Graduating from College in 2021: How to Build a Stronger Resume
After a year in lockdown, if you're graduating from college soon, you might have missed out on important internships and work experience normally gained in the final summer before graduation. Now you are ready to enter the “real world” but struggle to build your resume. Here are some of the ways to bolster that experience:
Work experience builds transferable skills
While we all want the premier internship, transferable skills can be found in every job. There is always value in hard work.
Did you work as a server in a restaurant? You have learned to excel in a fast-paced, high pressure environment and you possess strong customer service skills.
Babysitter or day care worker? Building relationships, following policies and procedures, ability to teach and lead groups.
If you worked as an office aide or assistant, you should have a sharp attention to detail and gained professional experience.
Whatever your work experience, consider the skills you gained that can be emphasized. Be proud of those skills and hard work. And remember, some of your work experience could have been unpaid—it is still experience.
Education is part of your experience
College was an investment in time and money and should not be diminished. Incorporate into different sections on your resume.
Education: List your college, degree and major at a minimum. Add your minor or concentration if it is related to your goal. If your GPA is at least 3.5, I would generally list it along with any Latin honors or Dean’s List/President’s List achievements.
Courses: When you have the space, list the most relevant courses to your resume. Courses selected should relate to your goal and concentrate on the later years of your education.
Special Projects: You’ve likely completed projects or research which can be summarized in a special project section on your resume. If you have limited work experience, highlight school projects as part of your Professional Experience section.
Special Skills: Your education should have built the relevant skills needed for your career goal. List those skills in a section of Key Skills or Core Competencies.
Community service or volunteer work
Whenever I’m asked if volunteer work should be included, my answer is always “maybe.” It depends on what your volunteer work included, how it relates to your goal and what other work experience you have. Here are a few important questions:
Is the volunteer experience related to your career goal? If you taught Sunday school for years and you plan to become a teacher, it should be included on your resume. If you’re going into accounting, it probably won’t help you.
Was the volunteer experience significant and sustained for a long period of time? Helping at a homeless shelter is commendable but if you did it only one time, it probably shouldn’t be listed.
Does it build a personal brand that is important to your career goal? If you’re interested in working for a Civil Liberties Law Firm, it’s important to show that you are an activist for many causes. For other career goals, that might be a distraction on your resume.
Did you have a leadership role? Closely aligned with the question about significance, leadership skills are always transferable.
Do you have space? Don’t minimize relevant work experience in an effort to highlight unrelated volunteer work. Your resume needs to be keyword focused on the goal. You can always use LinkedIn to expand on community service that will reinforce your personal brand but is not as closely aligned with your career goals.
Social organizations
In most cases this refers to your membership in a sorority or fraternity but could also include other organizations. My clients often insist that their inclusion is important but there are a few important watch points to consider.
No matter what club or organization you are a member of, there will be differing opinions and prejudices. Some people love the Greek system but there are people that have a strong negative reaction to it. The same can be said for groups that are related to religion, politics and even sports.
If you decide to include on your resume, highlight on external impact and transferable skills. For example, if you were president of your sorority, that demonstrates strong leadership skills. Or, focus on the hours of community service that it included.
Need help? I have helped many college students build a strong, single-page resume. Contact me.
