Not sure what to put in your cv/ resume? Sonala who just scored a graduate position at a big 4 consulting firm shared her story and her top cv Resume Writing Tips.

After recently graduating from UNSW with a Bachelor of Commerce/Arts, I was left nervous and questioning whether I would be able to secure a graduate program.

I spent countless hours perfecting cover letters and attempting online testing before being offered a place at Deloitte’s assessment centre. It was my first assessment centre, and I was very nervous because although I had the marks and the experience for the position, I did not know if my prospective employer thought the same.

After the assessment centre and successfully completing the partner interview, I was offered a graduate position in consulting.

Over my university career, I applied to internships and casual positions so my resume had already been compiled when I was looking at graduate program applications.

I created my own template on Microsoft Word, simply by using the fonts, colours and layouts that appealed to me.

My top resume writing tips

• For the resume content, I started out by listing all my previous employers and a few bullet points of the sorts of tasks I was required to complete.
• I was then able to add my extra-curricular and volunteering experience.
• By this stage, I had a solid cv/ resume that only required my personal details, a quick mention of my educational qualifications, and a short paragraph of my experience and what I was looking for.

Resume writing tips from high school careers counsellor

• My high school careers counsellor had told me that the key elements of a beautiful resume is to keep it short, sweet, and simple.
• She also told me that employers just want to know that you got the educations qualifications they require, but they do not need a detailed summary of the subjects or grades. Instead, we should spend our time selling our personality through the format and layout of the resume, and our other commitments such as sport, volunteering and leadership skills.

My resume is not fancy and boasting, but it does relay to potential employers the kind of person I am. They are able to quickly find and read my educational and professional history, my other interest and my personal details. As a result, my resume has helped me score my dream job after completing university and provided me with a head start compared to my peers.

My resume