What Are Continuing Education Classes
Simply put, continuing education classes are any kind of courses you can take in your adulthood, outside the formal education system.
A continuing education section on your resume may include:
- Seminars
- Any means of learning new skills relevant to a job.
Unlike student classes, continuing education classes focus deeply on specific topics. Often they teach skills that cant be found in the formal education system and greatly augment your degree and major.
Typically, you would also find a measurement unit for these continuing education classes:
- CEU – Continuing Education Unit
- CEC – Continuing Education Credits
In most cases, these classes are completed voluntarily and are just a nice-to-have on your resume. However, some professionals are obligated to go through continuing education courses every once in a while. Thats because some professions require professional licenses and certifications that need to be renewed.
Give Your Resume A Professional Upgrade
Whether you are still in college or graduated years ago, your resume should give the big picture of your professional background and position you well for the job. If youre not happy with the way your resume looks or it doesnt bring results, its time to seek expert help. The writing wizards from Resumeperk.com can prepare an impressive paper for you, focusing the recruiters attention on the strengths rather than shortcomings. We only work with in-house American or British writers and ensure your satisfaction with a written resume.
Where To Include An Education Section On Your Resume
The most common place to include an educational section on your resume is directly below your work experience details. This placement provides an organized and concise flow for the hiring manager or recruiter. Depending on the company and position, modify your resume to suit their requirements. Alternatively, you can include a comment in your summary section highlighting a specific training or academic qualification to stand out from other candidates. Depending on your unique situation, there are two additional things to consider:
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What Interviewers Want To See In Your Resumes Education Section
The information each hiring manager looks for in your resume education section depends on the job requirements. Recruiters hiring for an entry-level position might look for the course you studied in college or type of degree. An employer interviewing for a managerial role in a finance company might want to see a business school degree or industry-specific certifications.
The requirements or education section of a job description will provide the academic qualifications for the role. Read the section carefully to ensure your credentials are a good fit for the job.
Be honest with the academic qualifications you include on your resume. It is easy for interviewers to confirm the information you provide. You can leave off information that does not support your chances of getting an interview.
Keep It Relative To The Job Position
You want your resume to present you in the best possible light. If you include anything irrelevant on your resume, it starts working against you. So make sure that whatever you list is relevant to the job position you are applying for.
If one of your continuing education courses is more relevant than all the rest that also have relevance to the job position, make sure you list that one first.
Otherwise, you need to use reverse-chronological order for them, like you would for the job position in your work experience section.
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How To List Education On A Resume For An Unfinished Degree
- If you did not graduate high school, write the name of your school and the years you attended as Attended school from 2013 – 2015
- If you did not finish a college or university level degree, write the credits you managed to get as Completed 63 credits toward MA in Physics
Awards, publications, and training
- If you want to show off your skills and achievements, add honors, awards, training, certifications, licenses, extracurricular activities you did during high school.
- Pick activities that illustrate the keyword skills listed
- Mention all the honors programs like graduated with Spanish honors , if any
- Acceptance into campus, national, or international honors societies
- List your publications under your degree
- Include a coursework description, add classes that are relevant to the job profile.
- A course of study that has a particular skillset
- List your recent extracurricular roles/ positions of responsibility
- Avoid adding controversial activities
Listing Education At The End
Is it ever appropriate to list your education at the end of a resume? Absolutely. For job postings that list no education requirements, instead citing specific skill sets or experiences as crucial , education can certainly appear at the end of the resume.
When a job posting is focused on required skill sets, include a Summary of Qualifications after the heading. There, you can list relevant skills and experiences. Our article The Importance of Resume Action Verbs will show you how to enhance your list of skills.
We also recommend placing your resume education section last when applying for a part-time job or a job unrelated to your degree. If youre seeking a part-time job in the service industry or retail sales, a degree is generally not required. For this reason, you can place your education last in such instances.
Likewise, lets say you have the required skills for a job, but your degree isnt one of the degrees listed under preferred qualifications. In this case, placing education at the end could help lessen the impact of your degree not being a perfect fit for the job. By the time employers reach your education section, theyll already have read about all of your other excellent qualifications.
Another scenario is if you have a graduate degree and are seeking a part-time job in sales or retail to pay the bills. Similarly, perhaps youve been laid off or fired and are looking for fast work outside of your field.
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Listing Education On Resumes
What about those unique educational situations that are outside of the sections mentioned above? As you can see, listing education on a resume isn’t so straightforward.
Unfinished programs – Special programs, even when finished, may not need to be specifically mentioned however, if you are close to completing a program at a good school that is relevant to the position you are applying for, then add it to your resume education.
High school-related activities – Everyone needs to start somewhere. Unfortunately, it can be hard to fill out a resume when you have little or no work experience but don’t worry! You still have the chance to display what you have to offer with any relevant coursework, extra-curricular activities, or hobbies that demonstrate your work ethic and areas of interest on the education section of your resume.
Certifications – Certifications are a great way to show that you go above and beyond to achieve something your school or current employer doesn’t mandate. Remember to not use any jargon or abbreviations that your prospective employer may not understand.
Workshops – It is best to include workshops only if they are directly related to the functions required by a prospective employer. For example, having completed a two-day behavior management workshop would be worth mentioning if you are going for a teacher’s job, but not necessarily if you are hoping to work in a restaurant kitchen.
What If Your Degree Is Not Related To Your Job
I know someone who graduated with a degree in design that is nowworking as a life insurance agent, and I know a nursing graduate who worked inIT for years, before becoming a real estate agent. This happens more than youknow, so you shouldnt let this stop you from chasing after your dream job.
Below are two ways to downplay the lack of formal education inyour target job:
- List the relevant coursework in your degree.Lets say you have a Psychology degree, but want a job in marketing. If youtook units in social psychology, communications, grammar, and business, thosesubjects show you have the knowledge required for the job.
- List professional courses or ongoing trainingyou took to compensate for your lack of formal schooling on the subject.
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Take Time To Edit And Proofread
Carefully edit and proofread your resume before you submit it. A resume that’s grammatically correct will make you look more professional and appealing than a resume filled with typos. While both Microsoft Word and Google Docs do a decent job of detecting technical errors, other tools, such as Grammarly, are better at catching minute grammar mistakes.
After you’ve cleaned up your resume, slowly read it over to look for any awkward phrases, inconsistencies, ambiguous descriptions, or poor word choice and tweak as needed.
How To Write An Education Section
Here’s a quick guide on how to write a resume education section:
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Use What You’ve Learned To Your Advantage Learn How And Where To Include Your Education On Your Resume
Include your education background on your resume.
Your resume education section seems like it should be the easiest thing to writejust list your school, program of study, degree, and date, and youre done. However, its not so straightforward for many job seekers. Unsure about the best way to present your education? On resume templates, youll find a few ways to best display your credentials. We laid out some common scenarios, examples, and strategies below to help you determine the best way to look smart.
Resume Education Section Format
Many ATS parse the information from an applicants resume into a digital applicant profile. If your education is formatted incorrectly theres a very good chance that information will be parsed incorrectly or left out altogether.
Typically, the degree is listed before the school, but if you went to an impressive, Ivy League university, leading with the name of the school cant hurt.
Remember, a solid education section will include the name of the school, the degree earned , location of the school, and the date of graduation. For example:
Bachelor of Arts: Theater, Shakespearean, 2016Columbia College, Chicago, IL
Masters of Business Administration, 2014University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
You can add societies, activities or relevant coursework if it makes sense to the job for which youre applying. This information can be included at the bottom of your education section, like this:
Bachelors Degree, Elementary Education and Teaching, 2013Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, INSocieties: Delta Delta Delta, Habitat for Humanity, Student Support Group
If you are still completing your degree, you can list your expected graduation date, but be clear that you havent yet graduated. Like the above examples, you dont need to list the start date . For example:
Bachelor of Science: Civil EngineeringWashington University, St. Louis, MO.Expected Graduation Date 2019
University of Miami, Coral Gables, FLEnglish Composition, 65 Credit Hours Obtained
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Where To Place Your Resume Education Section
The best placement depends on what employers would value more: your experience or education. Theres no set rule for where to put it, but here are a few guidelines.
Place experience before education if:
- You have several years of experience related to your goal. Hiring managers will likely be more interested in your work-related accomplishments than your education.
Place experience after education if:
- Youre an upcoming or recent graduate or have a couple of years of work history.
- Youre changing careers and continued your education to support your new goal.
- Youre in an academic or scientific professioneducation is usually listed near the top of CVs.
How To List Your High School Education On A Resume
If you never went to college, your resumes education section is going to be pretty straightforward. All you have to do is list the name of your high school, its location and the dates. Theres no reason to complicate it any further.
That is, unless youre less than three years out of high school. Then you can add anything that shows off your skills and achievements.
- Add achievements. Include awards, extracurricular activities, honors, clubs and organizations you joined during high school.
- Stay relevant. Only include information that pertains to a specific job opening. Keep an open mind and remember that transferable skills can make a huge difference too.
Feel free to include details about any projects or clubs you joined while at school. Focus on including specific examples to demonstrate your motivation and initiative.
Did you write for high school newspapers and published 16 articles? Then it deserves a mention in your education section!
The bottom line is simple: Look for anything that helps you show your enthusiasm and work ethic.
Think of clubs, organizations, extracurricular activities or even volunteer work. All of these can count as a major achievements if you dont have any other experiences yet.
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Students And New Grads
Students and new grads with little related work experience may use the education section as the centerpiece of their resumes, showcasing academic achievements, extracurricular activities, special projects, and courses. For example:
University of AlabamaTuscaloosa, AL B.A. in Advertising, 12/2019
- Team Project: Completed mock advertising campaign for Coca-Cola .
- Course Highlights: Strategic Thinking, Mechanics of Media Writing, Principles of Design, Media Management, Advertising Campaigns, Channel Planning
- Activities: UA AdTeam , Circle K Club , Center for Service and Leadership
What To Include On A Resume
Before you begin to create your resume, look back on your activities and accomplishments. Some of the things you might want to consider are the following:
- Participation in any sports
- Awards
- Certifications
Start with baby steps and build your CV in the long run. Be creative when choosing your activities. Highlighting your interests and talents are potential opportunities for future quests.
And if youre wondering, should I put eagle scout on my resume yes! Yes, you should, as its part of your extracurriculars! You can read our other articles on the topic to learn more about adding this to your CV.
As a student, there may not be many activities to be added to the resume, but in time things will change. Get guidance from your parents on how to plan your future professional potential and work around that. Its important to play wisely as you might find yourself applying to medical school wondering why is the MCAT so hard when you dont even like medicine!
Be sure to check out our other articles on the topic of college admission, how to list fellowship on resume, as well as a list of the resume writing services that can help you out.
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Education On Resumegeneral Example
New York University, New York, NY
Thats for a completed university span, but it would also work for a high school graduate resume.
Expert Hint: If youve earned more than one degree, list them separately, even if theyre from the same university.
Now, lets look at some academic resume examples which include our recommended additions.
How To List Education On Resume For Working Professionals
If you are a working professional, your resume education section is just evidence of your degrees.
- Your resume education section should be placed below the Professional Experience section
- Be straightforward, do not include unnecessary details
- State your educational degree with your field of study and best achievements
- Try to avoid positions of responsibility, awards, recognitions
- Try to include a vast skill set, list your training, certifications
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Resume Examples & Samples
Education is tough. You spend four years in college, stressing about exams and living off of gummy bears and ramen, often curled up on the library floor. Thats the best case scenario. Reward your efforts by expertly putting your education on a resume.
Its crucial to know how to list your education on a resume at every stage. Applicants get confused by all the possible scenarios. What if you never finished high school? What if you only completed high school? What if you dropped out of college? Don’t worry.
We will teach you how to:
- List your high school experience even if you never graduated
- Include your education if youre still in college
- Present your education on a resume if you never graduated college
- Mention your college education once its completed
- Leverage skills and extracurriculars to complement your education
VelvetJobs Expert Tip
Need help? Check out our resume builder.
An Example Of College Education On A Resume
If you are currently completing or have completed a degree, you should definitely know how to format college education on a resume. Here’s an example:
EDUCATIONB.A. Creative WritingUniversity of California, Berkeley2016 – 2020
When putting your education on your resume, you can also choose to put the name of your institution in bold, so it is extremely clear when you apply.
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Get Another Set Of Eyes To Look It Over
The final step is to show your resume to someone who can provide you with constructive feedback. If you’re still in college, you might turn to your university’s career or writing center otherwise, take your resume to a mentor, friend, or family member you trust.
You’ll want them to check your grammar and analyze whether the resume sells you as the best person for the role. Ask the reviewer questions like “Does this resume portray me as the best candidate for this job?” and “Is this resume engaging?” If their answer to either question is no, go back and revise your resume.
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