The last four years have been a blast, but now it’s time to take your first steps into the real world and make use of that degree you worked so hard for. You’re excited, right? Of course you are. This is your chance to start a career of your own and, after years of living like a college student, actually earn some real money.
To get the job you want, you need to make a great first impression. In many cases, that first impression will come via your resume. Here are five things you can do to make your resume every bit as amazing as you are.
- Yes, you’re qualified.
HR professionals are too busy these days to dig into a resume just to see if you’re qualified for the job. Instead, you need to prove it to them. Put your qualifications at the top of your resume to help employers determine quickly whether the rest of your resume is worth a read.
- Showcase your education.
You’re proud of the work you did in college, so don’t be afraid to place your degree(s) in the top half of your resume. Many veteran candidates place their education toward the bottom of a resume, but as a student, you don’t have decades of experience to showcase to a potential employer. Your degree may be the only industry-specific experience you have, and employers will certainly value your school experience more than your work as a babysitter, short-order cook or RA.
- Don’t disregard that work experience completely.
Yes, your degree may be more important to potential employers than your work experience, but that doesn’t mean you should bury the latter or neglect to include it. Instead of filling your resume with the finer points of these roles, stress the skills you learned working these jobs or other the other qualities these positions helped you develop. Did you work at the same job for several years? That shows commitment. Did you get promoted or have the opportunity to take on leadership tasks? Make sure your resume reflects that. These learned skills are the things employers want to see when they look at your work history, so highlight them in your resume and save the anecdotes for future office conversations.
- Keep the look professional
Your resume is loaded with essential information highlighting your skills, qualities and experience, so be sure you don’t cheapen it by formatting your resume with a strange, hard-to-read font. Use the same professional fonts you used in your college papers and you can expect employers to treat you professionally as well.
- What would you want to see?
Perhaps someday you’ll be an employer yourself, but for the time being you can improve your chances of landing that first job if you put on the employer’s hat when reading your resume. What about the resume appeals to you? What could you do without? Is the contact information easy to find? Is the resume legible and grammatically correct? Finally, is the resume too long or too short? One page is the recommended length, unless you have something truly amazing that will compel an employer to keep reading the second page. Read through your resume thoroughly and with a critical eye. If it looks good to you, chances are it will look good to potential employers as well.
