How to Write a Resume for an Accounting Job

Just as a balance sheet is a well-organized representation of a company's assets and liabilities, your resume must be a clean, well-written and well-organized presentation (in 1 to 2 pages) of the strengths and experience you will bring to an accounting job.

Difficulty:

Moderate

Instructions

1. Create a clear, clean heading with your name, personal address and telephone number and personal email address, and stay away from frilly fonts or borders. If you are a C.P.A., you may list the credential after your name, for example, "Jane Smith, C.P.A."

2. Use a brief phrase in the "Job Objective" section to differentiate the level of the accounting job you are seeking, such as, "Controller," "Accounts Payable Clerk" or "Full-Charge Bookkeeper."

3. State your strongest qualifications briefly for the accounting position you are seeking, under the heading "Qualifications." Use a 2-sentence paragraph or several bulleted points that respond directly to the language in the position posting.

4. Revise your job titles, if appropriate, to pertain to the accounting job that you seek. Include them in a list of your last 3 to 5 accounting positions under the heading of "Professional Experience." You may have been called an office manager, but if you were managing receivables and collections, you will want your title to reflect that.

5. Write an impact statement with a strong "wow" factor for each of your last 3 accounting positions. Emphasize specific responsibilities at the highest level you attained, your accomplishments and the systems and software you used.

6. List your education and degrees and highlight related course work under the heading of "Education." If you are a C.P.A. or have attained any similarly prestigious certification, list that certification cleanly and simply for all states in which you have earned it so that it stands out on the page with a special "Certifications" subheading.

7. Pass the technology "litmus test" that an employer is likely to create for any accounting position. Supplement your resume with an additional section headed "Computer Skills." Spell out your proficiency with each of the accounting, spreadsheet, database and project management programs with which you are familiar.

Tips & Warnings

• Hiring managers often use basic search phrases to find online resumes. Use these popular search words to optimize your online resume, but only when they fit naturally into your situation: accountant, cpa, accounting, accounts payable, payroll, staff accountant, audit, controller, general ledger, trial balance, financial statements, financial analyst, bookkeeper, auditor, tax, accounts receivable and senior accountant.

• If you are applying for a specific accounting job, don't neglect to write a strong cover letter to introduce your resume (and yourself) to the specific person who is the hiring manager for the position. Make the letter professional but friendly, spell the recipient's name correctly and say that you will follow up the letter and resume with a telephone call.