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How to Create a Resume for New Graduates : Creating a Resume that Employers wantJul 09 '04 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line The most important thing to know about creating a resume after college, is that you need to provide something that potential employers want to see. College is supposed to be the last stop that a lot of people make before hitting the real world. It is the place where we hone our skills, learn new ones, and develop an attitude that will carry us in our future jobs. It is a time where we also build confidence in ourselves by having life experiences that will help shape us as people, while at the same determining what we will be good at. Before you even think about writing a resume, it is important to do the research for what filed of work you plan to get involved in post-graduation. Knowledge is power, and I am going to provide some information that will help give you that power. When approaching graduation, it is important to come to the realization that employers are not going to come to you. With so many people in the work-force now, it has become that much more important for people to be able to sell themselves. Selling yourself comes down to how well you can present everything you have done up to a certain point on a small resume. You have to be able to show a company what you can do for them, and not what you have done in college. It becomes important to show not only that your academic success warrants a job, but that the skills you learned will be able to transfer over to this new job. In order to do that, you are going to create a different resume than one you would use to get into college. Beginning Your Resume The most important thing to have on resumes now is a good "goal" that you are hoping to accomplish with your resume. Since it is included on your resume, you want it to be very descriptive, and not limiting of yourself. This includes saying things like "Honors graduate from X college seeking a position in X, Y, or Z." Be specific about what you are looking for, and don't leave it broad and bland so that it gets skipped over when a potential employer is reading it. You may want to develop more than one resume as well, so that when you are applying to jobs in different fields, you are giving them different sets of goals. Summarization : don't be cute, and be straight to the point about what type of job you want. Showing off your educational credentials When you start to get to the "meat" of your resume, it is important to start including things that jump off the page at people reading over it. This is where you list if you were on the deans list, and what your GPA was if it is impressive. I suggest using either your in-major GPA or your overall GPA based on which one is higher. Then give a short list of classes or certifications that you received in courses that pertain to the job you are applying for. Any other honors that you got while attending college fit nicely in this area too, right next to your major and minors. Work Related Experiences Speaking from experience, I have had more jobs than is necessary to fill up this part of a resume. What it comes down to, is showing off those jobs that had skills that will be needed at the place you are applying to. Again the most important thing to do is show-off that you have worked in the field, or that you had an internship that taught you many valuable skills. Listing the job, and a quick blurb about the skills is a sure fire way to show that you have experience necessary for the job. If however, you don't have experience in the field never say that. Use "spin" to you advantage and market your skills from past jobs to fit into your new proposed job. Also talk about benefits that you brought to the workplace, and reasons that you were a valuable employee. Responsibility is a key ingredient in describing your jobs, and the more people that you were in charge of the better off it will look on a resume. Time for some Spice No matter what industry that you are going into, there are specific words or phrases that are important to show your potential employers that you are aware of. Strategically using terms in your resume is a great way to grab the attention of your reader, and to make sure that you impress them with knowledge that you possess in the field. If you draw a blank, check out the requirements for the position, and there will always be a few words in there that jump out at you. Re-use those words, and it will not only show that you were paying attention to what the employer was asking for, but you will be speaking their "lingo" without ever meeting face-to-face. Another hint is that you can simply go on to the Internet, and look up job duties for a specific profession. If you are able to put stuff like that into your resume it gets you extra points. Skills Section More and more, employers are looking for people that have a specific skill set when they are looking for new employees. Depending on the field, it could be anything from having a high level of WPM (words typed per minute) or being an expert at fixing computers. Everyone has there own skills, or what they are really good at, and if you can provide more selling points for yourself on the resume, this is a great place for them to fall under. Make them be specific to the job you are applying for, but by attaching a few additional ones, you can help show that you are a very well rounded person. No longer will you be asked to provide an answer to "what are your hobbies", because you are now applying for a real-world job. References One of the most underrated parts of a job resumes is the reference section. What this is, is a part of your resume where you can have former employers "gush" about what a great worker you have been, and how you were extremely important to have around. Getting letters from respected individuals in the community can go a long way towards getting a position. In these letters buzzwords like "teamwork" or "invaluable" are great selling points, because it can round out your personality to your potential employer. One tip for these, is that if you had great attendance or worked a lot of overtime, is to have that person work it into their recommendation letter for you. Hopefully this was helpful in pointing the direction that you should take when creating a new resume fresh out of college. When you have written one up, take a step back and think to yourself "If I read this, would I hire this person?" Also, have a friend, or someone you respect look it over, and give you suggestions on things that you can add or things that need to be taken off. Remember that a resume is something that is always changing, and that with life-experience comes different things that can be put on your resume.  |
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