A good résumé is an excellent and necessary way to market yourself. Before you finish college, you’ll need a résumé, whether it’s for a part-time job, an internship or co-op position, or to show to an instructor who agrees to write you a letter of recommendation. Typically, there are two types of résumés. One is written in chronological format, and the other is organized by skills. If you have related job experience, choose the chronological résumé; if you can group skills from a number of jobs or projects under several meaningful categories, choose the skills-based résumé. Your career center can help you choose the format that is right for you given your experience and future goals.

On average, an employer spends 7 to 10 seconds screening each résumé to glean their first-round picks when it’s time to fill a job. Many employers also use résumé-scanning software to identify key terms and experiences that are most important to the employer. If you are a new professional, a one-page résumé is usually appropriate. Add a second page only if you have truly outstanding skills or work experiences that won’t fit on the first page, but consult with your career center for guidance on this point. If you are in college to get retrained and change your career, make sure to update the information on your résumé.