Research suggests that the best predictor of future performance is past behaviours. As a result, recruitment consultants and employers will be looking for evidence that you either have already performed the duties of the position you are applying to, or have relevant transferable skills.

Personal Details

In this section you only need to include important details such as Name, Address and Contact details (phone numbers and email address).

Details such as Date of Birth, Marital Status or License status are irrelevant, unless any of these are directly related to the position you are applying for. For example, a truck driver should include his or her license status on their resume, or a teacher of Japanese would want to note down that they are bilingual.

Your personal details will obviously remain the same in every version of your resume, however please remember to update your contact details if you change address or phone numbers.

Education

This is an important section for people who don’t have a lot of work experience. But try not to list every subject you’ve ever done – just your most relevant qualifications.

There is no need to include Primary School education - when a recruiter looks at your resume for an average of 20 seconds, you don’t want to take up their time reading where you went to primary school, or a list of your year 9 subjects!

However, if you have limited experience and your subjects relate to the position you are applying for, by all means include them. For example: If you are applying for an apprenticeship and have limited experience, but have completed related subjects at school, definitely include those results in your resume.

However, if you are applying for a retail position there is no point in including in depth details of a Science degree.

As you gain more qualifications try to list the most relevant qualifications to the position you are applying to. For example, if you are applying for a bar job, list the hospitality courses that you have completed.

You may wish to list every course or qualification you have completed, however be prepared to justify why you are applying to a bar job if you have an Engineering degree.

Also under the banner of Education, remember to enter the dates of when you completed that qualification, so that the recruiter can piece together your background and have an idea of how recent the course content is.

Training

As with Education, list any relevant professional training you have completed, whether privately or through an employer.

Examples may include: names of courses you have completed at work (i.e. 3 day professional sales course – which was provided by your employer), or training you have completed externally, for example “Certificate 4 in Office Administration at TAFE

Work History

Work History is often the most important section of the resume

Here you need to detail your chronological work history, starting with the most recent employer first.

• Use bullet points to list your responsibilities so that the reader to see what you have done
• Avoid using long paragraphs to describe what you have done
• Begin sentences with verbs. When writing your resume drop the ‘I’s and begin your sentence with action words like: developed, implemented, supervised etc – this portrays you as a “doer” and results in a stronger message being conveyed.
• Here we need to think about the hints the ad has given us and when we have demonstrated those skills, then emphasise them in our resume.
• If you have limited work experience you may want to use a skill based resume instead. This lists the skills that you have that are relevant to the job you are applying for and focuses on your transferable skills e.g.: Customer Service Focus, Communication skills, Problem Solving skills, Supervisory experience
• For those with work experience, it is more common to use a chronologically based resume. This format outlines your work history, responsibilities and achievements for the positions you have held listed in chronological order (remember list your most recent position first and work backwards)

Achievements

This area provides you the opportunity to show off your achievements.

If you’ve never worked before, these might include School Captain, School Hockey Coach, or Fundraising Organiser.

If you have worked, you will probably want to replace these with professional achievements, such as ‘Developed and implemented Best Practices manual for ABC Western Australia’ or ‘successfully developed, implemented and marketed a resume workshop for schools throughout Western Australia’.

Interests

Of all the inclusions in a resume, the ‘interests’ section is the most personal and you’ll be the best the person to decide what to include here.

The concept of including “Interests” in your resume is based on the theory that it will add value to your application, however it may also detract from it, depending on the reader.

For example, a call centre manager who has had previous issues with turnover may look upon “Travel” as a ‘risky’ interest, due to past employees leaving to pursue this interest. Whereas a graduate position in a law firm may look on “Travel” favourably, as it adds to a person’s development.

If you do include this section make sure you only list 3-4 key interests (not a paragraph!).

Referees

If you are going to include referees on your resume, you should only include referees that can comment on relevant information to the position you are applying for.

If you are currently employed, perhaps mention that referees are “available on request”. Or if confident with the relationship you have with your past referees, and you have asked their permission, list them.

It is also important that you ring your referees prior to providing their details to a recruiter – your referee may have changed their mind about being contacted, or they may be away overseas and you will need to find someone else to list on your resume.