember that many sections are flexible can be combined to tell your unique story. There is no one “correct” way to compose a resume since it is just as unique as you are!

Summary (optional)

If you choose to use a Summary, it should be specific to the industry and position. A vague Summary can do more harm than good.

• Should be at the top of your resume if you are a recent graduate
• Degree (Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, etc.) and month/year of graduation or expected graduation
• Major(s), minor(s), and any concentration(s) within your major(s) or minor(s) if applicable
• University name, city, and state
• (Optional) A list of relevant courses specifically related to the position
• (Optional) Awards and/or honors that you earned for academics, athletics, or in a work environment (this may be included under Education or listed in a separate section at the end, according to your preference)
• (Optional) Other universities, if applicable, should be formatted the same as current university
• (Optional) For first- and second-year students, including high school is acceptable. Format the name consistently with the current university.
• Always include job title, dates of employment, name of organization, and location
• Address what you learned and the skills you developed in addition to the tasks or jobs you performed, using strong bullet points
• “Experience” can include clubs or project work in addition to jobs or employment
• If you have a significant amount of experience, you can consider subdividing your experience section. For example, “Relevant Experience,” “Other Experience, “Research Experience,” etc.

Leadership, Activities and Service (optional)

• Your resume may contain one or all of these sections
• You may combine some, such as “Activities and Service”
• Choose quality over quantity. Only include experiences where you’ve developed skills that are relevant to the position you’re applying for.
• This section typically includes computer skills, language skills, and science/laboratory skills, if applicable.
• It’s better to incorporate soft skills or transferable skills into the Experience section, where you should demonstrate how you used and developed those skills. This is more effective than simply listing them under Skills.

Step 3: Carefully Review Your Resume

Since resumes involve a lot of detail and careful formatting, it is easy to make mistakes. The last stage of crafting your resume should be a meticulous review of your formatting and content and a careful search for typographical errors. If possible, have a friend, family member, or career coach conduct a final check.

Resume Checklist

• Is first and last name at the top of the page and in bold?
• Are address, phone number, and email easy to read?
• Does Education follow directly after the contact information?
• Is formatting (e.g. bold, font, bullet sizes, heading styles) consistent throughout?
• Are the headings and statements evenly spaced?
• Are dates evenly aligned along the right margin of the page?
• Are verb tenses present tense for current experiences and past for previous experiences?
• Are there one to four bullet points under each entry in the Experience section?
• If included, does the Objective statement clearly state the desired industry, position and two to three skill sets?
• Does the resume include the applicable headings, such as Education, Experience, Activities/Leadership/Service and Skills?
• Does the Education section state official degree and graduation date? Is the cumulative GPA included if higher than 3.0? Is the GPA accurate and not rounded up?
• Do the bulleted descriptions demonstrate major accomplishments rather than routine tasks/duties? Are they quantified whenever possible?
• Do the bulleted descriptions start with action verbs and demonstrate the use of key skills?
• Is the resume free of personal pronouns (e.g. no references to “I,” “we,” “me,” “us,” or “my”)?
• Is the resume completely free from errors in spelling, punctuation, abbreviations and grammar?

Want a second opinion?

• Run your resume through the ResumeAI online resume review tool
• Come to walk-in hours to review your resume with a career coach

Global Learning Hub

Summer Internships in Spain - Placements

Environment, green tech, and sustainability, internship placement process, sample internship placements, resume and cover letter resources, our program partner, transcript notation.

Each UC Davis Summer Abroad Internship program pairs UC Davis Study Abroad with a partner organization that manages the personalized internship placements; arranges accommodations and excursions; leads onsite orientations and optional social events; and provides 24/7 emergency support. As part of the placement process for Summer Abroad Internships, participants will first enroll through UC Davis Study Abroad and then complete a supplemental application for the partner organization associated with their particular Summer Abroad Internship program.

Although Study Abroad partners with outside organizations for some aspects of Summer Abroad Internships, the official provider for these programs is UC Davis Study Abroad and course credit is issued by UC Davis.

After you enroll through UC Davis Study Abroad in the Environment, Green Tech, and Sustainability Internships in Spain program, you will receive the link to the online student portal with Connect-123 and will be given information on how to complete required supplemental tasks, including :

• Student Basics
• Profile Photo
• Personal Statements
• Unofficial Transcript
• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Cover Letter
• Passport Copy (once available)
• Scheduling an advising session with designated Connect-123 advisor

The internship placement process will include a discussion with a Connect-123 Program Manager to talk about your career goals and interests and assess your Spanish language ability, and later could include a virtualinterview with your potential internship company or organization.

While effort will be made to accommodate your preferences, specific internship placements are not guaranteed . You are encouraged to be open-minded and approach the program with a willingness to learn and grow, both professionally and personally.

Students who demonstrate greater Spanish proficiency may have more placement options or an internship role with greater responsibility than students with less Spanish proficiency. We encourage students who do not meet the Spanish language prerequisite to consider the EGTS Internship Program in New Zealand where students can gain similar experiences in an English-speaking environment.

Placements may require a background check prior to departure. Specific instructions will be provided by Connect-123. Final placement will be determined at least four weeks prior to departure .

Students will participate in a professional internship for approximately 32-40 hours per week. You are matched with an organization based on your skills, experience, career goals, and interests .

• View sample internship areas in Spain  (PDF)

All enrolled students will be placed in an internship.  Students with relevant experience and a GPA over 2.5 may have more placement options or an internship role with greater responsibility than students without experience or a lower GPA .

We strongly recommend that you meet with an advisor at the UC Davis  Internship and Career Center  (ICC) or the career center on your home campus to have your resume and cover letter reviewed prior to submitting these documents to Connect-123. The ICC provides many online resources, such as resume, cover letter, and letter of recommendation examples.

For the Environment, Green Tech, and Sustainability Internships in Spain program, UC Davis Study Abroad partners with Connect-123, an organization that facilitates career-related internship, service learning, and study programs for students in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Dublin, Shanghai and Sydney in a wide range of fields . Connect-123 offers customized internship placements to provide students with hands-on, professional experience within their chosen field. Since 2006, Connect-123 has served thousands of students from over 600 universities and over 85 countries.

The Environment, Green Tech, and Sustainability Internships in Spain program is a customized program designed by Connect-123 uniquely for UC Davis Study Abroad. On site, a team of Connect-123 staff will welcome students at the airport, lead the welcome orientation, coordinate group excursions and optional activities, and be on-call 24/7 for emergency support . 

Students participating in UC Davis Study Abroad Internships are eligible to receive Transcript Notation (TN). Transcript notation documents your academically approved internship on your official UC Davis transcript. By having your experience noted, it provides proof of where and when you participated in an internship. This is especially valuable for international internships that may be difficult for a prospective employer or program to contact.

Transcript Notation is a process you will start within the first two weeks of your internship placement through Handshake , the tool UC Davis Internship and Career Center uses to connect students and employers.