How To Write A Resume For A College Job

Focus On Depth And Length Of Commitment

When deciding which activities and accomplishments make the cut, keep in mind that colleges would much rather see you excited about one or two key experiences than sporadic involvement in 20 clubs. If having an after-school job limited your ability to participate in clubs or sports, make sure your resume plays up your work responsibilities, training, and on-the-job skills.

Read More: Everything You Need to Know About Applying to College

Have Your Resume And Application Materials Reviewed

Simply upload your application materials, and our team will provide recommendations on both content and format to ensure you are making a great impression. Submit your resume or cover letter to Resume Dropbox to receive tailored feedback. Before submitting your materials, please review the Checklist for effective resumes and cover letters to ensure your submission meets initial criteria for review.

NOTE:Due to an extremely high volume of requests, we want to let you know that reviews are taking more than the typical 3-5 business days we normally promise. We can assure you we are working as quickly as possible on your review and will return your resume or cover letter as soon as possible. We encourage you to also take advantage of the resume resources, videos and templates on our website.

Fulton Schools of Engineering students may take advantage of Optimal Resume.W. P. Carey School of Business students are encouraged to connect with your career center or make an appointment with your WPC career coach.

Summer Job Resume Examples

Here are summer job resume examples you could use to apply for part-time and full-time summer jobs and internships. Use these samples to get ideas for your resume, then customize your resume, so it highlights the related experience, schoolwork, school activities, and volunteering specifically to the summer job you are interested in:

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Key Takeaways For A College Admissions Resume

• Target each university by understanding what that school values and its educational philosophy.
• Use your summary section to complement your college admissions essay.
• Focus on your academic achievements and extracurricular activities.
• Find a great example of page design in our college admissions resume sample.

Never Include These Certain Elements

While there are many elements you should consider adding to your resume, there are a few things you should never include on your resume because they waste space, don’t tell the employer anything relevant, or could damage your personal brand. This list includes, but is not limited to great employment references, writing samples, and photos of yourself. Do not add this information to your resume unless an employer or recruiter asks you to provide them. In addition, make sure you’re not using an unprofessional email address. Kegmaster2017@email.com may have sounded great when you were younger, but it’s not the right message to send to prospective employers. It’s easy to create a free, professional-looking email address for your job-search activities with platforms like Gmail.

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Employment History Example: Show Off Your Soft Skills

If you worked in the summer or after school, this is the place to list those jobs. Colleges want to know that you are responsible and know how to manage your time. Your part-time work shows them you have those attributes, so even if you think the job was menial or if you worked only one day a week, include it.

If you do not have any work experience, be sure to focus on your academic experiences and accomplishments.

Here’s our resume sample content that showcases high school academic and extracurricular experiences.

Resume Summary Example: Youre More Than Your Gpa

You will write your college admissions essay with an eye toward illuminating what makes you an excellent candidate for your chosen university, but your resume summary gives you another chance at it. Its likely there was something you wanted to say in that essay that did not fit in 500 words. You have 3-4 lines at the top of your resume, so say it here!

Try not to repeat information you offer elsewhere and remember that your goal is to answer the question: How will you contribute to the student body and academic environment at our university.

See the resume example text below for summary ideas.

Motivated and passionate student with the intention of gaining admission into your renowned University. Hardworking and driven, with goals of flourishing in your respected Liberal Arts program. Bringing forth a strong academic background with a steady GPA above 3.5, and a decorated Softball career resulting in a 2017 Championship for our school. Committed to working hard and serving my school, peers, and community.

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Write A Matching Cover Letter

Now that you know how to write your dream resume, you might be wondering: is a cover letter necessary? The answer is yes, always include a cover letter if you have the option.

Knowing how to write a good cover letter helps you round out every application you ever send out, and boosts your chances of landing an interview.

Cover letters are a valuable tool in your job-hunting arsenal because they give you an opportunity to provide context to your resume, show off your personality, and express enthusiasm for the job youre applying for.

Heres an example of what a resume paired with a matching cover letter might look like :

Which Resume Format Should I Use

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College Student Resume Example And Writing Tips

When creating a resume as a college student, it’s important to emphasize both your work history and your education. For a student resume, you can also demonstrate your skills and abilities by including volunteer work, internships, and other extracurricular activities.

Review what to include in your resume, tips for writing a resume that highlights your qualifications, and download a resume template you can use as a starting point for creating your own resume.

How To Write A Resume With No Experience

Its time for your first job hunt!

You need to write a resume, which can be nerve-wracking if you dont have any real-life work experience.

You dont know where to start, what to include, or which resume format to choose.

On top of that, most advice you find online isnt relevant because it focuses on emphasizing professional background.

Chances are, youre straight out of college with no experience to speak of.

Or maybe you’re a high-school student applying for a part-time job.

Whichever the case may be, youre probably having trouble filling in the blank space on your resume thats supposed to be the work experience section.

Worry not, though. In this guide, were going to help you create an AMAZING resume, no work experience is needed.

Youre going to learn:

• How to format your resume with no work experience
• 4 sections to replace work experience
• 2 no-work experience resume samples

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Profile/skills Summary/highlights Of Qualifications

• The purpose of this section is to highlight your top three to five qualifications to the employer.
• If you include this section, use a bullet format and highlight only the skills and/or qualifications that are relevant to the position you are applying for and substantiate with brief explanation of the experience that helped you build that skill or quality.
• Please review the accomplishment-based statements worksheet for tips on how to write this section.

• Include dates attended, program, area of study, institution.
• Include relevant courses if related to job posting.
• Include GPA if it sets you apart from other applicants or if the employer has specifically stated that you need to. You should also include the scale .
• Include high school if you are in first- or second- year note if you graduated with honours or awards include high school if it is unique, such as the International Baccalaureate.
• If you dont include high school but wish to include awards/honours from high school, put them in a separate ‘awards’ section.

• Add any academic projects that demonstrate key skills/qualifications
• Include Project Name, Name of Course and Calendar Year
• Use the same formatting that you use in the experience section

Prioritize Education Vs Experience

For college students or recent graduates, it can be difficult to decide whether to list your education or experience first. Notice in Jonathans resume below, he lists his education history first to showcase his student activity and accolades, like the Best Student Web Developer Award. Thats because his educational accomplishments demonstrate more enthusiasm and mastery of his technical abilities than his limited experience as a freelance web developer with just two work projects completed.

Not sure whether to list your education or experience section first? Figure out which one allows you to present your most pertinent and remarkable information. If your main selling points come from your college experience, then be sure to list your education section first. Then you can get really creative in emphasizing your academic history and accomplishments, as discussed next.

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Include A Diverse Mix Of Skills

You dont need to have work experience to have a strong resume skills section. Through your coursework and extracurriculars, youve probably accumulated a wealth of relevant hard and soft skills like:

Hard Skills

• Work ethic
• Flexibility and adaptability

These are just a few of the skills that most college students pick up through their studies.

Take it a step further by listing any specific technical skills youve picked up through a class , skills youve learned through independent study , or skills youve exercised through extracurricular activities .

Additionally, emphasizing your soft skills is a great way to improve your resume if you have minimal work experience. Thats because soft skills are valuable for nearly any job, and are difficult to teach.

Highlight Your Creativity And Passion Projects

Im obsessive about looking for personal projects that an applicant includes on a resume. I find these examples illustrative of an individuals creativity, attention to detail, and also self-motivation in many cases. Im less wowed by a project that was obviously part of a school curriculum requirement than one that was created through an applicants personal interest in a subject. I believe examples of an applicants approach to such projects provides an invaluable insight into how they handle professional tasks in the future.

Zack West, Hiring Manager at

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Work Experience And Projects

In any resume, no matter the stage of your career, your work experience and projects should take up at least 70% of the overall space. As such, these are the most important sections and will decide whether you get an interview or not.

When you have a few years of experience then the size of your projects section will decrease as the size of your work experience section expands.

If you have an internship relevant to the job you’re applying to, then of course this should be detailed in your “work experience” section. As a college student your work experience can also contain any part-time jobs you had while in school even if they don’t seem relevant to the job you’re applying to.

It’s not easy to balance work and school and having a part-time job demonstrates responsibility and drive, key attributes employers are looking for in prospective employees.

When talking about your work experience, there are a few key tips you should follow:

• Mention the skills you demonstrated on the job.
• Quantify the impact of your work whenever possible.
• Talk specifically about your role, avoid being too general.
• Use action verbs like “owned” or “led” to highlight your leadership abilities.

I’m sure you’ve heard that numbers speak louder than words, and that’s especially true on your resume. By providing numerical context around your work, you convince the hiring manager of your ability to meaningfully contribute.

WRONG – general work experience descriptions

Digital Marketing Intern

Create A Clear Education Section

Having a clear education section is essential for your resume, especially if youre a recent college graduate or have minimal work experience.

If you lack professional experience but have a good track record in school , your education section should be highly detailed to highlight all of your education-related accomplishments.

On the other hand, if you possess more than a few years of professional experience, then its appropriate to keep your education section short and sweet.

Additionally, if youre a student or recent graduate, list your education section above the experience section of your resume. This way, you emphasize your most marketable qualifications at the top of the page.

Here are the main points to include in a standard education section:

• The names of your university, community college, or technical school
• Location of the schools
• Date of graduation
• Degree
• GPA

Additionally, include relevant coursework on your resume if youre a recent graduate and dont have much work experience yet.

Here are two examples demonstrating how to format your education section:

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Ready To Start Your Journey

• College students and recent grads must learn how to craft engaging resumes to land jobs.
• A strong college resume uses simple fonts, clear organization, and action verbs.
• Be sure to proofread your final resume and have somebody look it over for you.

Formatting and writing a professional resume is a challenge that even seasoned workers often struggle with. As a college student or recent graduate, you likely have limited work experience, making the resume-writing process all the more difficult.

But don’t get discouraged there are several steps you can take when putting together a college student resume or college graduate resume to help you stand out from other applicants.

Below, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of tips and examples to teach students and recent college graduates how to write an effective resume.

List Your Education After Your Summary

Your education section is where youll demonstrate to employers that youre learning skills you can apply on the job. Consider featuring it as one of the first sections on your resume.

Related: How to List Education on a Resume

Even if what youre studying may seem unrelated to the professional world, your commitment to education can demonstrate a will to continually improve and showcase a strong work ethic. Take this opportunity to list relevant coursework youve completed, your GPA and key areas of study. Your education section should include:

• The name of your school

• The location of your school

• The degree you are pursuing

• Your field of study

• Your graduation year

• Your GPA

• Any relevant honors or academic recognition, coursework, activities or other achievements obtained during your education

Here are two examples:

Bachelor of Arts in PsychologyBusiness Essentials Certificate, Terry Scholar

Example 2

University of Virginia May 2019Alpha Phi Omega The largest collegiate fraternity in the US, coed and with a focus on community service.

Pro Tip: If you have not graduated yet, include your anticipated or expected graduation date. Include only the month and year, no need to include the dates you were enrolled.

Example: Expected graduation May 2022

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Ow To Write A Resume Without Work Experience

I need a job to get experience, but I need experience to get a job. This vicious circle often scares students and graduates. How do I start the job search? Start with the best resume possible!

This guide will show you:

• How to create a perfect resume without work experience?
• How to decide which information to include in your resume
• Great samples to use if you are a student or just are looking for your first job and have no work experience
• Magic tips to succeed at this task
• Learn how to format that resume with no work experience

Dozens of people apply for the job you want to get. They have professional skills and achievements. 65% of employers are looking for experienced candidates.

What if you are a student? You may have an empty space in the section on experience. We dont want empty white space so keep reading! You may find out you do have experience after all.

If you are a college graduate and/or have an advanced degree, your resume for a college graduate with no official work experience can still look very impressive!

Tip : Formatting And Making The Resume Look Professional

Believe it or not, the appearance and organization of a resume can greatly affect the response. The first hurdle for any resume is to get the employer to read it. An attractively presented, concise resume is easy for a recruiter to pick up. On the other hand, if a resume is 5 pages, written in 6-point font, a prospective employer may not think that it is worth the time to find a magnifying glass and read it. In most cases, a resume should not exceed one page , which has a few key sections that are separated from one another or clearly delineated.

Here are some suggestions to make the format stand out positively:

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