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Resume Building Tool: Please complete all sections. 

⚠️ Important Notice

This resume builder can only be used once per person. Once you submit your completed resume, you will not be able to create another resume using this form.
This form should take you about 30 minutes and will help you build a resume that meets U.S. employers expectations.

Complete all sections to receive a Word document formatted and structured to pass through ATS systems and increase your chances to be called for interviews.


In the following pages we will walk you through each section of U.S. style resumes. Read attentively the instructions and examples. If you are unsure of what to write in a resume, how to write about it, or why U.S. style resumes are structured this way, we recommend taking the courses on resumes on our learning platform here.

It’s a good idea to include a LinkedIn profile in your resume, as many recruiters and hiring managers may rely on LinkedIn to check your credentials.

If you have a LinkedIn profile, please enter your handle below.


Hot tip: You can find your LinkedIn handle on your personal profile. Log in to your profile and copy the handle from the top right corner. To save space, you can avoid including the “www.” part. See this short example:
Linkedin Profile
Recruiters in the U.S. look at your resume for an average of 6 seconds before deciding if they want to invite you to an interview. A concise Professional Summary at the top of your resume will help you capture their attention.

The professional summary should include:


  • Your professional title

  • Your years of experience in the field

  • Your area of expertise or industry


You can start from this template to create your own:


"[Professional title] with [number] years of experience in [areas of work], specializing in [industry]."


If you feel creative, you can also add a second sentence where you mention your passion or technical specialization, but keep it short!


Here are some examples:


Project Manager with 3 years of experience in budget, requirements, stakeholders, and timelines management, specializing in the non-profit sector.


Journalist with 10 years of experience in investigative reporting, feature writing, and multimedia storytelling, specializing in politics and current events. Passionate about researching, reporting, and writing compelling stories to inform and engage audiences.


Biologist with 5 years of experience in conducting water quality analyses, specializing in aquatic ecology. Proficient in laboratory skills and technical knowledge of in-situ water quality monitoring equipment and remote idro-geological remote sensing tools.


PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
In 1-2 sentences, explain your professional self.

If you need more information about professional summaries in U.S. resumes, make sure to check out the courses on Resumes on our Learning Platform.
The Professional Experience section of your resume provides a list of your past experience, with a focus on roles that align with your career goals.

Make sure to include all relevant experiences that show you are fit for the roles you want to apply for in your job search. For each, provide the information below.


Remember you can check our learning platform for more information on how to make the professional experience section of your resume more impactful for recruiters.


PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Tell us about your professional work experience.

Example: Program Director of Implementation

Example: ABC Associates International
Help the reader understand the relevance, size, or scope of the company, as they may not be familiar with it. Keep it very short, ideally to just one line.

Example: International development organization dedicated to supporting people around the world with 100+ employees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

Include the city where their main office is located or where you worked in, and the country. For example: Kabul, Afghanistan

Please select any day of the month if you are not sure about the exact day.

Please select any day of the month if you are not sure about the exact day. Select today's date if you are still working at this position
Work Achievements: What were your responsibilities in this job? What actions did you take? What were the outcomes? Can you quantify the impact of your specific contribution?

Organize the information by writing one line per achievement (the system will add the bullet points). Start each achievement with a strong action verb, focus on what your specific actions were, and quantify the outcomes wherever you can. You can think of this format to start:

Did [action] to [solve problem], achieving [result]


Examples of strong bullet points:


Executed a new social media strategy to respond to declining engagement rates, achieving a 15% increase in user engagement


Implemented new protocols to deal with rising cyber threats, achieving 100% compliance with industry standards


Developed workshops for teachers to address declining student performance, achieving a 25% increase in student test scores


Hot tip: This is not the only format you could use for bullet points. If you want to learn more about how to build the professional experience section, make sure to check the courses on our learning platform.


Click to add more
In this section you can add all the previous or current work experiences that are not immediately relevant to the jobs you are applying for. You can add survival jobs, volunteering experiences, or roles you had in other fields of specialization.

This section is optional, but can be useful to display transferable or soft skills, like the ability to work in a team, or your values and passions if you decide to mention volunteering experiences.


We suggest keeping this section brief, and eventually remove it if you need to make your resume overall shorter.


Hot tip: If you’re unsure of what to put in the additional experience, or what to learn more about what transferable or soft skills are, check the course on resumes on our learning platform.


ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE
Tell us about your additional experience.

Example: Cashier

Example: Old Navy


Please select any day of the month if you are not sure about the exact day

Please select any day of the month if you are not sure about the exact day. Select today's date if you are still working at this position

Example: Dealt with inquiries and identified customer needs; processed orders and booked reservations
Click to add more
EDUCATION
The education section of your resume focused on the University level degree you have completed in the past. Enter them from the most recent to the least recent.

If you’re unsure of what to enter in the type of degree earned or in the field of study, try to do a quick search online. For example, search on google the full original name of your type of degree and field, and add “what is it called in the U.S.”.
Example: City, Country
Please select any day of the month if you are not sure about the exact day
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
The professional development section of a resume allows you to highlight specializing certifications, training, or workshops you completed. These can be useful to show that you kept yourself up to date with recent developments in your field, or can be used also to fill a recent employment gap in your professional history.

This section is optional.


Only list certifications you completed in the past 5 years and that are relevant to your field of specialization.


Example: Data Visualization and Communication with Tableau

Example: Coursera, or University of Pennsylvania

Please select any day of the month if you are not sure about the exact day
Hot tip: If you’re unsure what to list in this section, check out our resume courses on our learning platform.
Click to add more
KEY SKILLS

To close the resume, it’s a good idea to add a short list of your main technical skills. These are those competences that define your profile as a professional in your field, and set you apart in your field of specialization.


For the moment, list up to 6 of the most important technical skills you possess. When you apply to specific jobs, read carefully the job description and adjust the technical skills you possess and want to showcase. Remember to keep the list short and efficient.

Make sure also to list here only skills that are highly specific and specializing in your field, like knowledge of certain software or processes, or experience with budgeting, management, or other operations. Do not mention behavioral or soft skills like “team player”, or “time management”, unless you feel like they are a strict, technical requirement for the type of positions you’re applying to.


For inspiration, you can give a look at this list where we collected some technical skills that sometimes appear in job descriptions, by field: Key Skills Samples. Make sure to list only skills that you possess and are confident using in your job.

List 4-6 of your key skills for your profession.







Examples:
Corporate branding, B2B sales, Web analytics, Latin American Markets
Hot tips: Do not mention English as a skill, since it’s implicit you have it. If appropriate for your field, make sure to mention other languages you know. If you want to learn more about what to list in the skills section of your resume, make sure to check our online learning platform.
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