Resumes, CVs and cover letters are essential tools for showcasing your qualifications and making a strong impression on potential employers. While resumes and CVs highlight your skills, experiences, and academic background, cover letters provide a tailored narrative connecting your qualifications to a specific opportunity.
What is a resume?
A resume is a one-page document designed to showcase your unique skills, experiences and academic background to illustrate your potential as an employee to an employer. The purpose of a resume is to secure an interview. Industry specific samples can be found within the career communities.
What is a curriculum vitae?
Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a document designed to showcase your unique skills, experiences and academic background. A CV is most commonly used in research or academia.
What is a cover letter?
Cover letters are business formatted documents and accompany your resume, targeting a particular opportunity and/or employer, highlighting relevant skills and experiences.
Steps to Writing a Great Resume, CV, and Cover Letter
In order to create an effective document, it is important to think about how your experiences and skills align with the role, company and industry.
- Research the company and their mission, vision and values
- Review the job description to identify relevant keywords and skills
- Select experiences that highlight the necessary skills to include in your document
Different roles and industries can have slightly different formats and section orders. For example, CVs are heavily used in academia, resumes within industry and traditional business letter format for a cover letter is ideal for business roles and the legal field.
Below are general templates, but for more options, create your document using a pre-written sample in Hiration.
The key to creating an effective document lies in articulating to the employer the skills you have, how you obtained them, and how you will use them to contribute to the company’s mission.
In a resume or curriculum vitae, this looks like strong bullet point statements developed using the following formula: action verb + task + result/impact. The action verb typically points to a key transferable skill that employers seek in candidates and the task is the action you completed. Many often end their statements here, but the true value lies in defining the impact of your action. Check out the example below:
- Basic: Coordinated 2 fundraising events for a local community center
- Effective: Coordinated 2 fundraising events for a local community center which raised over $5,000 (10% over their goal) and improved awareness of the center
In a cover letter, the key is to relate how you will leverage your skills and experiences in this role to contribute to the department and company mission. Drawing these connections will clearly demonstrate the value you will bring to the organization, helping you stand out in the candidate pool.
- Basic: Through my fundraising experience, I sharpened my organization, management, and interpersonal skills by coordinating two fundraisers to help fund the expansion of a local community center.
- Effective: As a fundraiser, I have managed two, large-scale events raising over $5000 to support the expansion of a local community center which honed the organizational skills necessary to make an immediate impact on the development events hosted by your Advancement team.
Hiration provides you the opportunity to refine your document by tailoring it directly to the job description. Simply paste the job description into the tailoring feature and the AI-powered tool will help you identify skills and improvements necessary to make your document more competitive.
While Hiration gets you one step closer to an application-ready document, it shouldn’t replace a final review with CCA staff. Talk with an intern or Career Coach about any final revisions that may give your document the finishing touches.
- Schedule an appointment on Handshake
- Stop by for drop-in hours
- Submit your document electronically via Hiration
Career Tools
Hiration: A New Career Tool for Bucknell University Students
Hiration is available to all Bucknell University students and can be accessed anytime, anywhere. Whether you’re applying for an internship, graduate school, or your first full-time role, Hiration empowers you to present your experiences and strengths with confidence.
Think of Hiration as a virtual coach that helps you refine your materials before you even visit the Center for Career Advancement. With interactive templates and smart suggestions, the platform lets you make meaningful progress on your own — so when you meet with a career coach, you’re ready for deeper conversations about your goals and next steps.
Action Verbs
Action verbs are key to developing an effective and impressive resume, and the power of action verbs lies in their ability to demonstrate the skills, experiences and accomplishments that you can offer to a potential employer. When writing your resumes, strive to use strong action verbs that highlight a variety of skills, and avoid reusing verbs. Get creative! Reframe your bullet points to showcase a diverse set of skills throughout your document.
AI Tips
As you gear up for the 2026 job market, you’re entering an era where artificial intelligence plays a critical part of the hiring process. With application volumes per role doubling in recent years, about 93% of recruiters report that they plan to use AI to help manage the influx and find the right talent. Understanding how these tools work, and how to use them without losing your unique voice, will help you stand out as you pursue your next internship or entry-level role.
