How to Write a Resume and Cover Letter That Win Interviews

Job seekers searching for resume and cover letter advice are usually trying to solve two problems at once: getting past automated screening software and convincing a human reader to schedule an interview. Career-services offices and applicant-tracking-system (ATS) researchers describe overlapping but distinct rules for each goal.

Choosing a Resume Format

Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL), a widely used academic writing resource, identifies several résumé format variations and recommends tailoring the document to the specific employer rather than sending one version to every opening.

On length, Purdue OWL notes that while a one-page résumé remains the traditional expectation, employers are accepting longer résumés in certain instances, generally tied to how much relevant experience a candidate has.

Steps for Building the Resume

1. Pick a format (chronological, functional, or a scannable/ATS version) based on your work history and the employer, per Purdue OWL.
2. Include the core sections Purdue OWL lists: contact information, education, work experience, and skills or honors/activities.
3. Put the exact job title from the posting in your resume headline; Jobscan cites research finding that resumes containing the exact job title received interview invitations at a rate reported as 10.6 times higher.
4. Write bullet points that pair a specific skill with a measurable result instead of listing duties, as Jobscan recommends.
5. Match the hard skills and language used in the job description, including both the long-form term and its acronym (for example, 'Search Engine Optimization (SEO)'), per Jobscan.
6. Format for machine readability: use a single-column layout, avoid tables, text boxes and graphics, use standard section headings such as 'Work Experience' and 'Education,' and save the file as .docx or a text-based PDF, per Jobscan's ATS guidance.

Writing the Cover Letter

Harvard Career Services (FAS) describes the cover letter as a narrative companion to the resume rather than a repeat of it, built around three sections.

1. Opening paragraph: name the position and organization and state a specific, genuine reason for applying rather than a generic statement of interest, per Harvard Career Services.
2. Middle paragraph(s): describe concrete, quantified accomplishments; Harvard's own example is 'Grew a student org's Instagram following from 200 to 1,400' rather than simply stating a task was completed.
3. Closing paragraph: restate interest directly and thank the reader, avoiding weak phrasing such as 'I hope to hear from you,' per Harvard Career Services.
4. Keep the whole letter to one page, three to four short paragraphs, roughly 250 to 400 words, per Harvard Career Services.
5. Use a standard font (Arial, Calibri, or Georgia) at 11 or 12 point, one-inch margins, single spacing within paragraphs, and save as a PDF unless the employer requests another format, per Harvard Career Services.

Mistakes That Cost Interviews

• Sending a generic, unedited form letter to every employer, per Harvard Career Services.
• Writing a cover letter that is too long or focused on what the candidate wants rather than the value offered to the employer, per Harvard Career Services.
• Using weak verbs and leaving proofreading errors in the final document, per Harvard Career Services.
• Using decorative formatting, multi-column layouts, tables, or graphics that an ATS parser cannot read correctly, per Jobscan.
• Stuffing keywords into the resume without context instead of embedding them in achievement-focused bullet points, per Jobscan.