Resume Tips for College Students
What do you put on your resume when you’re still in school? This advice can help you make the grade—and get the job.
We have a few resume tips for college students that can make the process less painful than pulling an all-nighter before finals. Whether you’re writing a resume for the first time or updating an existing resume to pursue a job, internship, or other opportunity, heed this advice for graduates and soon-to-be-graduates: Don’t wait. You know you have great skills, work ethic, and potential, but communicating that on paper is easier said than done. Let's get started. (And be sure to check out Monster's grad site for more great info.)
Top Resume Tips for College Students
1. Start With the Right Format
Of the three most common resume formats, a combination resume, works for most college students. Here’s the rundown:
- Chronological: One of the best resume tips for college students with no experience in the workplace is to avoid the traditional chronological format. This format presents a detailed work history, shining a light on lack of experience.
- Functional: College students may be drawn to functional resume formats, which emphasize skills and abilities and downplay chronological work history. This could be a mistake—hiring managers know this format is used by job seekers trying to hide something. Skills are typically provided without context, making the content hard to follow. Functional resumes don’t play nicely with applicant tracking systems.
- Combination or hybrid: This format combines elements of a chronological resume and functional resume and is a smart choice for both traditional and nontraditional students. A combination resume allows you to demonstrate your most marketable qualifications, skills, and abilities, while still documenting professional experience.
Check out Monster's resume for a college student to learn more about proper format and resume sections.
2. Use Two Pages If Needed
One of the most welcome resume tips for college students solves the dreaded how-many-pages-should-it-be mystery. Conventional wisdom says that a college resume should always be one page, but that’s not the case anymore.
If you need more space, that's fine just as long as all of the information is relevant. If you took a nontraditional path—taking a gap year or volunteering abroad after high school, for example—and therefore delayed your enrollment in college, you may need two pages to include all your experiences.
Remember to ask yourself if the information you're hoping to share wouldn't be more appropriate elsewhere, say on your cover letter.
3. Lead With a Qualifications Summary
Incorporate a qualifications summary that articulates your value proposition, essence of your brand, and the main reasons why you should be selected for an interview. Make the value you’d bring to the table very obvious to the person reading your resume. How can your skills help a company achieve its goals?
For the summary to be effective, it’s important to include a clear goal and supporting qualifications. Super-important among resume tips for college students and graduates: If you have more than one possible goal, avoid creating a one-size-fits-all resume that doesn’t speak to hiring managers’ needs. Instead, create distinct resume versions and call out relevant credentials in the summary.
Because your career goal can be woven into the summary, there’s no need for a separate objective section. (Those are pretty much outdated.)
4. Prioritize Education
If you’re a college student with limited job experience, place the education section below your qualifications summary. As you gain experience, move education to the end of your resume.
The core information for the education section includes:
- name of the college or university
- city and state
- degree program
- major or concentration
- anticipated degree date
You can expand the education section to include additional college-related activities. This means
- relevant coursework
- team projects
- internships
- extracurricular activities
- field experience
- volunteer roles
Also include academic honors, scholarships, and other awards. As a general guideline, list your GPA if it’s at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. Include your major GPA if it’s significantly higher than your overall GPA. Label it “Major GPA” so it’s not misleading.
5. Overcome Poor Academics
What if your academic performance leaves something to desired? No worries. Focus on what makes you stand out. If that’s not academics, maybe you've completed amazing internships. Emphasize whatever you consider to be personal highlights.
Besides GPA, employers want to see written communication, problem-solving, teamwork, leadership, and analytical-reasoning skills. These can impress hiring managers just as effectively as good grades.
6. Describe Unrelated Jobs the Right Way
You may have part-time, seasonal, or temporary work experience that seems unrelated to your career goals. When listing unrelated jobs, keep the descriptions of day-to-day responsibilities to a minimum.
For example, if you waited tables to help pay for college but your goal is software engineering, avoid detailing your food-service duties. Instead, describe accomplishments that show leadership, teamwork, drive, and determination. Was your team recognized for achieving high guest-satisfaction scores? Did you win any awards, such as Employee of the Month? Were you entrusted to train or mentor new hires?
For insight into what aspects of the job to include, study job ads or internship announcements. If an ad says that communication skills are important, think about times when your written or verbal communication skills came into play. If you worked in retail or other customer-facing positions, you likely relied on these skills regularly.
Be strategic with your headings. You can move important experiences higher up on the page, like an internship, even if they weren’t the most recent.
7. Get a Free Resume Assessment from Monster
One of the most important resume tips for college students: Use spell check and grammar check, but these tools may not catch all mistakes. Show your resume to a trusted advisor, professor, industry professional, friend and anyone else willing to review your resume before you test drive it. An error-free resume looks more professional and will increase your chances of securing an interview.
Need more guidance? Get a free resume evaluation today from Monster. It's quick and easy and can really help you out. You've got plenty on stuff on your plate without worrying if your resume is in good shape; let the experts at Monster give you a hand.