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Resumes: What You Need to Know

The resume is an opportunity to market yourself to a prospective employer. It should be succinct, target an employer's needs, and distinguish you from your competitors. Before you get started, think about your strengths, weaknesses, personal preferences, and motivations. You should also consider the company's needs, who your competition might be, and your unique skill set. The best way to convince employers that you will add value is to show them that you've done it before.

Alumni Resume Book

Our Alumni Resume Book connects you with organizations looking for talent. Visit 12twenty (our recruiting platform) and upload your resume to get started. You should complete your Profile in 12twenty by updating your Background tab which contains information about your career experience, skills, preferences and more. Ensuring your Background tab is complete and accurate will greatly improve your chance of being contacted by an organization. Looking to connect with fellow HBS alumni? Upload your resume to the Alumni Networking Resume Book to kick start those connections.

Resume Makeover Using VMock and Aspire

Gain instant feedback on your resume and LinkedIn Profile

VMock is a smart career platform that provides instant personalized feedback on your resume and LinkedIn Profile to help improve aspects like presentation, language, and skills.

VMock Smart Editor tool will enable you to:

• Receive an objective score on your resume based on recruiter criteria
• Review line-for-line targeted feedback on your resume
• Re-upload your resume up to 10 times to track improvement

Sign up using your HBS email address. Account requests are granted within 24 business hours. During holidays and winter break (December 24th – January 1st) turnaround time will be delayed until the CPD office reopens. Please note, we recommend you review your resume before considering it final.

Resumes: Sections, Templates & Examples

• Contact details - Let others know who you are and how to get in touch with you. In addition to your name, you should list your mailing address, phone number, and email address. It is expected to be found at the top of the page. No need to include it on additional pages.
• Professional history - Start with your most recent role and list in descending chronology. For each role, provide a sentence or two that describes the scope of your responsibility. Then in bullet format, provide accomplishment statements. To write an accomplishment statement, state the problem you encountered, the action you took and the result or impact of your actions. For example, "Led team in implementing a new general ledger package by providing expertise and encouragement, which contributed to a successful, on-time project completion."
• Education - Spell out your degree so it will stand out better. It is not necessary to include your GPA or GMAT score. Do not list courses. Do list any leadership roles or study abroad experiences.
• Summary/Profile - A great opportunity to tell the reader exactly what you want them to know. It should be 3-4 sentences in paragraph form following your contact information. Be careful not to load up on overused resume jargon and avoid listing previous jobs/education as it is redundant. Instead, focus on your branding statement, unique themes in your career path, and skills.
• Key skills - Listing your skills is a great way for the reader to quickly evaluate your skill set. List skills that are relevant to your next position. For each skill, you will need a proof statement in the form of an accomplishment stated in the professional experience section. A good way to set up this section is in 2 or 3 columns with 3-4 skills in each column. The heading could be "Key Areas of Expertise" or "Core Competencies".
• Personal/Interests - Only include if it helps tell your story.
• Additional roles - If you participate in organizations outside of your professional employment, you may list these in a separate section. Headings are typically "Volunteer Leadership Roles" or "Community Service".
• Licenses and Professional Certifications - If you possess a license or certification, these should be called out in a separate section.
• Objective - No longer in style. Do not include in your resume.
• References available upon request - No longer in style. Do not include in your resume.
• Zip file of all resume templates (login required)

Chronological - This is the most commonly used layout. Recommended for a mostly consistent record of employment showing progression/growth from position to position. Not recommended for gaps in employment dates, those out of job market for some time, or changing careers.

• Template 1 (login required)
• Template 2 (login required)
• Template 3 (login required)
• Template 4 (login required)
• Sample 1: C-Level Resume (login required)
• Sample 2: Consulting to Operating Company Resume (login required)
• Sample 3: VP with Long Tenure Resume (login required)
• Sample 4: C-Level Biotech resume (login required)
• Sample 5: Exec. Ed. with Long Tenure Resume (login required)
• Sample 6: Financial Services Resume (login required)

Streamlined Chronological - This layout also shows progression from one job to the next, but does not include extra sections such as Summary/Profile or Areas of Expertise. Recommended for recent alumni.

• Template: Streamlined Chronological (login required)

Chronological/Functional Hybrid Resume - In this layout, you can highlight your employment history in a straight chronological manner, but also make it immediately clear you have filled a variety of roles that use different but related skill sets. This is useful to provide a few accomplishments in the beginning to show a theme. Each role would also have specific accomplishment statements.

• Template: Chronological/Functional Hybrid (login required)
• Sample: Accomplishment Focus Resume (login required)

Cover Letter Writing

It is essential to send a cover letter with your resume to provide a recruiter with insight into your qualifications, experience, and motivation for seeking a position. The letter also conveys your personal communication style, tone, and professionalism. An effective employment letter should:

• Be targeted and personalized
• State why you are interested in the company
• Explain how you can fill a need
• Convey your enthusiasm about the opportunity
• Suggest next steps for communication and action

Guidelines & Examples

Investigate your target company. What is the company's "breaking news?" What drives their business? What are their greatest challenges and opportunities? How can you contribute? eBaker can help with your research.

Outline your objectives using relevant information that attracts the attention of the reader.

• Salutation Address the letter to a specific person. Capture the reader's attention and briefly introduce yourself. Mention the referral/company contact, if applicable. State the purpose of your letter.
• Body Describe relevant information you discovered about the company. Discuss the position offered or the position you are looking for. Detail how your skills will benefit the company.
• Closing Convey your enthusiasm. Anticipate response.

Pay close attention to sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation. Always print your letter to check for typographical errors. Have a friend, colleague, or family member review your letter whenever possible.

Cover letters are the place to briefly and directly address the gap in your career. For example, "I am returning to the workforce after a period of raising children." Then address your strengths, qualifications and goals. Emphasize your excitement and preparedness to re-enter the workforce now.

Response to Identified Advertisement (pdf)

Branding You

Resume writing tips  , creating visual impact.

A concise, visually appealing resume will make a stronger impression than a dense, text-laden document. Respect page margins and properly space the text. Learn to appreciate the value of "white space." Limit a resume to one or two pages but not one and ¼. Ensure content is balanced on both pages. A CV is typically longer because it includes additional sections such as publications and research.

Use Parallel Construction

Select a consistent order of information, format, and spacing. If one experience starts with a brief overview followed by bullet points, subsequent experiences should follow a similar form. Parallel construction—including the use of action verbs (pdf) (login required) to start all phrases—greatly enhances a resume's readability.

Always Proofread

Pay close attention to margin alignment, spelling, punctuation, and dates. Read your resume backward to check for typographical errors. (You will focus on individual words, rather than the meaning of the text.) Better yet, have a friend, colleague, or family member review your resume.

Use Action Verbs

Action Verbs List (login required)

Improve Your Writing

Common questions, past program resources  .

How to Build a Resume that Stands Above the Competition

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Cover Letter Template (PDF)

General tips and formatting suggestions to create a strong cover letter https://writingcenter.catalyst.harvard.edu/files/catalystwcc/files/writing… See also: Cover Letter , Grow Professionally , Representing Yourself

How to Write a Great Resume and Cover Letter

Linda Spencer offers helpful tips and resources to help you write your resumé and cover letter.

What makes a great résumé and cover letter? Linda Spencer, associate director and coordinator of career advising at Harvard Extension School, shares examples of a few strong résumés and explains what makes them stand out.

Perfect Your Marketing Documents

Spencer stresses it’s important to know that your résumé and cover letter are marketing documents. Also keep in mind that the average employer takes about seven seconds to review these documents. They’re not reading: they’re skimming. So you need to make it clear right off the bat how you can add value.

Strong résumés don’t have to be lengthy. One to two pages that feature your most top accomplishments works well.

Use Action Words and Customize Your Pitch

When highlighting your professional experience, use accomplishment statements rather than descriptions of your role. Start with an action verb. Then detail the impact that action had: Did you increase, decrease, modify, or change anything in your work? Finally, be sure to quantify the accomplishments. Data helps.

Your cover letter should be one page, highly customized to each position you’re applying for. It answers two questions: why are you the right fit for the position? And how will you add value to the organization?

While it’s important to have a strong résumé and cover letter, it’s also important to remember that the number one job search strategy is networking. You don’t want to simply be reactive, applying blindly to job postings. You want to conduct a series of informational meetings so that you build a network of people you can reach out to when it comes time to start your job search.

Any Extension student can attend first-come, first-served 15-minute call-ins (via phone or Skype) with Linda. See Career Services for more information.

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Tips on Public Speaking: Eliminating the Dreaded “Um”

Learn how to remove filler words from formal speeches to present with confidence.

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The Best Cover Letter I Ever Received

• David Silverman

In my last post I talked about how to make your résumé more likely to catch the attention of a hiring manager. As a follow up, I’d like to discuss cover letters. Here’s my basic philosophy on them: don’t bother. That’s because the cover letters I see usually fall into one of three categories: The […]

In my last post I talked about how to make your résumé more likely to catch the attention of a hiring manager . As a follow up, I’d like to discuss cover letters. Here’s my basic philosophy on them: don’t bother.

• David Silverman has had ten careers so far, including entrepreneur, executive, and business writing professor. He is the author of Typo: The Last American Typesetter or How I Made and Lost 4 Million Dollars and of the April 2011 HBR article, Synthesis: Constructive Confessions .

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How to Write a Career Change Cover Letter (Sample + Tips)

As a career changer, you need to help recruiters understand why you’re moving away from your former line of work and what you want to achieve in your new career path.

You will inevitably change jobs throughout your career as you seek more responsibility, growth, or even a higher salary. According to Statista [ 1 ], the average Canadian employee stays at a job for just over twelve years. Changing careers can allow you to find more meaningful work, better align your career path with your larger goals, and move into a more energizing role.  

However, for career changers, switching to a new path can sometimes involve unique challenges. 

When drafting your cover letter to apply for a job in a new line of work, you should explain your larger objectives. This article will cover specific information you can feature in your career change cover letter to help recruiters understand your goals and reasons for making a switch. 

Information to include in your career change cover letter. 

Generally, a cover letter is a chance to flesh out the bullet points you outline on your resume . It’s a space to explain your interest in the role and company, highlight your experience and skills, and sell a recruiter on the overall fit you’ll make. 

A career changer must do all that in the cover letter and more. You also need to help recruiters and hiring managers understand why you’re moving away from your former line of work. You’ll want to cover what you want to achieve in your new career path and highlight any transferable skills that will help smooth your transition. 

Let’s review four key pieces of information you can weave into your career change cover letter.  

Career change context

Plan to include a career change objective somewhere in your cover letter, similar to how you would use a resume objective to provide a summary of your experience and goals. Explain why you’re interested in changing careers and how the role you’re applying to fits within your larger career aspirations. Don’t be afraid to share a sense of your personality so that recruiters can better connect with you.  

What this looks like: I’ve spent the last six years translating complex topics for various users as a technical writer. But in a lightbulb moment, I realized that what really drives me is the user’s experience. That’s why I want to make a career change to UX design . I believe I’ll make a strong addition to your team because my work has consistently put the user front and center. Now, I’m interested in focusing on a different facet of that goal. 

Certificates, courses, or trainings

Recruiters and hiring managers want to find the right candidate. It costs an average of US$4,129 to hire an employee, according to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) in an ADP article [ 2 ]. SHRM also found it takes 42 days, on average, to fill a job opening. So, make hiring you even easier by explaining what you’ve done to prepare for your career change. Highlight any professional certificates or training you’ve completed to prepare for your new position. 

What this looks like: To familiarize myself with the tools and processes used in data analysis, I completed the Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate , which taught me SQL  and R, and trained me to clean and visualize data. Thanks to this preparation, I am confident I will make a smooth transition to your team from the very start.  

Transferable skills 

Transferable skills are “portable,” meaning you can take them from job to job. They include problem-solving, critical thinking, attention to detail, and more. When making a career change, highlighting your important workplace skills, such as communication and teamwork, can help. This can help those making the hiring decisions quickly understand your unique value to their company.  

Find out the key technical skills the job requires, highlighting any you have learned, especially regarding important software or tools. 

What this looks like: As a software developer, I regularly relied on my problem-solving skills to solve complex issues. As the new algebra teacher at ABC High School, I’ll bring that same skill and strong attention to detail, listening, and decision-making to ABC High School. 

Past achievements 

Any time you can highlight what you’ve accomplished in your past roles, you help a recruiter see your potential in a new role. Summarize moments that showcase your strengths and illustrate your work ethic or character. 

What this looks like: I am a team player and problem-solver. As a social media manager at Company X, I identified a better program to help my team schedule content. Using that tool improved my team’s efficacy, leading to our most successful quarter to date. 

Why a cover letter is so important for career changers. 

The idea of a career path can be rigid, suggesting that people only follow one specific track. Although that perspective is starting to shift, it’s still prevalent. Help recruiters and hiring managers see you in a new role by explaining why you’re changing careers and what you’ve done to streamline your transition. 

Career change cover letter sample

It's a common practice to submit your cover letter digitally. Even still, it’s good to include some of your contact information in the top left corner so recruiters can easily see how to get in touch.

Thomas Bennett

Calgary, AB

(555) 555-1234

[email protected]

Dear Ms. Tufte, 

I’m writing to apply for the project manager role at Company X. I initially began my career as a marketing coordinator and eventually moved into email marketing, where I was responsible for strategizing and developing new campaigns. But in that time, I realized how much I thrived when managing our quarterly campaigns from start to finish. That’s why I’m interested in a segue into project management. 

Knowing that, despite my experience, I still needed to learn more specifically about project management, I completed the Google Project Management Professional Certificate. Over six months, I’ve learned Agile project management and how to create product documentation, among other key skills. I believe this training and my previous experience will help me transition to a project management role at Company X and make a big impact.   

I’m an organized problem-solver with a sharp eye for detail, all important skills in project management. In fact, I believe my previous work in email marketing provided hands-on training in managing projects, albeit without the official title. I identified new tools to help my team create more effective quarterly campaigns. As a result, we increased our click-through rate (one of our key metrics) to 1.87 per cent, bringing it closer to the industry standard—an immense achievement. 

I’m proud of the foundation I gained through marketing, but realizing where my true passion lies, I’m keen to transition into a project management role with more growth opportunities. Thank you for your consideration. 

3 ways to strengthen your cover letter. 

Any time you write a cover letter, whether for a standard new role or as a career changer, you might apply these tips to strengthen your letter. After all, the cover letter is part of your important first impression on potential employers.

1. Tailor your letter for each role.

Just as you should customize your resume for each role you apply to, the same holds for your cover letter. Research the company and find out aspects of their work that interest you. Mention those details in your cover letter. You should also tailor your experience and skills to highlight the most relevant skills and accomplishments to suit each job. 

2. Get specific.

Your cover letter should expand upon your resume rather than repeating the same information. One way to do this is by giving details about your past achievements. Quantify your impact with numbers and explain how these accomplishments make you uniquely qualified for this new role. 

As a career changer, consider the cover letter as the place to make your case for your transition. The resume lists information about you and your skills and experience. In the cover letter, you can tell a story about your career trajectory and the reasons for your course change.

3. Use action words. 

Build action words into your resume and cover letter. Action verbs can liven up your cover letter and make it more interesting to read. Find verbs that succinctly and accurately depict your previous experience. Also, aim to use more dynamic action words to tell your story. For example, lots of people “lead,” “manage,” or “assist.” You can make a stronger case by choosing strong verbs specific to your roles.

Continue growing with Coursera. 

Brush up your cover letter writing skills by taking a free Writing Winning Resumes and Cover Letters course. Or develop essential skills for an in-demand career with a Professional Certificate from industry leaders like Google, Meta, and IBM. Most certificate programs take less than seven months to complete, and you can start for free with a seven-day, all-access trial.

Article sources

Statista. “ Average Job Tenure in Canada, by occupation 2022 , https://www.statista.com/statistics/439028/multiple-jobholders-canada/” Accessed April 29, 2024.

ADP. “ Calculating the True Cost to Hire Employees , https://www.adp.ca/en/resources/articles-and-insights/articles/c/calculating-the-true-cost-to-hire-employees.aspx/” Accessed April 29, 2024.

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How to Write a Cover Letter That Will Get You a Job

I ’ve read thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of cover letters in my career. If you’re thinking that sounds like really boring reading, you’re right. What I can tell you from enduring that experience is that most cover letters are terrible — and not only that, but squandered opportunities. When a cover letter is done well, it can significantly increase your chances of getting an interview, but the vast majority fail that test.

So let’s talk about how to do cover letters right.

First, understand the point of a cover letter.

The whole idea of a cover letter is that it can help the employer see you as more than just your résumé. Managers generally aren’t hiring based solely on your work history; your experience is crucial, yes, but they’re also looking for someone who will be easy to work with, shows good judgment, communicates well, possesses strong critical thinking skills and a drive to get things done, complements their current team, and all the other things you yourself probably want from your co-workers. It’s tough to learn much about those things from job history alone, and that’s where your cover letter comes in.

Because of that …

Whatever you do, don’t just summarize your résumé.

The No. 1 mistake people make with cover letters is that they simply use them to summarize their résumé. This makes no sense — hiring managers don’t need a summary of your résumé! It’s on the very next page! They’re about to see it as soon as they scroll down. And if you think about it, your entire application is only a few pages (in most cases, a one- or two-page résumé and a one-page cover letter) — why would you squander one of those pages by repeating the content of the others? And yet, probably 95 percent of the cover letters I see don’t add anything new beyond the résumé itself (and that’s a conservative estimate).

Instead, your cover letter should go beyond your work history to talk about things that make you especially well-suited for the job. For example, if you’re applying for an assistant job that requires being highly organized and you neurotically track your household finances in a detailed, color-coded spreadsheet, most hiring managers would love to know that because it says something about the kind of attention to detail you’d bring to the job. That’s not something you could put on your résumé, but it can go in your cover letter.

Or maybe your last boss told you that you were the most accurate data processor she’d ever seen, or came to rely on you as her go-to person whenever a lightning-fast rewrite was needed. Maybe your co-workers called you “the client whisperer” because of your skill in calming upset clients. Maybe you’re regularly sought out by more senior staff to help problem-solve, or you find immense satisfaction in bringing order to chaos. Those sorts of details illustrate what you bring to the job in a different way than your résumé does, and they belong in your cover letter.

If you’re still stumped, pretend you’re writing an email to a friend about why you’d be great at the job. You probably wouldn’t do that by stiffly reciting your work history, right? You’d talk about what you’re good at and how you’d approach the work. That’s what you want here.

You don’t need a creative opening line.

If you think you need to open the letter with something creative or catchy, I am here to tell you that you don’t. Just be simple and straightforward:

• “I’m writing to apply for your X position.”

• “I’d love to be considered for your X position.”

• “I’m interested in your X position because …”

• “I’m excited to apply for your X position.”

That’s it! Straightforward is fine — better, even, if the alternative is sounding like an aggressive salesperson.

Show, don’t tell.

A lot of cover letters assert that the person who wrote it would excel at the job or announce that the applicant is a skillful engineer or a great communicator or all sorts of other subjective superlatives. That’s wasted space — the hiring manager has no reason to believe it, and so many candidates claim those things about themselves that most managers ignore that sort of self-assessment entirely. So instead of simply declaring that you’re great at X (whatever X is), your letter should demonstrate that. And the way you do that is by describing accomplishments and experiences that illustrate it.

Here’s a concrete example taken from one extraordinarily effective cover-letter makeover that I saw. The candidate had originally written, “I offer exceptional attention to detail, highly developed communication skills, and a talent for managing complex projects with a demonstrated ability to prioritize and multitask.” That’s pretty boring and not especially convincing, right? (This is also exactly how most people’s cover letters read.)

In her revised version, she wrote this instead:

“In addition to being flexible and responsive, I’m also a fanatic for details — particularly when it comes to presentation. One of my recent projects involved coordinating a 200-page grant proposal: I proofed and edited the narratives provided by the division head, formatted spreadsheets, and generally made sure that every line was letter-perfect and that the entire finished product conformed to the specific guidelines of the RFP. (The result? A five-year, $1.5 million grant award.) I believe in applying this same level of attention to detail to tasks as visible as prepping the materials for a top-level meeting and as mundane as making sure the copier never runs out of paper.”

That second version is so much more compelling and interesting — and makes me believe that she really is great with details.

If there’s anything unusual or confusing about your candidacy, address it in the letter.

Your cover letter is your chance to provide context for things that otherwise might seem confusing or less than ideal to a hiring manager. For example, if you’re overqualified for the position but are excited about it anyway, or if you’re a bit underqualified but have reason to think you could excel at the job, address that up front. Or if your background is in a different field but you’re actively working to move into this one, say so, talk about why, and explain how your experience will translate. Or if you’re applying for a job across the country from where you live because you’re hoping to relocate to be closer to your family, let them know that.

If you don’t provide that kind of context, it’s too easy for a hiring manager to decide you’re the wrong fit or applying to everything you see or don’t understand the job description and put you in the “no” pile. A cover letter gives you a chance to say, “No, wait — here’s why this could be a good match.”

Keep the tone warm and conversational.

While there are some industries that prize formal-sounding cover letters — like law — in most fields, yours will stand out if it’s warm and conversational. Aim for the tone you’d use if you were writing to a co-worker whom you liked a lot but didn’t know especially well. It’s okay to show some personality or even use humor; as long as you don’t go overboard, your letter will be stronger for it.

Don’t use a form letter.

You don’t need to write every cover letter completely from scratch, but if you’re not customizing it to each job, you’re doing it wrong. Form letters tend to read like form letters, and they waste the chance to speak to the specifics of what this employer is looking for and what it will take to thrive in this particular job.

If you’re applying for a lot of similar jobs, of course you’ll end up reusing language from one letter to the next. But you shouldn’t have a single cover letter that you wrote once and then use every time you apply; whatever you send should sound like you wrote it with the nuances of this one job in mind.

A good litmus test is this: Could you imagine other applicants for this job sending in the same letter? If so, that’s a sign that you haven’t made it individualized enough to you and are probably leaning too heavily on reciting your work history.

No, you don’t need to hunt down the hiring manager’s name.

If you read much job-search advice, at some point you’ll come across the idea that you need to do Woodward and Bernstein–level research to hunt down the hiring manager’s name in order to open your letter with “Dear Matilda Jones.” You don’t need to do this; no reasonable hiring manager will care. If the name is easily available, by all means, feel free to use it, but otherwise “Dear Hiring Manager” is absolutely fine. Take the hour you just freed up and do something more enjoyable with it.

Keep it under one page.

If your cover letters are longer than a page, you’re writing too much, and you risk annoying hiring managers who are likely sifting through hundreds of applications and don’t have time to read lengthy tomes. On the other hand, if you only write one paragraph, it’s unlikely that you’re making a compelling case for yourself as a candidate — not impossible, but unlikely. For most people, something close to a page is about right.

Don’t agonize over the small details.

What matters most about your cover letter is its content. You should of course ensure that it’s well-written and thoroughly proofread, but many job seekers agonize over elements of the letter that really don’t matter. I get tons of  questions from job seekers  about whether they should attach their cover letter or put it in the body of the email (answer: No one cares, but attaching it makes it easier to share and will preserve your formatting), or what to name the file (again, no one really cares as long as it’s reasonably professional, but when people are dealing with hundreds of files named “resume,” it’s courteous to name it with your full name).

Approaching your cover letter like this can make a huge difference in your job search. It can be the thing that moves your application from the “maybe” pile (or even the “no” pile) to the “yes” pile. Of course, writing cover letters like this will take more time than sending out the same templated letter summarizing your résumé — but 10 personalized, compelling cover letters are likely to get you more  interview invitations  than 50 generic ones will.

• ‘I Had a Great Job Interview — Why Haven’t I Heard Back?’
• How to Answer ‘Tell Me About Yourself’ in a Job Interview

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Police remain on Columbia University’s campus, even after clearing out student protesters and their encampment. But questions remain about how the university and the students move forward. Tina Trinh reports from New York.