How to write a shidduch resume
A shidduch resume has one job: to help a shadchan and a family decide whether to look further. It should be accurate, easy to scan, and sound like a real person. Here is how to write one that does that.
Start with the facts people look for first
Readers scan before they read. Put the basics at the top, in the order people expect: name, age, height, city, and where you are holding in learning or work. A reader should know within five seconds whether to keep going.
- Full name, and a Hebrew name if you use one
- Age or date of birth, and height
- Where you live now, and where you grew up
- Current yeshiva, seminary, college or job
- Shul and community
Describe your family plainly
Parents' names, what they do, and where they daven are standard. List siblings in birth order with their age, whether they are married, and (if you like) to whom and where they live. Keep it factual — the family section is for context, not praise.
Education and plans
Name the high school, yeshiva or seminary, and any college or training. Then say, in a line or two, what you are planning: how long you intend to learn, what work you are building towards, where you would like to live. Plans matter more to a reader than a list of institutions.
Write a short paragraph in your own voice
Two to five sentences about who you are and what you are looking for. Concrete beats general: "I learn every morning and spend Sundays hiking with my brothers" says more than "fun, outgoing and growth-oriented". Avoid superlatives; let your references say the nice things.
Choose references who actually know you
Three to six is typical: a rav or rebbe, a teacher or employer, and two or three friends or families who know you well. Ask each one first, confirm the number they want given out, and tell them to expect calls.
Keep it to one page, and keep it current
A resume that runs past a page usually has too much in it. Update it whenever something changes — a new job, a sibling's wedding, a new phone number. An out-of-date resume circulating on WhatsApp is the most common problem families have.
Send a link, not an attachment
Word documents get forwarded, edited and outdated. A private link always shows the latest version, can show different details to different people, and can be taken down the moment you want it to stop working. Keep a PDF handy for the shadchanim who print.