Learn how to create resumes and cover letters that highlight your graduate experience and skills and impress your prospective employer.
To demonstrate your fit for a job and increase your chances of securing an interview, you’ll need to adapt your application materials to match the job description.
Review the materials below to learn how to write and format resumes and cover letters and tailor them to specific job descriptions for academia, industry, nonprofit, government, and business.
Resume Guidelines and Templates
Check out these resources on how to prepare your resume for a variety of positions.
Resume Writing Guidelines
An overview of format and structure for a resume.
Resume Template
An annotated resume template highlighting format, guidelines and strategies for framing graduate experience as work experience.
Active Verb List
List of verbs to frame accomplishment statements on a resume.
Example Accomplishment Statements (Resume Bullet Points)
Examples of short, impactful statements that highlight overall impact in a position and translate academic training into work experience.
Reference List Template
Example reference list that outlines what and how to include reference information.
Resumes are different from academic CVs, which focus on highlighting your academic contributions related to research, teaching and service. If you’d like to learn more about how to draft a CV, check out these resources.
Cover Letter Guidelines and Templates
Learn how to draft and format your cover letter for a range of industries and roles.
Tailoring Resumes and Cover Letters
Review our examples resumes and cover letters for jobs in academia, industry, nonprofit, government, and business. These example documents are tailored to real job descriptions and demonstrate how to write your documents so they highlight fit with the position.
Higher Education Job Materials Example
Sample job description, resume and cover letter of a graduate student resume for a position in a higher education administration that outlines writing strategies to frame graduate experience and target application materials according to industry standards.
Consulting Job Materials Example
Sample job description, resume and cover letter of a graduate student resume for a position in a consulting firm that outlines writing strategies to frame graduate experience and target application materials according to industry standards.
Engineering Job Materials Example
Sample job description, resume, and cover letter of a graduate student resume for a position in a semiconductor manufacturing company that outlines writing strategies to frame graduate experience and target application materials according to industry standards.
Nonprofit Job Materials Example
Sample job description, resume, and cover letter of a graduate student resume for a position in a nonprofit organization that outlines writing strategies to frame graduate experience and target application materials according to industry standards.