Résumé sections
What to keep, what to cut
6 parts of a résumé people are unsure about. Each page gives the verdict first, then why, then what to put in the space instead — and, unlike most advice on this, names the situation where the usual rule is wrong. 4 of the 6 genuinely depend on your circumstances, and saying otherwise would be tidier and less true.
If your problem is a specific word rather than a whole section, the 72 résumé words are next door.
- Leave it offAn objective statementReplace it with two lines that say what you have done, not what you want.
- It dependsYour street addressCity and state, yes. Street address, almost never.
- It dependsA work experience section with nothing in itYou have more experience than you think. It is filed under the wrong heading.
- It dependsYour GPAEarly on and strong, include it. Otherwise the space is worth more to something else.
- It dependsA hobbies and interests sectionOnly where the interest is specific enough to be a fact rather than a mood.
- Leave it off"References available upon request"Cut the line. It states the default and spends a line doing it.
Where this is corroborated
Each page cites the career services that publish guidance on that specific section, and every one was read and checked to actually address it — a famous university with a general résumé guide that never mentions GPA is not a source about GPA. Where a section has no such guidance, the page says so instead of citing something weaker.
- Harvard UniversityCreate a strong résumé, Harvard FAS Office of Career Services
- Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyRésumés, MIT Career Advising & Professional Development
- University of PennsylvaniaHobbies and interests: should they be on your résumé? Penn Career Services
- Yale UniversityRésumé advice and samples, Yale Law School Career DevelopmentLaw school guidance; legal hiring has conventions of its own.
After the résumé
Deciding what goes on the page is the quick part.
The slow part is filling in the same forty fields on the fortieth application. Approve the jobs and we get them applied to, with a confirmation saved for each one. Free tier is 25 a month, no card, and a credit is only spent once a submission is confirmed.