A well-written resume shows a company why they should hire you. Now, with a steadily increasing demand for qualified professionals, it is important for students to have examples of resumes that showcase their skills and education. The best way to do this is by using a resume writing guide.
A resume is essentially an outline of your career activities and achievements that support your core competencies and demonstrate your readiness for the next step in your career. It can be challenging to put together a perfect resume, which is probably why most people end up sharing formatting tips rather than professional advice when it comes to writing the perfect resume. However, with the right information, inspiration, and tools at hand, writing a resume shouldn’t be so intimidating anymore.
EZResume is here with this helpful guide that will help you write an effective resume by providing you with some useful tips and examples on how to create one that highlights your strengths and core competencies.
How to Write a College Resume
The main factor that distinguishes student or recent graduate resumes from the majority of others is typically their lack of work experience. However, one can still create a powerful professional college profile to amaze everyone!
A college student’s Resume should traditionally be arranged to include the sections below:
- Resume header
- Summary/Objective
- Education
- Employment history (or experience section)
- Skills section
Now that we know the components that go into a resume, let’s see what format one should pick while making it.
Choose the Best Format for Your Resume
There is no set of guidelines when it comes to creating a good resume for college students. You have to write it like you would write any other resume. However, the formatting of the document has to change to accommodate the fact that you’re applying to college. You have to make your resume more formal and professional and make it sound more serious. This is why the best resume format for college students is the Chronological format.
It is the most popular resume format created to be a simple and straightforward way for job seekers to arrange their experience and qualifications, starting from the most recent to the earliest. However, for college students or recent graduates without any work experience, integrating their education and internship experience in the same format is just as effective.
How Long Should a College Resume Be?
A college resume should be one to two pages long and highlight your education and achievements, particularly those from your high school/college years. A good resume length for a student fresh out of high school/college is a single-page format page with an additional page added if absolutely necessary, even if you have a lengthy history of employment and experience.
Use a College Student Resume Template
The time-saving way to make your resume look professional is to use a resume template, free or not. There are tons of resume templates on the internet, thanks to high-quality resume builders like EZResume. They’re all created to help you write your resume in the best possible way.
This means you don’t have to go through the process of learning how to do it. You just go through the template and format your own resume in seconds.
Start by Including the Main Sections
The key elements in a college student resume are:
- Personal Information
- Summary & Objective
- Education
- Skills
- Work/internship details
- Volunteer Experience
- Extracurricular Activities
Also, you can add these optional sections:
- Personal Projects
- Awards & Certification
- Licenses
- Languages
- Interests & Hobbies
The question is, though, what should you include in each of these sections? Find out by reading on Create your own Resume Template
Write a Summary or Objective
The first thing you have to include in your resume after your personal information is a summary or an objective. This is what you should write on the other side of your name and educational information. Your objective should be the thing that employers are going to be reading when they look at your resume. It’s the part of your application that’s going to get you noticed the most.
Example:
A gifted marketing graduate with knowledge in courses related to sales and marketing. Eager to learn and passionate about maximizing revenue through successful marketing initiatives. Technical skills include hands-on experience in WordPress, Facebook Ads Manager, Photoshop, ClickFunnels, etc.
List your Education Correctly
You have to make sure that you list your education and course programs correctly. We all make this mistake on our own resumes, and it’s one of the easiest things for others to notice.
Whether you’re writing a college sophomore resume or a college graduate resume, the education section is essential to include. In this section, you have to simply enter your in-progress degree information in the following format:
- Degree/Major
- University Name
- Expected Graduation Year
- GPA, Honours, Courses, etc.
Example:
Majoring in Marketing
XXXX University
2020 – Present
Relevant Courses: Managerial Communications, Principles of Marketing, Quantitative Methods, and Macroeconomics.
Ensure Your College Student Work Experience Stands Out
With so many people competing for jobs and few jobs available, it is hard to find a suitable job these days.
In light of this, if you have relevant experience, such as an internship, add a work history section that will set you apart from the competition.
Here’s an example of how you write work experience for an internship:
Finance & Accounting Intern
January 2018–December 2018
(Location)
Responsibilities
- Helped with account analysis, executing purchase orders, and bank reconciliations.
- Archived bank reconciliation records and cash receipts.
- Collected and examined worldwide market intelligence and data.
Top 10 Skills to Add to a College Resume
Now, let’s talk about your skills. How do you make your skills stand out on your resume? There is more than one way to go about this. First, you can go through your work experience and highlight the skills that you developed while you were working. This gives the admissions reader an insight into your work ethic and how you applied your skills in a professional environment.
Here are the most common skills you can include:
- Technical Skills
- Verbal & Nonverbal Communication Skills
- Leadership Skills
- Decision-making Abilities
- Creative Thinking Skills
- Active Listening Skills
- Problem-solving Skills
- Time Management Skills
- Logical & Analytical Skills
- Critical Thinking Skills
Other Elements You Could Include
By adding a few additional college resume sections, one may stand out. Great options for additional parts on a college resume include the following:
Certifications
Many employers value certificates over degrees, especially in specialized professions. Include any appropriate certificates, like the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) for the finance industry or the ServSafe Food Handler Certification for those working in the food service industry.
Volunteer Experience
Volunteer work is usually a plus on a Resume, particularly if you lack any professional experience. But only include relevant voluntary work experience.
Language Skills
A college student’s resume will stand out easily if you are fluent in another language. Utilize a defined proficiency scale to demonstrate your knowledge to employers.
Hobbies & Interests
When you list your interests and hobbies on your college resume, you demonstrate soft skills like leadership and teamwork. In the same way, extracurricular activities you participated in as a student are also important.
Professional Portfolio
In the resume contact information section, add the URL to your portfolio. A portfolio is a fantastic way to provide specific examples of your work and a bonus for your college resume to stand out.
Projects
Your resume can gain more strength if you add projects as a separate category or as a part of your work experience section. If it is relevant, it is included on the resume. Do not include this experience on your resume if it is unrelated.
Licenses, publications, seminars, awards, and other sections can also be added to a resume for college students. Pick the ones that will help you get to the job interview.
Conclusion
There’s no doubt that getting accepted to a college is hard enough as it is, but when you’re applying to underrepresented groups, it’s even more difficult to stand out from the crowd. No matter what kind of technical background you come from, you can use these tips and strategies to create a strong college resume that will help you succeed in getting your dream job.
If you’re looking for jobs after you’re done with your resume, make sure to check out our easy-to-use job portal, EZJobs. This platform is where you can find thousands of job openings to apply to every day.