Career Advising : Resumes

Your education and/or training section will help an employer see how prepared you are for the job.

Current/Most Recent Institution & Credential - You should include the name of the institution/organization, the title of your credential, the month and year you earned (or expect to earn) your credential, and the city and state of the institution/organization.

Other Colleges or Training Organizations - If you have more than one credential, include these in order (most recent to oldest) using the same format.  If you don't have room on your resume and they are not relevant to the job to which you are applying, these may be omitted.

High School - Unless this is your highest level of formal education, it is okay to leave this off your resume.

Grade Point Average (GPA) - If your GPA is a particular selling point, then it might be good to include.  The standard recommendation is that GPAs above 3.0 are okay to include.  Below that, you may want to omit it as some employers may screen by this criteria.  Your GPA does not necessarily speak to who you are as a worker, so you can decide whether it helps or not.

Relevant Coursework - For recent graduates without a rich history of relevant experience, it may be recommended to include the relevant courses and/or professional development programs completed.

Other Items to Include - If relevant, you can include your honors, scholarships, training workshops, club & organization involvement, etc.

Example:

Important Information About your Contact Information

This may seem very simple and common sense, but here are a few tips when listing your contact information.

What is a Professional Summary?

The professional summary is a brief and compelling story of who you are professionally.  It may be the first thing a recruiter reads, so this should be reviewed and tailored to the job to which you are applying.

Placement - Your professional summary should be at the top of your resume, below your name and contact information.

Length - This should be no more than 3-5 sentences or one paragraph.  A functional resume may be longer if necessary.

Content: - This should include your top key skills relevant to the job, your years of experience, and what you're hoping to find in your next career.

Here are a few sample professional summaries

Don't Assume!

In today's society, it may be easy to assume someone has basic computer and technical skills, however employers will not always be so quick to presume.  So you need to include these skills on your resume!

Technical/Hard skills can be industry specific, so you only need to list relevant skills specific to the career you are seeking.  For example, you may be an expert in a dozen different film editing software programs, but if you are applying for a job that will not require any film editing work, simply listing "Video Editing Experience" would be sufficient.  

Research - Beyond the job listing, review the company and the industry to learn what the typical technical and hard skills are in the field.  You can then be sure to include your matching skills.

Examples

Programming Language - If you are seeking a job in IT or tech, these languages may be desirable: C/C++, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Python, SQL, Ruby, HTML, CSS

Operating Systems: Windows, Mac OX X, Android, Linux

Productivity Software: Google Suite, Microsoft 365, Slack, Zoom, Salesforce, Jira

Applications: MS Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver

Your soft, or personal, skills are also important to include.  These skills help an employer get an insight into who you are as a worker and whether you will be a good fit for their company.  There are a variety of ways to include these: 1) in your professional summary, 2) a soft skills section, 0r 3) you can emphasize these in your cover letter.  

Check out this list of soft skills.

Examples of Soft Skills (there are so many more!):

Like all information on your resume, consider listing certifications and licenses that are relevant to your target job, and certainly note this information if a job description mentions a specific certification or license as “required” or “preferred”.

In general, think about what each of your certifications and licenses is saying to a hiring manager or recruiter, and how it communicates your qualifications and transferrable skills.

For instance, a CompTIA A+ certification proves you have tested IT skills; if you are applying for a Help Desk or other IT Support role, you would add this certification to your resume even if the job description doesn’t ask for it.

Place your certifications and/or licenses on your resume where they will have the most impact. They can be in their own section (“Professional Certifications”, “Licenses”, or “Certifications and “Licenses”), or you can include them in your Education section (renaming the section “Education and Certifications” or "Education, Certifications, and Licenses"). Experienced professionals typically list their certifications and licenses at the bottom of their resumes; if you’re an entry-level candidate, you might consider moving them to the top of the document.

For each certification and license that you list on your resume include:

• Full name of the certification (common abbreviations can be included in parentheses)
• Issuing organization, agency, or state
• Date earned (if in process, put “Expected” or “In Progress” before the month and year of planned completion)
• Location (if applicable)
• Relevant skills  or other additional details (if applicable)

Example

CompTIA A+ Certification
CompTIA.org
Expected May 2023
Relevant Skills: Installing, maintaining, customizing, and operating personal computers