Importance of the Resume

The standard 1-page resume is the firm’s first impression of you and gives you the opportunity to differentiate yourself from other candidates. Be prepared to walk an interviewer through your experiences and talk to each point. It should showcase your recent accomplishments while being clear and concise.

The resume should not be a laundry list of everything you’ve ever done.

Typical resume structure

The standard 1-page resume has 4 main parts:

 

Education.

Showcase your awards, recognitions, GPA, notable courses, etc.

Experiences.

Highlight your professional and study-oriented career thus far, ensuring you emphasize your accomplishments (see below).

Community Involvement.

Demonstrate your passions and compassions through extra-curricular involvement and volunteering.

Personal Interests.

Being a well-rounded person with an interesting story and personable is the finishing touch to a successful candidate.

 

General tips

  • Write bullet points as “Accomplishment Statements” (see below).

  • Use all of the real estate on the page.

  • Be consistent with font sizes, font styles, spacing, bullet points, alignment, punctuation, date formatting, abbreviations, etc.

  • Always write in 3rd person and maintain a professional tone.

  • Proofread for grammar and spelling mistakes!

Accomplishment statements 

 

Resumes are often skimmed through very quickly, therefore it is important to ensure your most impactful achievements are easy to pick out from the page.

By using the RATS format, each of your bullet points will begin with your achievements, giving your resume the consistent structure that allows the interviewer to effortlessly see your biggest accomplishments first.

Examples from various resumes can be found below.

RATS stands for Results, Actions, Task, Situation.

Results
Ensure that your statements start with a verb and showcases both qualitative and quantitative results.

Actions
Demonstrate the relevant skills for consulting and your actions should align to your results.

Task/Situation
Paint the context or describe the challenge, but stay concise. Interviewers care more about what you did than what was going on.