Every job is different, and every company has different needs and expectations of what it wants in its employees. Many people these days change jobs – even careers – with greater frequency.
So when it comes to resume writing, it pays to be flexible and adaptive. Your resume should be like a Swiss Army Knife, able to tackle any challenge and highlight the fact that you have the right tools for any job.
So to help you write the right resume for the right job, we’ve put together a quick guide showcasing the most common resume examples and features in Australia – from applying for your first jobs to seasoned professionals.
After all, a high-quality resume with the right focus could land you an interview with a prospective employer and get your foot in the door, giving you the opportunity to impress in person and secure the job.
Start With the Basics
Let’s begin with a template that the most basic resume examples will follow.
A resume template is a skeleton of headings and sections for you to flesh out in sharper detail with your professional and personal information such as education, qualifications and skills.
Sample resume templates are widely and often freely available online and by filling one out, you’ll have created a standard document which you can adapt to suit the different needs of different employers.
So, to start with, most basic resume examples should have the following sections:
Who Are You?
Start by listing all of your relevant personal information, including your name and contact details. These are critical, as this information will be used to get in contact with you, should the employer want to see you in an interview stage. Email address, phone number, and your full name are all important to include.
Personal Biography
Write a brief statement about who you are, the education levels you’ve achieved, what you’ve done professionally and what your goals are. This is also a good place to briefly mention some of your achievements, but try to make sure that it’s all relevant to the job you’re trying to get.
Qualifications and Education
List your tertiary achievements using subheadings and bullet points. Use this order: years the Degree was studied and when the qualification was completed, the name of the Degree, and the education provider. If you’ve studied more than one qualification, you can include previous courses too.
Work History
List your employment history using subheadings and bullet points. You can also include brief statements about your responsibilities and achievements, as well as the titles you had in those positions, such as manager or executive.
Professional Skills
List the things you are able to do with professional competency. For example, you may be a qualified typist or have completed a course in checking computer readouts for engines. If you have skills and training in relevant programs or software, include those here too.
Memberships and Affiliations
If you’re a member of an organisation such as a charity or a professional body you can list it and your position within it. Some people may be members of industry societies or organisations, including professional associations which look great on a resume.
Personal Interests
Many resumes include a brief section about your personal life, with curated detail relevant to employment. The idea is to show an employer what kind of person you are. You can include hobbies, such as sports.
Volunteer Positions
Taking part in volunteer positions, and helping not-for-profit organisations is a great inclusion on a resume if you can use it. If you’ve been a volunteer sports coach for a local community team or taken part in charities and fundraisers then make sure to list them, and how long you’ve been affiliated.
References
A resume should always include the contact details of several referees – people who know you personally or professionally who can answer a prospective employer’s questions about you.
Adapting the Basic Resume Example
So now that you have an idea of what a basic resume example looks like, it’s time to adapt it to your needs and the needs of the fields or professions you’re keen to join.
This is a crucial skill, especially in a competitive job market where only the best resumes typically get read. Tailoring your resume from a basic template of information to the specific needs of the field you are applying for could give you the edge over others applying and could land you the position.
We’ll cover examples of student, first job, retail and professional resumes – and by the end, you’ll have an idea of what employers in a wide range of fields and situations expect from you.
Student and First Job Resumes
Students and people applying for their first jobs can often be found in the same boat – and often start from scratch, professionally speaking.
By taking the basic resume template and highlighting your education, life experience and personal qualities, you can still create effective resumes that will help win employment and grow experience.
Look online for resume examples for first jobs and students to get an idea for the layout as well as the information to include. Then, take what you know and apply it to this basic resume template:
Who Are You?
As always, start with relevant personal information, including your full name and any relevant contact details. If you are underage, you can also include the name of a parent or guardian as the primary point of contact.
Personal Biography
Tailor this section to highlight your achievements, in education and your personal life. State what you have done so far and what direction you want your life to take, both professionally and personally.
Qualifications and Education
List your tertiary education level and, if relevant, what grade levels you achieved. This applies whether it’s for high school, university or further education like TAFE. Give employers an idea of what kind of student you were, and what kind of employee you could be.
Work History
Students and first job applications often may not have much, if any, professional experience. So you can list any work experience stints you may have gained, volunteer work or part-time work.
Professional Skills
Again, this may be limited by life and professional experience, but think hard. Many high schools teach typing, computer skills, basic wood and metal shop work- which can be important to a trade type job- and sports skills. Even listing relevant life skills that you are familiar with, such as computing and driving, may be helpful. A lot of schools also now provide students with skills in programs such as excel, and photoshop, which can be very relevant knowledge for the right job.
Memberships and Affiliations
Do you play a team sport? Are you a Surf Lifesaver? Captain of drama? A school prefect? Anything that you’ve done in life that highlights your contribution and commitment to certain areas in your school or personal life are a great inclusion.
Personal Interests
Similar to what has been mentioned above, list anything you’re interested in or passionate about. Perhaps you like to travel, read or volunteer in your free time. Have you achieved something worth noting, like winning a short story competition or giving a valedictorian speech?
References
Many schools encourage their students to ask teachers they have excelled under for a reference, and many are happy to give one and be listed for contact. You can also ask sporting coaches, mentors or trusted friends.
Crafting an Effective Retail Resume
The retail sector is one of Australia’s biggest employers and places a high value on people with a wide set of professional skills and experience. So retail resumes are a little bit different than the norm.
Why? Retail is a fast-paced industry with little time for messing around. Skills such as communication, organisation and people skills are important, as retail jobs are very high customer- contact. Retail employers want to know the basic information about you straight away. And if your resume doesn’t hit the sweet spot, it will probably get binned.
It pays to look around online for retail resume examples and dissect them to work out how they are different from the standard resume types. You’ll see that retail resumes are usually very direct and to the point, usually one or two A4 pages in length, and often ordered differently to the standard resume.
Next, combine your knowledge with the basic resume template and craft a tailored document, specific to the retail industry:
Who Are You?
List your name, email address and contact phone number. Quick and easy.
Personal Biography
State your professional experience and ambitions simply and clearly. For example, ‘I am a highly experienced sales assistant keen to acquire new skills and opportunities.’
Then briefly list what experience you have amassed in the retail sector – managing others, driving sales etc.
If you don’t have any real experience in the area, try to make a statement that highlights your ambition and passion for the industry, as well as what skills you think you can bring to the job.
Professional skills
Retailers hire people based on their professional skills, so this section is usually pushed higher.
List your technical skills in bullet points, such as familiarity with computer spreadsheet programs like Excel, which is commonly used in retail.
Next, list any professional certificates you may have, such as TAFE diplomas, certificates, or management level experience from previous jobs in the retail sector.
Memberships and Affiliations
The retail sector in Australia has many unions and peak bodies, so if you are a member of any, list this high in the resume.
Qualifications and Education
List your education history and any relevant qualifications. Retail employers want to know what skills and experience you have gathered.
Work History
List your work history within the retail sector, including what responsibilities each position gave you. Anything involving management or a specific retail skill such as operating a cash register should be included high up.
Retail jobs are competitive, so it is crucial to state how long each position was held for, so employers can gauge what kind of employee you have been in the past.
Personal Interests
Keep this brief, but mention a few things you like to do to give a good personal impression. Retail jobs involve lots of teamwork and trust, so employers want to know what you are like.
References
You can list referees or say they are available on request.
Remember, retail is a fast paced industry that values skills and experience, so your resume should reflect the sector’s needs.
Putting Together a Professional Resume
A professional’s resume is extremely important to maintain their reputation and includes everything they’ve gained throughout their careers.
Many professionals such as lawyers, investment bankers and corporate managers maintain a high-quality resume document that is not focused on gaining a particular position.
Instead, a professional’s resume is maintained as a form of advertisement, available upon request to headhunters or displayed on a networking website such as Linkedin to attract job offers or business opportunities.
If the desired position comes onto the professional’s radar, then the resume can be tailored to it. But otherwise, it is maintained on the presumption that headhunters or other employers will see it and come to them.
To craft a polished document of your own, it is essential to do research and gather as many professional resume examples as you can, including administration resume examples. Many leading figures from business, politics, sport and the arts have their resumes available online. Linkedin gives quick and easy access to the resumes of scores of big names, including Google’s Larry Page and Tesla’s Elon Musk.
Next, take the basic resume template and fill it in, but remember, professional resumes have a different emphasis:
Who Are You?
Professional resumes start the same as all others – name and contact details.
Personal Biography
Professional resumes begin with a snappy – and usually brief – statement about who they are, what they have achieved and what their vision is, both professionally and personally.
Work History
Professionals usually put their work histories first. From the very beginning, a professional’s resume needs to display their skills and experience as well as what level of employment and success they have achieved.
Professional Skills
A professional resume should strongly highlight the skill set that has been gathered.
An emphasis is usually placed on real world experience, management positions, professionally recognised achievements and any professional certificates or courses that have been completed.
Qualifications and Education
A professional resume often goes into deeper detail about a person’s education and qualifications than other fields. This reflects the emphasis placed on education by sectors considered as part of the professional sphere.
A professional resume should cater to this by listing all relevant education experiences, degrees and qualifications, even those that are ongoing. For example, a person may have graduated with a degree in Economics, and also list that they have completed further education modules from a business school.
Memberships and Affiliations
Professional fields such as law, business and medicine have many groups, organisations and even clubs that reflect a person’s competence and standing. Professionals also place emphasis on joining community groups and having local involvement, so listing any of these aspects are favourable.
Personal Interests
Like any job in any field, professional industries hire people, not Degrees or old job titles. Show who you are, and what you’re like.
References
Professional resumes often include statements of recommendations from prominent colleagues or acquaintances. Anything to get an edge and stand out from the pack is always welcome!
The Right Resume for the Right Job
By knowing and using the basic building blocks of resume creation, you’ll be able to craft a tailor-made document that can be targeted to specific jobs and fields with a few quick alterations.
The key thing is to know how to list your professional and personal qualifications and achievements in a compelling manner and in the order best suited to the field you’re keen to enter.
Before you apply for a job, study the job requirements and do some research on what others within the industry value. Read the resumes of people working within the field and take notes.
Then, take your standard resume document and shape it accordingly. After that, we wish you the best of luck!