Discover how to craft a compelling cover letter, create a standout resume, and build a portfolio that showcases your skills and achievements. Use these resources to strengthen your application materials and leave a lasting impression on employers.
A resume, cover letter, and portfolio are essential components of your personal marketing toolkit, whether you're applying for a job, internship, or graduate school.
Each element serves a unique purpose: your resume showcases your education, experience, skills, and qualifications; your cover letter provides insight into your motivations and fit for the role; and your portfolio demonstrates your practical work and accomplishments. Crafting these materials is more of an art than a science. While there are best practices to follow, there is no one-size-fits-all approach. The key is to align your skills and experiences with the organization's needs. In some cases, creating tailored versions of your resume, cover letter, and portfolio for specific roles or industries can make a significant difference.
Jobscan is a 24/7 powerful tool that helps you fine-tune your resume and cover letter for each job posting. Match your skills and experience to what employers are looking for, giving yourself a better shot at standing out and landing that interview!
Not sure where to start? These videos will guide you through the process:
Concise Summary: Provides a brief overview of qualifications, skills, and experiences.
Tailored Content: Customizable for specific job applications to highlight relevant experience and skills.
Faster Review: Shorter and more focused, making it quicker for employers to assess.
Industry Standard: Preferred for most job applications, especially in the U.S.
Focused on Recent Experience: Emphasizes recent and relevant experience for the job at hand.
A CV (Curriculum Vitae) is best for:
Comprehensive Detail: Offers an extensive record of all academic and professional achievements.
Fixed Format: Includes detailed information on education, research, publications, and other achievements.
In-Depth Review: More detailed and often used for academic or research positions where comprehensive background is required.
Specialized Use: Commonly used in academia, research, and some international job applications.
Historical Record: Includes a complete history of academic and professional accomplishments.
Crafting a Standout Resume/CV
Define Your Career Goals & Assess Strengths
Before jumping into the job market, take time to reflect on your career goals. Start by taking inventory of your objectives. Where do you want to be in 5 years? What industry excites you? Next, assess your strengths and identify any gaps that need addressing.
To tell your story effectively, focus on three key areas:
Your strengths: Highlight the abilities that set you apart.
Your passions: What drives you? Passion can fuel career success.
Your value to potential employers: What can you offer that others can't? Think about the unique combination of your education, experience, and skills.
To better understand your capabilities and how to communicate them ask yourself the following questions:
What are my strengths?
What skills have I developed through my coursework, internships, part-time jobs, volunteer experiences, and organizational involvement?
When organizing your resume, keep it no longer than one page (for most roles) and use consistent margins (no smaller than 0.5 inches). CVs can be longer, especially for academic or research-based roles. Ensure clear sections, and selectively use bold, italics, or capitalization to highlight key points. Be prepared to provide at least three references but ask for permission before listing them.
Resume/CV Sections:
Education: Include courses, honors, study abroad, and service-learning experiences.
Research Experience: Highlight projects, presentations, and publications.
Experiential Learning: Include internships and hands-on projects.
Volunteer and Leadership: Showcase unpaid roles and leadership activities.
Professional Organizations: List memberships related to your field.
Specialized Skills: Include relevant assessments, computer skills, and language proficiencies.
Formatting Your Resume/CV
Your resume or CV serves as a snapshot of your professional identity, so it must effectively showcase your skills and experience while maintaining a polished, professional appearance. Thoughtful formatting ensures your resume is visually appealing, easy to read, and more likely to grab attention.
Formatting Tips:
Use boldface or underscored headings to separate sections.
Ensure font size is no smaller than 10-point.
Avoid pre-made templates and design a clean, personalized resume.
Save as PDF for consistent formatting but keep an editable version.
Looking to create a resume that highlights your unique strengths and aligns with your career goals? Explore personalized resume examples in our Careers by Design course on Canvas.
Start by clicking the link below that’s most relevant to you:
Personalizing Your Application with a Cover Letter
A cover letter expands on key resume points, offering insight into your personality and potential. It should highlight ongoing work and future goals, not repeat past achievements. Customization is crucial—show you’ve researched the role and explain how your skills will benefit the organization.
To keep it simple, follow the A, B, C format:
A: About (Paragraph 1)
Start by stating the position you're applying for and mentioning any referrals (with permission).
Briefly explain your interest in the organization, focusing on its values or mission, and how they align with your goals.
Highlight how your skills and experience meet the employer’s needs, showing your potential contributions.
Start by stating the position you're applying for and mentioning any referrals (with permission).
Briefly explain your interest in the organization, focusing on its values or mission, and how they align with your goals.
Highlight how your skills and experience meet the employer’s needs, showing your potential contributions.
B: Because (Paragraphs 2 & 3)
Provide specific examples that demonstrate how you've addressed similar needs in the past.
Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to clearly outline your experience.
Each paragraph should include concise 1-2 sentence descriptions for each part of the acronym.
Provide specific examples that demonstrate how you've addressed similar needs in the past.
Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to clearly outline your experience.
Each paragraph should include concise 1-2 sentence descriptions for each part of the acronym.
C: Close (Paragraph 4)
Reaffirm your interest in the position by highlighting how your qualifications align with the role.
Express a desire for an interview to further discuss your fit and potential contributions.
Thank the employer for their time and consideration, and mention that you will follow up soon.
Reaffirm your interest in the position by highlighting how your qualifications align with the role.
Express a desire for an interview to further discuss your fit and potential contributions.
Thank the employer for their time and consideration, and mention that you will follow up soon.
Need guidance on writing a strong cover letter? Browse our list of cover letter examples to see how to effectively showcase your skills and experience. Use these samples as inspiration to craft your own personalized letter.
Interactive Resume and Cover Letter Clinics and On-Site Career Fairs
Planning to be on campus?
Each semester, we offer hands-on sessions led by professional career counselors, as well as staff from the University’s Writing Center and Wolfgram Library, to assist you in creating and refining job and internship application documents. These clinics are held in the late afternoons and early evenings to suit both students and working professionals.
Keep an eye on your email and Handshake for details on upcoming sessions!
Showcasing Your Best Work With an Effective Portfolio
A well-crafted portfolio is a powerful tool for demonstrating your skills, experience, and creativity. While portfolios are optional, they offer tangible evidence of your capabilities and provide potential employers or clients with a firsthand look at your work. Here’s how to create an effective portfolio that truly showcases your best work:
Select & Organize Your Best Work
Choose high-quality samples that highlight your strengths and relevance to the targeted position. Structure your portfolio logically, grouping similar work together and providing context on your role, project goals, and outcomes.
Maintaining & Formatting Your Portfolio
Update your portfolio regularly with new projects and remove outdated ones. Make sure it is formatted appropriately for your field—whether as a physical collection, digital PDF, or online site—and ensure it is accessible, well-designed, and easy to navigate.
Include a brief introduction about yourself, your professional journey, and passions. Enhance credibility by adding testimonials or references from clients, colleagues, or mentors.
Offers customizable templates for creating a professional-looking portfolio website.
WordPress.com
Provides customizable templates and user-friendly tools for creating professional portfolios.
FAQs for Resumes, Cover Letters & Portfolios
Yes! Tailoring your resume to match the specific role or industry is important. You may want to create multiple versions to highlight relevant skills and experiences for each job you apply to.
Always save your documents as a PDF to avoid formatting issues. Name the file appropriately, like “Resume_JohnDoe,” or "Cover_Letter_JohnDoe_Position_Title" instead of using generic names like "resume.doc."
No, avoid listing every single job, especially short-term or irrelevant roles. Focus on recent, relevant positions that show your growth and achievements in the field.
However, if you’ve only had one other job, highlight the skills and responsibilities you gained from that role. Emphasize how it relates to the position you're applying for. If you’ve never had a job, showcase internships, volunteer work, academic projects, or leadership roles that demonstrate transferable skills and your potential.
Generally, it’s best to avoid mentioning salary expectations in your cover letter unless specifically asked by the employer. Focus on your qualifications and interest in the role instead.
Inconsistent formatting for dates
Typos in phone numbers
Inconsistent formatting for states
Rounding GPAs
Incorrect capitalization, e.g., present in dates is not capitalized, expected in graduation dates is not capitalized, courses are not capitalized unless it is the proper name of the course
Incorrect verb tenses
Starting bullets with nouns, not action verbs
Stretching the margins too much
Inconsistent use of periods at the end of a bullet (they are not necessary, but if you want to use them, use them for all bullets)
Misspelling ACTIVITIES in a heading
Inconsistent or poorly used spacing
Using pronouns
Describing the duties of jobs, not your impacts, achievements, results, professional development
Using time spans of education instead of “expected May 2017”
Not leading with EDUCATION or a positioning statement while still a student or recent graduate
A Federal resume differs from a standard resume in length, required details, and format. It's essential for marketing yourself to employers, conveying your qualifications, and showcasing your ability to deliver immediate results.
Federal vs Private Sector Application Requirements:
Length
Private: 1-2 pages
Federal: Unlimited (unless specified by agency)
Qualifications
Private: Flexible
Federal: Must meet all minimum qualifications
Accomplishments
Private: Less detailed and more generalized
Federal: Specifics and how you made a difference
Federal Resume Writing Tips:
Use plain language, explain acronyms, and avoid jargon.
Highlight relevant experience and quantify accomplishments.
Show how you meet the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) needed for the job.
Ensure that your resume supports the answers provided in the occupational questionnaire and avoids common errors like unexplained acronyms or general statements.
Do not include personally identifiable information
Do not include photographs
You can use resumes created with the USAJOBS Resume Builder or uploaded from your own files
