Resumes for Graduates

As a recent college graduate, you won’t have a lot of job experience. Hopefully you will have done a few externships or internships or had other part-time experience in your field before you graduate, but if you don’t, you will have to play up certain features of your resume while downplaying your lack of experience.

If necessary, you could take a position in your chosen field on a part-time basis as an intern or in a low-paying position in order to get some experience. This experience will be extremely valuable on your resume. If you can’t do this, you will have to emphasize your educations and skills.

Emphasize Your Education

A lot of applicants will have some experience but no degree. If you have a degree in your field, it’s very important to emphasize this as much as possible. Don’t worry about putting your GPA or class position unless it was absolutely stellar, but you should definitely emphasize any extracurricular activities that might have prepared you for the position.

If you are applying for a marketing position and you were in a marketing club in school, this will show the interviewer that you have a passion for the topic and some additional experience outside your educational experience.

Mention Awards and Contests

If you have ever won a contest or award in your field, you should mention this. If you are applying for a position as a writer for a newspaper, and you won a national award for your writing work on your school newspaper, you should definitely emphasize this.

Show a Passion for your Field

If you don’t have experience, you need to show the interviewer that you have a very strong passion for your chosen field. If you can convince the person reviewing your resume that you have a deep love for the field, you will have a major leg up on the competition who may be in the field simply for money.

Resumes and Lack of Education

A lot of positions require or prefer a degree these days. Even positions for while you may be exceedingly qualified for may reject you if you don’t have a degree. Without that piece of paper, you may not even be able to get your foot in the door at many places.

But there are ways to make yourself look especially appealing without actually having a degree. We’re going to look at some ways to pad your resume with true facts that will help you have a better chance of getting an interview, even without a formal education.

1. Take Some Classes

You don’t necessarily have to have a formal degree to have an education worth mentioning. If you don’t have the time or money to get a degree, you can still take some night classes that would look good on a resume. Once you’ve completed these classes, they will help fill up your education section. Remember, only mention classes that are specifically related to the position you are applying for. A class in automotive repair isn’t going to be very helpful if you’re applying for a job as a line cook.

2. List Internships and Volunteer Work

If necessary, you can list volunteer work and internships as education. These types of work experience are very valuable educational experiences, especially if they are in the field you are intending to work in!

3. Get Work Experience

Even if you have to take low-paying jobs for a while, it’s very important to get work experience if you don’t have and education. Don’t just seek employment with any company, but try to get a position with one of the most highly-respected and well-known companies in your field. This kind of experience is absolutely invaluable, especially if you come highly recommended from this employer! A low-level job in one of these titans of industry is better than a higher-level position at a company that is unknown, unless of course the difference in the level of responsibility are very significant.

Some employers are going to be completely inflexible. They will see you don’t have a degree and just automatically throw away your resume without even reading it. This is unavoidable. But some companies will be slightly more flexible if they see other information that impresses them. You just need to do everything you can to emphasize this information so they can see it before they toss your resume in the bin!