How to Craft your Perfect Resumé (for social change)

One of our goals at PCDN is to help our community develop the best materials to radically increase the chances of a successful application in the social impact space, and the resume is one of the most critical documents. Having a strong resume that is tailored to both a particular job opening and the employer can often make a huge difference in having your application moved from the huge pile of submissions to moving onto the interview stage.

This post is provides a number of actionable tips to ensure that make a resume outstanding. The recommendations spring from my many years of applied research on careers in change, many conversations with employers, mentoring sessions with PCDN Career Coaching clients and my students, as well my experience hiring many employees, consultants and interns.

Before jumping into the search for a social impact job, it is first important to consider what is the purpose of a resume?

A resumé is a document that tells a story about your previous, current and ideally future career path. No piece of paper can tell your whole story, but it is an essential document that needs careful crafting as well as regular updating.