At PGT, we don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all formula for anything in the job search, especially resumes. Hiring expectations vary by organization, industry, and even individual hiring managers. But since you never know who is going to be reading your resume, we recommend following some basic guidelines. We hope the attached Resume Checklist and Sample Resume are helpful.
The attached resume checklist is not meant to be a rigid set of rules. Instead, think of it as a collection of best practices designed to help you feel confident that you’re submitting a strong, professional, and competitive resume. These guidelines reflect patterns we see across many hiring processes — not arbitrary preferences.
There are items on the checklist that we, as an organization, don’t necessarily scrutinize. For example, we’re not going to automatically discard a resume if every bullet point doesn’t begin with a dynamic action verb. However, some organizations absolutely do pay attention to details like that. In a competitive market, small refinements can make a difference.
Consider this your “better safe than sorry” guide — not hard and fast rules that can never be broken. Strong resumes are strategic documents. They prioritize clarity, relevance, and impact over perfection.
We’ve also included a sample resume that follows these best practices so you can see what strong formatting, concise language, and results-focused bullets look like in practice.
Use these tools as a starting point. Tailor thoughtfully. And remember: the goal of your resume isn’t to tell your entire professional story. It’s to earn the interview.
Both those files can be downloaded by clicking the links right below this sentence.
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