Career Tools: Resume Writing Checklist

Stage 1: Preparation

• Define your areas of interest

  Before researching the job market, writing your resume, and applying for vacancies, ask yourself the following questions:

  1. What do I enjoy doing the most?

  2. What tasks interest me the most?

  To better understand yourself, your motivations, and interests, take the Holland Code Career Test. Based on the results, you’ll get insight into which career paths suit you best.

• Conduct a mini market research

  Now it's time to find out which companies are hiring in your areas of interest. Make a list of companies you’ve heard of or find appealing. Visit their websites, social media pages, and job platform profiles. See if these employers are offering roles that interest you.
  Alternatively, find professionals on LinkedIn whose careers inspire you. Explore how they started and which companies helped them grow.

• Think about how your education and experience align with the position

  We recommend tailoring your resume for each specific vacancy. Reflect and note how your experience can be relevant to the employer. If you don’t yet have work experience, mention relevant case competitions, academic projects, internships, or mandatory placements.

Stage 2: Writing the Resume

• Create the header

  Start by choosing a photo. It should follow business casual style (not a passport photo). Avoid casual images better suited for social media.

  Include your full name, phone number, email, and city of residence.

• “About Me” section

  This section usually comes after the header. Briefly answer the following:

  1. What tasks/areas of work are you interested in?

  2. What motivates you at work?

  3. Where do your strengths lie — what areas do you have experience in?

  The section should be no longer than 3–4 sentences.

• “Work Experience” section

  List your work experience from the most recent to the earliest.
  Each job should include:

  1. Company name

  2. Job title

  3. Work period (e.g., May 2020 – July 2021)

  4. Your Responsibilities and Achievements/Results, formatted as bullet points.

  If you have no work experience yet, skip this step.

• “Education” section

  Include your graduation year, university name, faculty, and major. We don’t recommend listing courses, minors, etc., in this section.

• “Project and Case Participation” section

  This section is especially useful for students without work experience.
  The structure should mirror that of the work experience section.
  Include the year, the name of the project/case (and for which company), and describe your tasks and your or the team’s results.

• “Skills” section

  Here, describe your hard skills: software proficiency, programming languages, platforms, and tools you can work with.
  Also include foreign language proficiency, e.g., “English (Advanced)”.

Stage 3: Resume Review

• Brevity is the soul of wit

  Ensure your resume is concise and well-structured.
  Ideally:

  • 1 page for students or recent graduates with no work experience

  • 2 pages for professionals

• Check for errors

  Your resume should be free of mistakes and typos. Even a minor error can drastically reduce your chances of being invited to an interview.

• Show your resume to trusted contacts

  Get feedback from people whose opinion you value. Use their comments to improve your resume and make it even more professional.