Tuck Admissions Insights: Resume Writing Guide
By Kristin Roth
Associate Director of Admissions, Evaluation
Your resume should be a concise and compelling representation of your professional impact, leadership, and interests. More than a list of responsibilities, it should help others understand what you’ve accomplished, how you’ve contributed, and what matters to you.
The Experience section should take up the majority of your resume and focus on the results you’ve achieved and the impact you’ve had to date.
Build this section by:
- Including employer names, job titles, and dates of employment.
- If you held multiple roles with the same employer, separate them and list them in reverse chronological order.
- Prioritize accomplishments over responsibilities. Focus on what changed because of the work you did.
- Organize bullet points from most significant to least.
- Provide context when helpful, such as organizational or resource challenges, tight deadlines, or market conditions.
Strong bullet points should answer:
- What did you do?
- How did you do it?
- What was the outcome?
A simple way to think of this is: Action verb + Action taken + Result. For example:
- Developed audience expansion strategy for gaming products by assessing consumer adoption trends, competitive offerings, and emerging technologies.
- Grew revenue 20% year over year by leading a five-person international team through strategic planning and execution to optimize client’s return on investment.
Whenever possible, quantify your impact. Metrics help readers understand the scope and significance of your contributions.
The Education section should highlight achievements, leadership, and experiences, not just the degrees you earned. Unless you are currently pursuing your degree, this section belongs below your professional experience. Include:
- Undergraduate and graduate degrees
- Study abroad programs
- Majors, minors, and dates attended
- Academic honors and awards
- Merit-based awards and scholarships
- Leadership positions, athletics, and significant extracurricular activities
The Personal and Community Involvement section helps readers understand who you are beyond your professional and academic accomplishments and can help break the ice during interviews as well. Consider including:
- Languages
- Community service and volunteer work
- Professional certifications and designations
- Professional associations
- Hobbies and interests
- Unique experiences
Specifics make this section more memorable, though brevity is also important. Consider sharing information that reveals something unique about you, like “have hiked in 48 U.S. states”, “restoring furniture”, or “Jeopardy champion (1 time)”.
Format and appearance help the reader digest your experience easily. Your goal should be a one-page resume that is easy to scan.
Best practices include:
- Use reverse chronological order throughout
- Keep formatting clear and consistent
- Use concise bullet points, ideally one or two lines each
- Begin bullets with strong action verbs
- Emphasize outcomes and impact whenever possible
- Use a readable font (10 to 12 point usually)
- Leave white space to help your reader not go crazy
- Proofread carefully for grammar, spelling, and formatting errors
Curious how this looks at a glance? Take a look at a sample resume template similar to that used by Tuck students.
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