How To List Honors On Your Resume
Your resume should give hiring managers an overview of your education and experience. Including your educational honors can be a great way to demonstrate your high achievements. Make sure you appropriately include your academic honors on your resume for hiring managers to notice them.
In this article, we will tell you when to list honors on your resume, how to do it and provide an example.
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Why Write An Honors And Activities Section
- To customize your résumé for specific positions
- To provide evidence of your qualifications
- To demonstrate that your work has been recognized as of a high quality by others
- To provide evidence that you are a well-rounded person
- To stand out and show how unique of an individual you are
- To reflect your values and commitment
Should I Include High School Achievements On My Resume
When deciding on listing high school accomplishments on your resume, a good rule to follow is the one discussed in our education blog. When you have enough work experience or graduated from college, no longer list high school or any type of awards associated with it.
For those still in high school or college or who have recently graduated and lack skills and experience include them. It shows a prospective hiring manager you garnered high school awards to back up skills.
Academic Achievement Examples
Certain industries place more of an emphasis on academic endeavors. Good examples include the legal profession and academia.Those seeking attorney positions may want to consider two subheaders for each degree to include honors and activities. This format is helpful for entry-level attorneys, those that recently graduated law school or students pursuing JDs with pending graduation dates.Consider the following examples:Yale Law School, JD, Dec. 2019Yale Law School, JD Candidate Jan. 20202Yale University, BA in Political Science, May 2016Now, take that a couple of steps further to include honors related to academic achievements.Under each school, list activities and honors beyond items related to GPA. See how using subheaders work under each degree:Yale Law School JD Dec. 2019ActivitiesYale Daily News, Editor in ChiefYale Women In Business
Honors and Awards Resume Examples
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What Is An Accomplishment
Accomplishments are relevant honors, achievements or awards that you earned for exceeding average standards in either academics, athletics, or in a work environment. Some examples of accomplishments are:
- Work related awards
- Promotions to leadership positions in your job
- Volunteer related awards
As you can see, the key is to provide an admissions director with relevant academic honors and achievements that highlight your particular background. Be sure to include other honors and awards as you see fit.
You Were On The Deans List Consistently
Include Deans list on your resume if you made the list regularly. Making the Deans list for many semesters throughout your college career demonstrates a strong, consistent work ethic, as well as academic ability.
If, on the other hand, you only made the list a couple of times, you shouldnt include it on your resume.
While making Deans list is an achievement, including it when you only made the list once or twice makes you appear inconsistent.
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Read The Job Description
Carefully reading the job description for the position you are applying for can help you determine the specific information the employer is looking for in qualified candidates. Employers will sometimes specifically ask for candidates who achieved honors during their academic careers. This information can be found under the educational requirements for qualified candidates.
How To Format Latin Honors
As a rule, Latin phrases should be listed using lower case letters unless theyre at the start of a sentence. The Chicago Manual of Style and The Modern Language Association Style Manual both suggest italicizing non-English words in a resume. Theres no need to offer additional explanations of what the honors mean since employers who are interested in knowing about them will understand the academic language. If you want to be specific, you can include your GPA if you’ve graduated recently, but this isn’t required unless your potential employer requests that. Once you’re more experienced in your career, you should probably leave your GPA off as it can date your resume.
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When To List Honors On Your Resume
Not every resume should have academic honors listed. Generally, listing academic honors is best for those job seekers right out of school with very little work experience. Academic honors demonstrate the applicant’s intelligence, hard work and commitment to education. Since those new to the workforce do not have the job experience to demonstrate their skills and qualifications, academic honors can be used to determine a candidate’s qualifications instead.
Job seekers who have several years of work experience do not need to list academic honors separately on their resumes. There is a way to list graduation honors like cum laude without taking space away from work experience. Generally speaking, however, hiring managers will be more interested in your work experience at this stage in your career than your academics achievements from your time in college.
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How To List Honors On Resume
When listing an achievement, think of how a list of college awards and honors or high school ones if needed provide the big picture for your academic summary.
You include:
- The school or accrediting body that granted it.
- Date received if applicable.
- If listing multiple ones, just like with licenses and certifications, list them in reverse chronological order.
As we discussed in our education blog, many colleges and universities use the Latin terms to denote with honor. To document you graduated with honors, follow your schools guideline.
The Latin distinctions are as follows:
- Summa cum laude the highest level students maintained a 4.0 GPA or higher.
- Magna cum laude the distinction for graduates with a GPA ranging from 3.8 to 3.9.
- Cum laude graduates who had a GPA of 3.5 to 3.7.
Pro Tip:
If you have multiple honors, prioritize based on the industry and/or job posting. You want them to stand out. If you list too many, the reader may not focus on the most relevant activities or honors.
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Where To Put Honors On Your Resume
Include your honors alongside your education. That might look something like this:
If you have additional academic activities, list those as part of that section, too. For example:
As you move along in your career, feel free to continue to include your honors as part of your educational information. You might, however, reconsider listing the years you went to college since age discrimination is a very real challenge in some industries.
Magna Cum Laude And Other Latin Honors In A Nutshell
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Make sure to italicize your Latin honors distinction, and keep it lowercase.
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Place it under the honors and awards section of your resume or just beneath your degree in the education section of your resume.
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Honors such as Deans List may seem redundant if you also graduated with Greek or Latin honors.
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Why Include Honors And Awards On A Resume
Should I include awards on my resume? The simple answer is yes, if you have the space on your resume and the achievements are relevant to your professional profile and the job offer, then it is perfectly acceptable and often recommended to list your accomplishments, including any awards and honors, on your resume.
To understand the importance of adding awards to a resume, its key to remember that hiring managers receive dozens if not hundreds of resumes for potentially just one vacancy, which means the successful candidate needs to find a way of making their resume stand out! An Honors and Awards section is just the way to do that.
Whether youre just graduated high school or youve been working in the industry for many years, being awarded or honored for your work or academic excellence is always an impressive accomplishment that should be highlighted when youre applying for a new position.Dont hold back if you have various awards in a certain field or youve achieved something special in a previously-held position similar to the vacancy. Humility has no place on your resume!
Where List Honors And Awards
If content will be limited to community awards or academic honors from outdated college days, position the section toward the bottom of the resume. On the other hand, if you were the number one sales representative in the nation or received a prestigious, well-recognized professional honor, bump the category into prime shelf space near the top of the page.
Remember the single-item list rule: if your award list suffers from only one item, weave it into a Qualifications Summary, the Experience section or an Education section, always if the award is section-related.
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If Youre A Recent College Grad
If youre a fairly recent graduate, you might prefer to list your education and honors toward the top of your resume since theyre a major feature of your experience thus far. Companies who hire people at the beginning of their careers understand that youve been in school for the past few years, and theyll expect to see your education listed prominently. Bump it up to the top of your resume as you start looking for your first job out of school.
Examples With A Simplified Education Section
If you would rather include honors and activities in a separate section, you can trim down your education section.
- The University of Texas at Austin | May 2013
B.S. in Public Policy, graduated with High Honors
- West Virginia University | December 2016
B.S. in Animal and Nutritional Science, summa cum laude
- The University of North Carolina | August 2015
B.A. with Distinction in Anthropology
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In An Education Section:
Bachelor of Arts in Communication | University of Virginia | Charlottesville, VAExpected Graduation: Spring 2021
- Deans List, Spring 2019Fall 2021
- Jefferson Award, 20172021: Four-year full-tuition scholarship awarded for academic excellence in high school.
- 2021 Cavalier Speakers Award: Awarded by university faculty to the best speech given by a senior communications student based on both content and delivery.
Tailoring For Your Audience
The activities and honors section of the résumé is a great place to tailor it for specific positions, companies, and organizations. This section can become customized for specific positions since you will probably not include all of your activities and honors but only those that make your résumé stronger. To tailor this section for your audience, you should apply the same principles that you used in tailoring the experience section of your résumé.
You should:
For more information, please see the Interactive Résumé.
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Is An Honors Diploma Worth It
Does an honors diploma improve your college application? The general answer is no. You can include a mention on your application that you are an honors diploma candidate or on target to earn a specific diploma, but whether or not you receive an honors diploma will not really be a consideration to colleges.
What Is Not Considered An Accomplishment
Doing your work is not an accomplishment. Showing up on time, being friendly, not taking too many smoke breaks, graduating from high school or college are not accomplishments.
In short, everything that is not measured by an organization resulting in an award, honorable mention, certificate, or scholarship.
Yes, these are all great qualities and habits, but its not anything extraordinary or directly connected to the work position you want to apply for.
Listing things like this in your resume as accomplishments will show the recruiters that you expect to be rewarded for doing your everyday responsibilities.
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Kicks Two Cents: Awards And Achievements Piece Of Advice
- Keep it short. Avoid writing long paragraphs and use bullet points instead.
- Prioritize. If you decide to designate an entire section to your achievements, think about which accomplishments are the most significant. Would you be impressed by it if you were a hiring manager?
- Avoid controversy. Some awards and achievements may be too personal or controversial. Avoid listing any political or religious accomplishments.
- Dont exaggerate. Avoid making something up. You might be asked about your award and accomplishments in your job interview. Or they might contact your references. Lying or exaggerating can cost you a job.
- Mention your biggest accomplishments in your resume summary. If youre a seasoned professional with many notable achievements, they deserve to be placed on the top of your resume. A resume summary is the first thing hiring managers read. Impress them from the get-go.
Sports Achievements On A Resume
As we mentioned previously, the most important rule is to include awards relevant to your dream career. Meaning that sports awards are only needed if youre applying for a sports position.
Still, it could also be useful to show commitment. For example, if you were a full-time student-athlete. Juggling those great responsibilities and having good grades is an outstanding achievement that you shouldnt skip.
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Awards On Resume: How To List Them On Your Resume
Do you want to stand out and impress any potential employer?
So what better way to do it than letting them know how amazingly talented and full of accomplishments you are?
Sounds great, but its important to know that there is a fine line between bragging about your achievements and simply listing them to make others aware.
In this article, we will show you what can be considered as an achievement, which awards are appropriate, and generally how to show yourself in the best possible light.
And if youre eager to see our techniques in action, check out these resume examples and see how professionals like you have implemented their awards and accomplishments without being too braggy about it!
What Is Cum Laude
Cum laude is a distinction given to students when they graduate to recognize their hard work and achievement level during their college careers. This recognition is Latin for with honor or with praise and is one of the three Latin honors distinctions available. The other Latin honors recognitions include summa cum laude and magna cum laude. Each university or college varies in its requirements to receive academic honors, but most academic institutions require a certain grade-point average, credit hours completed, and class rank at the completion of the individuals college career.
When a student receives the cum laude distinction, it is usually presented during their graduation ceremony. The distinction will also appear on their college diploma, and some universities and colleges give students an insignia to wear during the ceremony as further recognition.
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How To List Awards And Achievements On A Resume
Either distribute them across other parts of your resume or put them in a dedicated section.
How to list awards on a resume?
First, can you mention them as as part of your education or employment history? Scholarships can be included under the education summary. Awards you received an award for something you did as a part of your job, include it under employment history. But if you were awarded for doing something outside of the usual scope of your work, however, display it proudly in your awards section.
- Always include a date of recognition. Let an employer know you still have all the skills that earned you the prize.
- Include the purpose of awards and accomplishment they recognize. For example: * Significance.Are you the only one who received it? What did you have to do to accomplish it?
- Scope of the award. Was it a regional award? National? Or even international? Be specific.
How to list achievements on a resume?
Listing your achievements on a resume is always a very effective way of catching employers attention. They can be divided into personal and professional achievements.
Personal achievements include high grades in studies, won competitions, volunteering, or participating in sport events.
Professional achievements include increasing job performance, saving the company money, facilitating its growth, or exceeding work targets.
This is how you cna include them in your resume:
How Should You List Awards On Your Resume
Once you know which awards to add to your resume, you can decide where and how to list them. As you consider your options, think about how important the award is to selling yourself as a candidate for the job youre applying for. You always want to make sure the most important information on your resume is easy to spot and understand by someone quickly scanning your resume.
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