Some informations are mandatory for your resume:

1. Personal data

• First name, last name, address, phone number(s), e-mail address
• Birthday (preferred to age, as data is more and more digitalized, on job research platforms for example)
• Current marital status
• Nationality (if you have more than one, mention them)

Avoid mentioning religious beliefs or political opinions.

2. Objective

The main objective is to tell the company what you are looking for and to emphasise what you can bring to it.

3. Formation

It precedes professional experience for a junior résumé. However, the order will be reversed after two or three years of work experience.

Considering that many students benefit from similar theoretical baggage to yours, it is necessary to customise your academic journey, which means put emphasis on any relevant element which will single out your resume from one of your studies’ colleagues. Your end-of-studies work can be mentioned, in the same way as, for example, an academic exchange, active participation in a symposium or a particular distinction.

Publications, articles, patents: do not hesitate to attach an annexe to your resume, should this enumeration weigh it down.

4. Professional experience

Internships, temporary missions or any job during the course of your studies are as many occasions which confronted you to the professional world and may have helped you acquire and demonstrate particular skills.

However, if you have done many of these, do not enumerate them but regroup them by themes.

For a junior resume, the order of elements is as follows: name of the company, your position (essential) followed by a description in two or three points of what your responsibilities consisted in. This description makes your experiences seem more authentic, hence more credible.

• Results

  A professional experience described in two or three points gains in impact if it is translated in terms of results, presented as much as possible in a quantifiable way: numbered data, completed projects, the impact of your work on the company, etc.

  Do not forget to use action verbs!

• Softs skills

  Soft skills represent the necessary complement which will inform the recruitment agent about your “human” potential in the company. They weigh heavily in the judgment of a recruiter who has to measure your personality’s adequation with a specific type of job, a work dynamic, or generally a company’s culture. Your human skills gain in relevance if they are presented in view of your professional or extra-professional accomplishments. They represent a rewarding outcome to temporary assignments, associative activities or passions for sports. Soft skills conclude your experiences, following, or in place of, results, and are often hardly quantifiable.

5. Parallel or associative activities

Their presentation is identical to that of your professional experiences: name of the institution/ association/ foundation/ club /etc…, your position and the illustration in a few points of what you have achieved there.

Soft skills can be put in relation with sports: team-based sports = sense of the collectivity; the practice of a musical instrument: ten years of cello = perseverance/creativity; associative activity = engaged and enthusiastic personality/sense of the initiative.

6. Languages

Begin by mentioning your native language and end by the one with which you are least comfortable. In parallel with a traditional appreciation such as fluent/advanced/intermediate/beginner, you can base yourself on the European Language Standard elaborated by the European Council, whose best quality is objectivity.

Note that a degree acts as an evaluation and that you should mention it instead of the level considered by the European Council. Do not forget to mention the year of reception of your degree and your results if they are good! In the same manner, you will indicate any linguistic stay abroad which could attest of your proficiency in the related language.

7. Computer skills

In addition to traditional office related internet tools, you are proficient with other softwares, programming languages or development tools: mention them if they constitute an asset for the desired position.

8. Hobbies/ interests

This is your resume’s personal note, so stay clear of trivial subjects! Your activities must be practised regularly, your interests occupy an important space in your daily life and showcase some aspects of your personality.

9. Picture or not?

If asked for, put it in the resume. Otherwise, it is up to you. Know however that a picture will likely make a potential recruiter remember you with greater ease. For this reason, it is particularly recommended in the case of a forum ( ID color picture in classical attire).

Formatting

Pay attention to the equipment:

• paper quality: 90gr. minimum
• color: white, ivory, or light gray
• format: A4
• envelope format: A4 (avoid folds)

Pay attention to presentation:

• The resume should be typed and one-sided
• Logically constructed, with clearly hierarchised information (play with titles, subtitles, intertitles)
• Pleasant to read (respect a sufficient margin)

Pay attention to spelling, grammar and punctuation: errors there are not acceptable at all!