You have a great idea for a business plan. You have a solid idea of how to execute the plan. You have even created some catchy elevator pitches and are using them in your social media platforms (if you’re on social media). Now you just need a way to put it all on your resume. How can you, a business-savvy college student, put your best foot forward in your job search?
You can start by including your accomplishments and details regarding your education in your resume. After that, you can include short anecdotes about your work experience. Your goal is to ensure that your resume shows that you are a well-rounded and capable professional who is eager to jump into any opportunity that may present itself. You want to leave your resume-writing resume-scrapping friends in the dust with your impressive collection of clips!
Since you’re already a pro at creating compelling copy, you can take this skill and use it to write your resume.
The Basics
When crafting your resume, you need to start by asking yourself some essential questions.
What am I trying to achieve? What unique skills can I offer the world?
Where do I want to work? What are my top choices?
How many versions of my resume do I need to send out?
When should I send out my resume?
What should I include in my resume to get the most out of it?
The answers to these questions will dictate the form and content of your resume. Start by re-framing your questions and going through the answers step by step.
The Accomplishments
Your resume should start by listing your academic achievements. What are your degrees and certifications?
What was your GPA in college?
Did you get a lot of work experience in your school?
What kinds of jobs did you do while studying?
Did you get any extra-curricular experiences?
What kinds of projects did you work on in your studies?
Did you participate in any extracurricular activities?
Your resume should be a collection of your most significant and relevant accomplishments. This is why your academic studies are the backbone of your resume. Make sure that your achievements are clearly relevant to the job you’re applying for. If possible, relate your achievements to the unique skills you have developed.
The best way to get the most out of your resume is by including only your most significant accomplishments. You can use an experience-based resume or a degree-based resume. Which one you need will depend on the specific job you’re applying for.
The Education
Your resume should then move on to your education. What are your degrees and certifications?
What was your GPA in college?
How many years of experience do you have?
Did you graduate in the top of your class?
Are you a real-life superhero or villain?
If you’re asking yourself these questions, you’re probably writing your resume wrong. Your resume doesn’t need to include every little bit of information about your studies. You have a limited space on your resume, and you need to make the most of it. Keep your resume concise and to the point. Remember, your resume is only going to be glanced at, so make sure that you’ve got everything essential.
The Experience
Moving on to your experience, your resume should then give a detailed account of your work-related activities. What are your work stories?
Start by describing a time when you successfully implemented an idea you had. Tell the story of how you came up with the idea and how you executed it. Give specific details about the people you worked with and what you accomplished.
You can also use this section to list any project or app that you’ve worked on. This will be beneficial in showing that you’re a versatile and competent professional who can take on any task.
The Skills
Your resume should then move on to your skills. This is were you can list all the technical and professional skills you have. Programming skills, for example, would go here. So would marketing abilities or the skills you used to manage your personal finances.
What are your professional affiliations? Don’t just list your degrees, you need to have a look at what skills you’ve developed over the years.
What skills do I need to be successful in this job?
What is my unique value to the company?
Did you develop any advanced skills during your studies?
What are my weaknesses? Can I get help with improving my weaknesses?
What makes me different from other applicants?
Your resume should then conclude with a short section on your skills. You can use this space to develop a list of your unique skills. As you read the questions above, you can see that they all relate to your specific skillset. So use this space to highlight the skills that set you apart from other applicants.
Your resume should only include your most significant and relevant skills. If possible, relate your skills to the unique values you provide to the company. For example, if you’re applying for a job at Google where you’ll be doing software engineering, make sure that you include your proficiency in coding in your resume.
The Career Goals
Finally, you can use the last part of your resume to list your career goals. What do you want to achieve in the next few years of your life?
What are your long-term goals?
Do you have a specific job in mind that you’d like to aim for?
What is your desired work environment?
Do you see yourself as a manager or an individual contributor?
If you’re looking for a specific job, make sure that you tailor your resume to match the job you’re applying for. You don’t need to include every single detail about your desired job, but you do need to include the most vital information. This way, when a hiring manager lands on your resume, they’ll know exactly what you’re aiming for.
Make sure that your resume is no longer than two pages and always double-sided. It’s best to have an employer contact you directly if they have any questions about your resume. You can also find out more about resume guidelines and best practices at resumeguild.com. And if you haven’t already, consider taking a look at resume expert Holly Elson’s guide to creating a winning resume.