The short version: the Harvard resume style is a clean, one-page, reverse-chronological format with tight margins, a simple font, and bullet points that lead with action verbs and end with results, not job descriptions. It was built by Harvard’s own Office of Career Services for students with thin work histories, which is exactly why it strips out everything decorative. Follow the structure below and you’ll have a resume that clears applicant tracking systems and reads well to a tired human at nine at night.
What “Harvard style” means
People throw the phrase around like it’s a font or a template you can buy. It isn’t. Harvard’s Office of Career Services publishes a resume guide for its own students, and the format that everyone now calls “Harvard style” comes straight out of that guide. I’ve read the version aimed at undergraduates and the one aimed at MBA students, and they agree on almost everything: one page, no photo, no objective statement, reverse chronological order, and bullets that prove impact rather than describe duties.
I first came across it when my son was applying for a summer internship and sent me his CV to check. It was two and a half pages, had a headshot in the corner, and opened with “Dynamic self-starter seeking opportunity to use skills.” I made him cut it to one page and rewrite every bullet to start with a verb and end with a number. He got three interviews out of five applications. The CV didn’t get him the job, his interview did, but the CV got him past the first cut, and that’s the only job a resume has.
The exact structure, in order
This is the sequence Harvard’s guide uses, and it’s the sequence I now tell every client and every family member to follow:
- Name and contact details at the top: full name, phone, email, city and country, LinkedIn URL if it’s tidy. No home address, no date of birth, no marital status.
- Education: institution, degree, graduation date, and relevant coursework or honours if you’re within five years of graduating. After that, education moves down or shrinks.
- Experience: reverse chronological, most recent role first, with company name, your title, dates, and three to five bullets per role.
- Skills: technical and language skills only, listed plainly. No “Microsoft Office” unless the job specifically needs it.
- Additional sections if relevant: publications, certifications, volunteer work, awards. Only include what supports the specific job you’re applying for.
That’s the whole document. No summary paragraph at the top, no “about me,” no hobbies unless a hobby is relevant to the role (rowing for a client-facing sales role at a company whose CEO rows competitively is relevant; stamp collecting rarely is).
The formatting details that people get wrong
This is where most guides get vague, so here are the actual numbers:
- One page. Two pages only if you have ten or more years of directly relevant experience or you’re applying for an academic or research post where publications add length.
- Margins between 0.5 and 1 inch on all sides. Go below 0.5 and it looks cramped; go above 1 inch and you waste space you don’t have.
- Font size 10 to 12 point for body text, 14 to 16 point for your name at the top. Use one font throughout: Calibri, Garamond, Georgia, or Times New Roman. Not Comic Sans, not a script font, not three different fonts because you thought variety looked interesting.
- Consistent formatting across every entry: if one job title is bold, every job title is bold. If dates sit on the right of the line for one role, they sit on the right for all of them.
- Save it as a PDF unless the job posting specifically asks for a Word document, which some applicant tracking systems still require so they can parse the text.
- Bullet points, not paragraphs. Three to five per role, no more. If you’ve got twelve things to say about one job, that job is either your only job or you’re not editing yourself.
How to write a bullet point that does something
The format is nothing without this part, and it’s the part almost nobody teaches. Every bullet follows the same shape: action verb, what you did, the result, ideally with a number attached.
Weak version: “Responsible for managing social media accounts.”
Harvard-style version: “Grew Instagram following from 2,400 to 11,000 in eight months by shifting posting schedule to peak engagement windows, increasing monthly enquiries by 34 percent.”
See the difference. The first tells a hiring manager what your job title implied anyway. The second tells them what you’re capable of producing. If you can’t attach a number, attach a scope: “Managed onboarding for all new hires across a 40-person sales team” still says more than “responsible for onboarding.”
This is also the piece I bring up when I talk about optimising career potential and getting past the ceiling that holds people back: most people don’t get overlooked because they lack achievements, they get overlooked because they never wrote the achievements down in a way anyone could see them. A resume is a marketing document for one product, which is you, and marketing documents that describe features instead of results don’t convert.
What to do if you’re a student or graduate with a thin work history
This is what the Harvard format was designed for, so don’t panic if your “experience” section is short. Fill it honestly with what you have: part-time jobs, society leadership, group projects with a measurable outcome, freelance gigs, volunteering. A university society treasurer who balanced a 15,000 pound budget across a year has more to put on a bullet point than they think.
If your proof of capability lives online rather than in a job history, say so and point to it cleanly, rather than pretending it doesn’t exist. I’ve written before about how students can build a presence on social media that shows real, visible work: a portfolio account, a series of posts that grew an audience, a project documented publicly. That’s evidence a hiring manager can check in thirty seconds, and it does the same job as a client testimonial does for a freelancer. Link to it under your contact details or fold the numbers into a bullet under a “Projects” heading if you don’t have formal work experience to hang it on.
The uncomfortable bit nobody says out loud
Here’s the thing I’ll say plainly that most career sites tiptoe around: the format is not what gets you the interview. I have reviewed hundreds of resumes over the years for people I mentor, and I can tell you the beautifully formatted, perfectly Harvard-compliant document with vague, undercooked bullets loses every time to the slightly rougher one with three specific, quantified achievements. Recruiters told me flat out that they spend an average of six to eight seconds on a first pass, according to a well-known study by Ladders that tracked recruiter eye movement, and in that window they’re scanning for numbers, titles, and company names, not admiring your margins.
So format gets you past the automated filter and stops you looking sloppy. Substance gets you the interview. Plenty of people get this backwards, spend three hours perfecting kerning and alignment, and spend fifteen minutes on the actual content. Flip that ratio. The Harvard format is a container. What you pour into it is the entire point.
A quick checklist before you send it
- One page, one font, consistent formatting throughout
- No objective statement, no photo, no personal details beyond city and contact info
- Reverse chronological experience with three to five results-based bullets per role
- Every bullet starts with an action verb, most end with a number
- Tailored to the specific job, not a generic version blasted to fifty companies
- Saved as a PDF with your name in the file name, not “Resume Final Final 2.pdf”
- Read aloud once before sending. If a sentence makes you cringe, a stranger will feel it too
That’s the whole thing. No trick, no template you need to pay for, just a clean structure and content that earns its place on the page.
I have written more around this on the site: How to Optimize Your Career Potential–and Shatter the Ceiling Holding You Back, How to Promote Students’ Social Media.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Harvard resume style the same as a Harvard CV template?
Not quite. Harvard’s Office of Career Services publishes a resume guide describing the structure and formatting, but there’s no single official template file. Most of the templates online labelled “Harvard style” are third-party recreations of that guide’s advice, so what matters is following the structure (one page, reverse chronological, results-based bullets) rather than hunting for an official document.
Can I use the Harvard resume format if I have more than ten years of experience?
Yes, but expand it to two pages rather than cramming everything onto one. Keep the same principles: consistent formatting, results-based bullets, and older or less relevant roles shortened to one or two lines each so the most recent and most relevant experience gets the most space.
Should I include a summary or objective statement in Harvard style?
No. The Harvard format deliberately leaves out summary statements and objectives because they tend to be vague and repeat what the rest of the resume already shows. Use that space for an extra achievement bullet instead.
What font and margins should I use for a Harvard-style resume?
Use a single simple font such as Calibri, Garamond, or Times New Roman at 10 to 12 point for body text, with margins between 0.5 and 1 inch on all sides. Consistency across every section matters more than which specific font you pick.
Useful references
Related reading: How to Format a Resume in Microsoft Word (The Steps That Get It Read) and How to Pick a Resume Template That Suits a Nursing Career.
