Writing a resume is kind of tricky, especially when you are a college student. You might have seen many resumes submitted by other people highlighting their experience, but while you lack that, there are chances it might confuse where to begin, what to include and how to make your resume more appealing. We will cover some resume writing tips for college students so they can curate a professional and organized resume to increase chances of getting shortlisted for a job faster and have a great career ahead.
So for a start, you need to understand what a resume is. A resume is not just a document; it’s a document that allows you to market yourself in the field of your expertise. There is constant competition, and it is extremely important to have a resume that gets you the interview. You need to stand out from a large number of applicants, and only a good resume can do it for you.
In general, it is a summary of your qualifications, your skills and achievements, and other details that will make you stand out from others. It is your first impression of the employer and the only way to get yourself a personal interview.
There are chances that getting yourself a job that you always wanted and the preparation to get it might make you nervous and worried, and so you might miss out on the important details of your resume. So it is important to invest some time compiling your resume by following resume writing tips for college students. But the most important thing to remember here is that while writing a resume, you should never lie. Including false information in your resume can get you into trouble instead of a job. So make sure you never lie about anything in your resume.
Here are your resume writing tips to create a perfect resume for yourself. Let’s get started:
Resume Writing Tips for College Students:
Choose your Format:
Your resume should not just look like a piece of paper with your important details. It should highlight your skills and achievements, and choosing the right format will only help you do that. Usually, there are three kinds of resume formats chronological, functional, and combination. As a college student creating a resume in a functional format will help you highlight your skills, achievements, knowledge, and interest required for the job position you are applying to. This will attract your employer’s attention exactly towards what they are looking for in a candidate. So creating your resume in a functional format is always going to be helpful when you just a beginner in the job search.
Create a Professional Email:
This may sound too obvious, but it is important to know that having an unprofessional email address might make you lose your opportunity. So it is extremely important to have a professional email address. Emails are always going to help you connect with the recruiter, so it will help if you use your full name as your email address.
Mention Relevant Personal Information:
Make sure you add your contact details right while writing a resume, as making a mistake in it might make you lose the opportunity when a recruiter can’t reach you. Also, remember that you don’t need to add details such as birth date, birthplace, marital status, etc.to your resume to make it longer. The employer is concerned more about your professional information, so do not fill up space with such details.
Show Confidence through Words:
The recruiters always try to get a clear picture of you through your resume, so make sure to choose correct articulation, which lets the employer depict your leadership skills, good command over your language, and all the other technical skills required for the job. So use words that show your confidence and self-sufficiency.
Begin with a Career Summary:
Recruiters do not always have a lot of time to go through hundreds of resumes in-depth, so they usually proofread. So having a good career summary initially will attract the employer’s attention and will help you make them go through your resume. Career summary should always include a description of your technical knowledge and what all you have gained during your college study. This will help a recruiter understand your credibility to work for the position they are hiring. Make sure you do not have any grammatical errors that will make them doubt your communication as well as language skills.
Rate your Skills:
This might come new to you, but this is one of the most important resume writing tips. Employers like the resume where an applicant has rated their skills as it helps them know how good you are in a particular skill and how well you know what all is important for the position you are applying for. Even many of the online resume apps have this feature, so make sure to use it as this might make your resume quite different from the rest applicants and get you your dream job.
A Professional Persona:
A professional persona is a two-three line description of yourself. It is a kind of a personal marketing tool to market your skills to attract good employers. Also known as personal branding, this will help you to get the attention of the recruiter, so make sure to create a unique description for yourself. It could be anything you feel is important or your recruiter should know about you and will surely get you a job. So create a self-fulfilling professional persona for yourself. You can even take the help of your friends or family if you can’t find good words to describe yourself accurately.
Add your Achievements and Hobbies:
A recruiter always wants to know things about you related to your field of expertise along with the kind of person you are. So make sure you list your achievements even if you think they are less important or are not relatable to the position you are applying for. It would help if you used action words to describe them to showcase more responsibility. Also, add your hobbies, which actually are your hobbies, because just writing hobbies related to your field of expertise will attract unwanted questions. So always include correct information about yourself. This will help a recruiter understand how you are as a person apart from your knowledge.
Include Links to your Blogs and Personal Websites:
If you have a professional website or a blog, you can add the link to your resume. You can also include your social media accounts like LinkedIn to your professional resume.
Resume Out-Look:
As silly as it sounds, the way your resume looks makes a huge difference. Recruiters hate to read messed up resumes. So make sure your resume is well-structured. Always use a font size around 10 to 12. Having more than that might make it look unprofessional. Apart from that, excessive usage of B, I, and U should also be avoided as it may seem too messed up. To highlight only what is important. Also, make sure to use fonts that are easily readable for the recruiter as they might not put much effort into that. You can choose basic fonts like Calibri, Arial, Verdana, etc.
Proofread:
No matter how careful you have been while writing a resume, you might always make a small mistake, which, if not detected before the employer sees it, can give you unwanted nervousness. So always make sure to read and read and read your resume. Proofread your resume before sending it to your employer and also after sending it. This will help you boost your confidence that you have done your part.
Name your Resume File:
It is extremely important to name your resume file correctly to draw the attention to your resume, or it might just end up in the inbox unread. Include your name along with the post you are applying for as a name for your resume file.
So by following these resume writing tips, you will be able to create a perfect resume for yourself, even if you are just a beginner at it. Make sure to write content according to your job description and highlight strengths and other important aspects you feel employer should know about you. This way, you can leave a lasting impression as a candidate on your employer. If you are still finding it difficult to create a perfect resume for yourself, you can take professional help as well. Stafficial.com offers various resume writing services. So you can check it out and get yourself a good job through your perfect resume.
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