SecondPen.aiTemplates · Careers & job search
Reverse-chronological résumé (Harvard OCS) template
For any application where the recent record is the strongest case. Origin: The one-page format taught by Harvard's Office of Career Services and most university career centers; the default American résumé for early and mid-career candidates.
Sections
- Header (name, city, phone, email, LinkedIn)
- Education
- Experience (most recent first)
- Leadership & activities
- Skills & interests
How a tough reader scores it
When you score a draft against this format, the Critic evaluates this résumé. The weights add up to 100; the fixes for the weakest criteria arrive as cards in the editor.
| Criterion | Weight |
|---|---|
| Fits one page with consistent formatting and dates | 10 |
| Every bullet starts with a strong action verb and states a result | 25 |
| Results are quantified where a number exists | 20 |
| Most relevant experience is easiest to find in a six-second scan | 15 |
| Free of clichés, pronouns, objective statements and filler | 10 |
| Skills listed are specific and verifiable, not adjectives | 10 |
| Tailored to the target role, with its keywords present naturally | 10 |
How it works in SecondPen.ai
Open the template and the editor writes the blank once, with a line of guidance under each heading that you delete as you fill it in. Write your abstract and the editor names the format it reads like. Ask for a document with a slash command and it offers to start from the matching format. When the draft is ready, the Critic scores it against the criteria above, the way this format's toughest reader would, and the three highest-leverage fixes become Editor cards.
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