Arena’s Political Resume Guide is one of the most popular and powerful tools in the Arena Toolbox. It contains our resume guidelines, a checklist to ensure it includes all the necessary elements, a worksheet for writing effective bullet points, and four video modules to guide you through revamping your resume. 

While our tools are great, we know it can be challenging to put them into practice and overcome the blank page. That’s why we created these Resume Templates, three different outlines of resumes for people at various stages of their careers. In this blog, we’ll outline three simple steps to get your template in top shape and start applying! 

1. Fill in the Template

We recommend starting from scratch with an Arena resume template. The options include a standard resume template, one for recent college graduates, and one for folks with 10+ years of experience.

GET THE TEMPLATES!

To start, you’ll need to drop your current resume materials into the template. You can do this by copying and pasting, but we recommend being more selective about what you add. Specifically, this means you should only add information relevant to the jobs you plan to apply for. Not sure what you’ll be applying for? Try the Career Priorities and Interest Assessment in the Arena Toolbox to find what is most important to you >>>

2. Cut non-essential material

Now that you’ve imported your old resume into our new template, you need to pare it down to one page. You can get away with two pages if you have 10 or more years of experience. That said, we still recommend condensing it to one page. Hiring managers typically spend less than a minute looking at each resume. Even if you submit a multiple-page resume, there’s no guarantee a hiring manager will read all of it.

But how do we know what’s non-essential? In the Arena Resume Guide, we cover this in more detail, but here are some basic rules to follow:

• Cut any bullet points that aren’t relevant to the job descriptions you’re applying for.
• Rewrite bullet points for conciseness and clarity to shorten them.
• Change field-specific jargon that someone working in politics wouldn’t understand.
• Remove general descriptions of your job duties that don’t demonstrate your impact.
• Remove redundant information: if you mention a skill in your bullet points already in your skills section, cut it from one of the places.
• When you’re finished making cuts, review the new phrasing. This will ensure that your resume still tells a cohesive story.

3. Revise, Revise, Revise

If your bullet points are three lines or longer, you could benefit from making revisions. As we mentioned earlier, the edits to our resume should make it easier to read. Imagine your bullet points like answers in an interview: you don’t want to ramble on; you want to provide just enough information to answer questions and demonstrate achievements. With that in mind, try keeping in mind these elements when writing your bullets:

Good Bullet Points

• Single sentences with 1-2 lines.
• Use metrics that demonstrate achievements.
• Feature consistent formatting across the resume.
• Begin with strong active verbs.
• Translate job experiences for political work.

Bad Bullet Points

• Paragraphs with 3-4 lines and 3+ sentences.
• List out day-to-day job responsibilities.
• Each bullet point has a different color and shape.
• Indentation varies across the page.
• Use jargon specific to a non-political field.

But revisions aren’t just about making cuts; we want to clarify our success in our work. This often means adding metrics or reframing sentences to focus on our past achievements. These don’t need to be record-making successes, either. Managing a team of two is an achievement, learning to perform deep canvassing is an achievement, and learning to make reports in VAN is an achievement. If you’re unsure of your achievements, try using job descriptions as a guiding light. Let the responsibilities listed show you what the hiring manager is looking for, and try reframing your bullet points around those.

Unsure about where to make revisions? Have a friend review your resume. If they are in the same field, ask them how they might phrase specific skills or achievements. If they’re from a different field, ask them if the unfamiliar components make sense to them.

As you revise, the adjustments and achievements you write out will come together to form a narrative. Write out the major points on a separate doc and review them. Do they accurately reflect the narrative of your career? Fill in what’s missing and remove what’s redundant as you go through this process.

PS. If you ever have trouble gathering your metrics while you’re on the job, we made a tool just for you >>>

Updating your resume can be grueling, but it doesn’t have to be. These simple steps will help you reshape your resume to land an impactful role.