Building your resume

There's lots of advice out there on how to create the 'perfect' resume, but what does that even mean? A 'perfect' resume successfully communicates to an employer that you are the right person for the job.

This article provides tips on creating resumes. It also offers some example templates so you can create your own!

Start simple

If you’ve never written a resume before or it’s been a while, try taking it back to basics. 

Start by doing a brain dump of all the important information about you.

Write down your:

  • contact details. Include your name, email and mobile number.
  • skills and achievements. Include both the technical and employability skills you have gained from work, hobbies or volunteering.
  • work experience. Include all your previous workplace experience, even if it was unpaid or volunteer work.
  • education and course/s completed. Include your highest level of schooling and anything after that.
  • qualifications, registrations and licences. Include things like a driver's licence, safety white cards, First Aid certificates and formal industry certificates.  
  • referees. Include contact details for at least two referees who can support your application for the job. Always ask them before including them!

Tailor your resume to meet an employer’s needs

This 'master' resume will form the base for the individually tailored resumes that you will develop when applying for specific jobs. Tweaking your existing resume (rather than starting from scratch each time) will reduce the time it takes to develop a tailored resume. Just remove information that isn't relevant, include the employer's key words, to make a resume that is relevant to a specific job and employer.

Need help with formatting? Try one of our resume templates!

We offer a couple of example resumes and templates that you could use as a base to create your resume. Alternatively you can find a template online by typing 'free resume builder' into your internet search engine. Your word processing software may also offer a range of basic resume templates you can use.

These tools can help you: