My slight brother is a senior in College this year. If that doesn ' t make me perceive mature enough ( he ' ll be perpetually 6 in my brainpower ), I may have had a mini horror barrage when he asked me to help him with his resume last interval. It may have developed into a full blown hysteria invasion when his long - time betrothed sent me the alike message a age sequential.
The worriment with resumes for recent or nowadays to be graduates, is that all extraordinarily regularly, the recent grad has Taco Bell listed as the most recent administrator, and ' Ultimate Locker ' as the next most recent. With snub to no relevant experience ( teeming kids don ' t even have an internship! ) it can be challenging. Don ' t get me started on the ones who have NEVER had a job or internship.
So back to my brother and his cohort in crime... My brother had NO resume ( which really isn ' t that unusual for his age ). His girlfriend did at least have a resume.
I sent my questionnaire to my brother ( who kindly informed me that ' questionnaire ' is one of the most difficult to spell words he ' s ever encountered ) and told him to fill it out as best he could.
The saving grace for both of these fantastic young people ( seriously, they are, I adore both of them! ) is actually two things. First, they are in a program that is very specific in nature and they are well trained for pretty much any entry level or slightly higher position and two; they both have RELEVANT experience in jobs and / or internships. I cannot express how happy I was to see this.
For all of the rest of the soon - to - be - college graduates out there, I ' ve made a few pointers!
Relevant Experience:
No employer expects you to have a ton of experience. But if you have internships ( paid or unpaid ), summer jobs, part time jobs - anything that you can tie into your career choice, it is a definite bonus! For example, if your degree is in Education and you have experience working in a daycare; or maybe you are an accounting graduate and you worked as a cashier ( you still balanced your drawer, right? ) - Things like this are often overlooked but they can be a treasure trove of ' related ' experience.
As with any resume I write, I encourage recent grads to focus on their achievements at their jobs, not just duties. Make a few bullet points for each job that demonstrate how you stood out from the other employees or made an impact. Did you work at a Summer camp? How many children did you supervise? How many activities did you plan? Quantify and use metrics whenever possible!
Your Skills and Keywords:
Look at some job descriptions of positions you will be applying for. Find the common denominator. Make sure those keywords are included on your resume. This is especially important when applying to larger companies or posting your resume online. The ATS ( applicant tracking software ) selects resumes based on these keywords.
Focus on Your Education
Unless your degree and career field are hand in hand, you may need to focus on transferable skills that you learned.
Awards or achievement lists, such as making the dean ' s list are measures of success in your academic works that give an indication that you are a high - achiever
Point out any really outstanding efforts you might have made in doing research or speaking to external groups or role as a student assistant.
Certifications - Some programs help students get certifications or licenses for certain types of work, so make sure to list these
Key Courses - especially if they contain those oh - so - important keywords
