9 to 5
Before you hit submit: a resume refresh ✨
5 simple ways to make your resume stronger before you send it off
Written by Sophia LIu · Director of Community Media
Your resume is often your first introduction to a potential manager or recruiter, so it’s worth giving it a little extra care. But creating a strong resume doesn’t mean making it complicated!
Whether you’re applying for your first internship, trying to land that college job, or just realizing your resume could use some love, a few small changes can make a big difference. Before you send it in, here are five tips that may be worth your time.
“Your resume doesn’t need to tell your whole story — it just needs to make someone want to learn more about you.”
01 – Focus on Impact, not just responsibilities
One of the easiest ways to make a resume pop is to focus on what you did and why it mattered, not just what you role asked you to do.
Insread of writing a bullet that simply explains your role, think about the result of your work. Did you increase viewership? Successfully organize an event? Help a team reach a target goal? Create something new?
Instead of:
Helped organize events for a student organization.
Try:
Coordinated 4 professional development events serving 100+ students.
Do you see a difference? The second bullet gives your reader a much better idea of what you actually accomplished.
💌 WIB Tip: After every bullet, ask yourself: “So what?” If you can answer it, you probably have a stronger bullet hiding underneath.
02 – Use strong action verbs as starters
“Helped” and “worked on” aren’t necessarily bad verbs, but they can make your experience sound less impressive than it actually was.
Try starting your bullets with specific verbs that show, not tell. For example:
Coordinated · Developed · Created · Analyzed · Managed · Led · Designed · Organized
You don’t have to sound like a CEO to sound impressive. You just want your resume to clearly show what you did.
03 – extra words take up unnecessary space
Your resume only has so much space, so every word should earn its spot:
Watch out for vague phrases like:
“Worked with a team to…”
“Responsible for…”
“Helped with…”
These phrases aren’t telliing anyone much. Get to the important stuff! For example:
Before:
Successfully collaborated with team members in order to help create and develop social media content for Instagram.
After:
Collaborated with 4 team members to create 20+ Instagram posts.
The second version says essentially the same thing, but it’s shorter, more specific, and gives the reader something solid to take away.
💌 WIB Tip: If you can delete a word without losing meaning, delete it.
04 – Keep it clean & easy to skim
A strong resume shouldn’t require a magnifying glass, and recruiters shouldn’t have to dig through giant blocks of text to figure out what you did.
Keep your formatting (line spacing, font, alignment) consistent, use clear section headings, and make each bullet short, focused, and easy to scan. Try to keep each bullet to 1-2 lines when possible. For most college students and early-career applicants, keeping your resume to one page is the sweet spot
Quick Check ✓
☐ Consistent formatting
☐ Easy-to-read font
☐ Clear section headings
☐ Bullets are 1–2 lines
☐ Consistent dates and spacing
☐ No spelling mistakes
And remember: clean ≠ boring. A polished resume should feel organized and intentional but not overly cluttered.
05 – Tailor everything to the role
No, this doesn’t mean rewriting your entire resume for every single application.
Instead, take a few minutes to look at the job description and make sure your resume emphasizes the experiences and skills that actually matter for that role.
Applying for a marketing internship? Move those content and social media experiences to the top of your page.
Analyst role? Bring attention to research, any data analysis experience you have, or relevant technical skills.
The goal isn’t to become a different person for every job. It’s to make it easy for the recruiter to see why your experience makes you the girl for the job.
💌 WIB Tip: Before you submit, look at the job description and ask: “If I were the recruiter, which of these experiences would I want to see first?”
and one last thing..
Your resume doesn’t need to prove that you’re a perfect match for everything. A girl can only have so many experiences to fit on a page! It just needs to show why you’re a good fit for this opportuity.
So give it one last read, make those little edits if you spot something, and then hit submit. You make be surprised by how much of a difference a few tweaks can make. You got this! 💕
Looking for more career inspo?