If you’re writing your first resume, here are 7 tips to help you get started.
Do a little info gathering – When you haven’t written a resume yet, it may be hard to identify what you’re good at. Write down a list of the things that you think you’re good at, and ask close friends to give you ideas too. This way, you can confirm if both you and your friend think you’re good at it.
Don’t be shy about accomplishments – It’s possible that you don’t have a lot of accomplishments yet. Still, try to include whatever noteworthy or impressive things you’ve done, even if they’re not on a huge scale. If anything you’ve done can help demonstrate your value, include it.
Include related coursework – There are various assignments and projects that teachers ask their students to do. If there is something that you did that might be germane to the job you’re applying to, go ahead and include it. Just because it happened in school doesn’t mean that it won’t apply to the “real world” of work.
No generic resumes – As tempting it might be, avoid the trap of sending the exact same resume to every job posting you find. Thousands of people already do this and get passed over. What employers want to see is relevant information and effort from job seekers who put real effort into their resumes.
Stay relevant – The most important consideration in writing a resume is having relevant information. You want an employer to see information they want to see. If you’re applying for a writing position, for example, then you could include information about articles you’ve written or a professional writing organization you joined.
Understand what you want to accomplish – The goal of having a resume is to sell yourself to an employer. You are your product, and you want to convince an employer of your value. Ask yourself: How could I convince someone to hire me?
Stick with one set of contact information – When it’s your first time applying for a job, you worry about a lot of things. For example, you might worry about an employer not being to contact you, so you put in multiple sets of contact information. Make no mistake: If an employer is truly interested, they will contact you, so there’s really no need to put in several phone numbers.
Writing a resume is not easy, especially the first time you attempt to do it. However, with the tips provided above, it just might be a whole lot easier.