The Resume. The Fundamentals of (Education and Experience).
Author: S. Jeffery
This article is a continuation of examining resume' fundamentals, last time we looked at the Personal Information section of the resume' as well as how to create an effective Resume' Introduction, today we'll be looking at Education and Experiences sections of this important document.
Education
Education section, may be titled in several ways: you can have a "Education and Qualifications" section, you can also place your skills as a part of this section so - "Skills and Qualifications", or just plain "Education". You want to make sure that your heading is appropriate for what you're going to share in this section. For this section include the schools you attended (up to tertiary level if you went to college or university) as well as the diploma/certificates you received at the institution. Make sure the certification is in line with the school on your page so that there is no confusion as to where you received that qualification. Please remember list beside or in line with the certification/qualification, the year you started and completed the course of study.
When listing your educational background do ensure that whatever you put down is related to the job you're applying for. Which means your Education section can have several versions on several different resumes. For instance, you may have certification in Food and Nutrition, but the job you wish to apply for requires someone with a certificate in Customer Service and training as a telesales rep. Looking at the two criteria we can safely guess that this job may be in a call center environment, therefore the job doesn't require someone with a level two in Foods. So if you also have the certificate in Customer Service and the telesales training/experience then by all means apply for the job but only list these qualifications, they are relevant.
Our society is becoming more fast paced and employers as well as recruiters have very little time to wade through all the irrelevant information a job seeker may put in their resume. I have read that employers take about six seconds to look through an applicant's resume to decide whether he/she is worthy to go on to the shortlist for an interview.
You may list at least three solid qualifications that are related to the job. If you add a separate skills sub section make sure these skills are referenced by the years you studied them and the training institute you attended. You can also spice things up by including some of the modules you completed for your skill(s).
Experiences
My other favorite part of the resume! It can be titled as "Work Experiences", "Professional Experiences" or just plain "Experiences", some persons may have what is called a Career Highlights, which is a customized section that can be added to you resume key achievements and the experiences that are not only relevant but showcase your suitability for the position. Small experiences count, even if you do not have alot, you can tweak it to make it look like you're some old veteran. You can include things you did during your summer holidays, (yes try to get summer employment) and part-time jobs are also good. Volunteerism is a very good way to set your self apart in the job hunting process. A client of mine has now received two job offers because of the wealth of experience she has in her field, most of it she received by working as a volunteer! So it does work! In many industries experience is very important. In some instances good solid qualifications can be the edge that pushes you in front, but, its not always the case and now more than ever employers require someone who knows what needs to be done, I might add competently done, and gets to work without much supervision because they already have experience. Yes it sounds cold but there is a reason for that, I gave a brief explanation in the first part of this article Here.
How do you present your experiences? Well be honest first thing, and don't blow your experiences out of proportion. If you helped pack the shelves in a supermarket and cleaned the tinned food, don't say you were a sales rep...smh. You could tweak it and say you were an Assistant Merchandiser, sounds more official don't it? Lol. You include the year you started and when you stopped working at each job. Put your job title, the name of the company, its address and the duties you performed. You could also add you immediate supervisor and their phone number (with their permission please). For high school/college graduates with minimal experience: If you were given a special responsibility something that wasn't really a part of you're duties but you were entrusted to do it, include this also. This shows your level of maturity to be trusted with difficult tasks. As I mentioned for the education section the same applies here, make sure all information for each job is perfectly in line.
THINGS TO NOTE:
In the last decade or so there has emerged a school of thought which argues that employees have to...I mean have to set goals in the jobs they work in, goals that bring results! Therefore, a subsection called "Achievements" has been added. No, it's no longer ok to just have a list of your work duties on paper. You must have achievements, things you're proud of while you worked as an employee for company X or Y. It's also called "Accomplishments".
To be honest though, you can't have job related accomplishments if you haven't worked in the job world for long. You can however use your time in high school or university to show what you're made of. So were you a Treasurer in high school, or President or Vice President, Student Councilor, Prefect, etc? Use the experience to your advantage. College graduates: Faculty Rep, Guild Rep, President, Vice president, etc. Use these to beef up your resume. Whatever the title you took on never forget to emphasize the duties you performed and how they contributed to the overall benefit of the organization you represented. Normally this would be listed under Extra-Curricular Activities but a little section where you include something significant about these experiences can be included.
Should I have a hobby section? Hmm...some resume writing experts have said that for a modern resume it isn't necessary. Others will say include it on the condition that it will in some way prove a benefit to your prospective employer.
What do I think? Instead of using the word "Hobbies" use 'Interests', it sounds more professional. Don't put anything as mundane as reading, watching TV, everyone does these things. Your hobby... eh hem...interest must be something that makes you special. So for example if you're looking for a job as a computer programmer naturally your "interests" would be testing code and rewriting code in your spare time. Hey I'm just saying....being real folks. Ain't nobody gonna really tell you these things. I had to learn the hard way. Afterwards I decided to read as much as I could on the topic. I suggest you do the same.
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this all the way to the end...you did it! And you're gonna be better for it trust me. References are next week: Should you add it in your resumes or not? I'll be looking at this issue. Who should be your referee anyway? Stay tuned!
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