Tailoring Your Résumé for a Peace Corps Application - PC Prep Tips

Sep 13, 2026

Upload by Eliana

Tailoring Your Résumé for a Peace Corps Application explains how Peace Corps reviewers evaluate résumés and how to align content with volunteer openings. Guidance covers customizing résumé language to required and desired skills, keeping the résumé comprehensive (two to three pages), and emphasizing the most relevant experience with targeted bullet points. It recommends adding a first-page Key Qualifications or Relevant Skills section, quantifying hours and impact, listing relevant certifications (including Peace Corps Prep), highlighting language training, and keeping information updated through the application portal.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResumes

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time1 min

AccessFree to download

Tailoring Your Résumé for a Peace Corps Application

Core résumé strategies

What to include and what to avoid

Experiences by sector

Tailoring Your Résumé for a Peace Corps Application Peace Corps personnel read thousands of applications each year, from far more aspiring Volunteers than they can place in the limited number of open positions. Your participation in the Peace Corps Prep program will reflect positively on your desire to serve as a volunteer, and your résumé is the place to highlight that and your other academic, professional, and volunteer experience. Following are tips directly from the Peace Corps that can help you structure your résumé most effectively. • Tailor it. Review the “Required” and “Desired” skills for the volunteer position(s) you’re most interested in, and tailor your résumé content and language to highlight the skills mentioned in the posting. • Be comprehensive. Your Peace Corps résumé can be two to three pages long, and should include all relevant professional, volunteer, and leadership experience from college, before college (if applicable), and since college if you have already graduated. • Emphasize the relevant parts. The longest section of your résumé is not necessarily the job where you worked for the longest time. Add more bullets to the jobs where you gained skills you might use in a Peace Corps assignment, even if you didn’t spend as long in that position as in some others. | Read Me! | | --- | | Your résumé is the most important part of your Peace Corps application!
Spending the time to tailor your résumé to the specific volunteer opening you hope to fill is worth the effort, since this document demonstrates your qualifications in terms of academic, work, and volunteer experience, and serves as a concise way to show that you have what it takes to serve.
In addition to the information in this handout, you should also use the résumé resources available through MSU’s Career Services Network. | 􀂾 Include a “Key Qualifications” or “Relevant Skills” section on the first page of your résumé. This allows the reviewer to see your skill set right away and helps them determine how closely to read the rest of your application package. • Quantify your experiences. Be specific and use numbers to describe your experiences. Include the number of hours you worked/volunteered (e.g., full time, 10 hrs./wk. ), the specific field or category (e.g., after-school English 3rd grade tutoring, organic permaculture farming on a 5-acre field), the number of individuals you supervised or worked with (e.g., one-on-one, supervised a group of 20), their ages, etc. • Include certifications. Be sure to list all certifications, especially ones that are relevant foryour proposed sector. For example, aspiring Education volunteers should be sure to list any TEFL certifications; Health applicants should list first aid and CPR or nurse assistant training; Youth in Development applicants might include lifeguard training or early childhood certification. 􀂾 Include Peace Corps Prep in your list of certifications! • Highlight language training. Indicate what languages you have a background in, how many semesters in college you have taken in each, how many years in high school, and/or your fluency level independent of coursework. If you lived or taught abroad in a foreign language, note that as well. • Keep it updated. If you want to improve your résumé to better highlight your qualifications, or if you gain skills after you apply, simply upload a new version by going to your portalon the Peace Corps application page. From a Peace Corps Recruiter: | Read Me! | | --- | | The four things Peace Corps reviewers are looking for on your résumé are:
• Community service and volunteering
• Leadership experience
• Cross-cultural experience
• Sector-specific skills
It’s easy to see how Peace Corps Prep is helping you track and quantify these important areas so your résumé stands out! | | Include on Your Résumé | | Do NOT Include on Your Résumé | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | • | Positions held (including dates month/

FAQs

How should applicants tailor their Peace Corps résumé?

Applicants should review the posting’s required and desired skills and adjust résumé content and wording to highlight those skills.

What should be included in a Peace Corps résumé section layout?

Include a “Key Qualifications” or “Relevant Skills” section on the first page, a comprehensive set of professional and volunteer experiences, and clearly emphasized bullets that show relevant skills.

What details help résumés stand out to Peace Corps reviewers?

Use quantified impact (hours, scope, supervision, ages), list relevant certifications (including Peace Corps Prep), highlight language training, and keep the résumé updated after gaining new skills.

Sep 13, 2026

Upload by Eliana