How to write a resume – Education and training
Normally the education and training section would come after the work history section, but a good tactic for recent school, college or university leavers, who have little or no work experience, is to include it towards the top of the resume to focus the readers attention on your academic qualifications.
What education and training to include?
You want to include both the formal and informal education and training that’s relevant to the needs of the position, and you should aim to include all your formal education and qualifications. This tells the reader you’ve attained a particular level of education, and have been adding to your skills and knowledge with additional training or courses.
Education details.
List the formal education, the most recent first, and include university, college, junior college or community college, as well as trade school or high school. The basic information is the name of the school, city and state, as well as the qualification. It’s not necessary to list your high school if you attended a school beyond high school.
You can still list a college program you didn’t complete. One way for people to do this is to list the name of the school, city and state, and then to use phrasing like “50 credits towards B.S. Degree in Psychology” or “Courses in Economics and Sociology.” If you just list the school without an explanation, it could be interpreted that you graduated when you might not have.
It’s fine for you to list your college program major and it’s also acceptable to state that college preparatory classes were your high school focus. For advanced degrees, you will want to list a thesis topic. In any of these educational settings, it’s good to list a major and minor course of study, and if you’re a recent college graduates you can list your GPA (grade point average) if it is high, else you may want to consider leaving this out.
Training details.
This section can contain programs where you were awarded a certificate, and it can also include training that you received on the job or in seminars and workshops. List your formal training in this section, but it should not become a catch-all for every course you’ve ever taken.
Again the rule for this section is if it will make a difference and meets the needs of the position – leave it in; if it doesn’t – take it out.
A good resume cannot get you a job; but a bad resume can prevent you from getting the interview – and without the interview there’s no chance of getting the job. The new rules for better resumes start with the fact that there are fewer rules. There’s an opportunity for some creativity, but not for gimmicks. What works today is conservative style and a focus on a key achievements – especially those that are of particular interest to the reader.Remember what interests an employer, for let’s say an executive assistant position , may not interest the employer hiring a desktop publishing specialist. That’s why it is essential that people who qualify for several different jobs (and most do) have several different resumes. All resumes should be accurate and truthful, but each should highlight different strengths as they relate to the job opening. Better jobs have become more competitive than they were in the 70s and 80s. And they will continue to get more competitive in the 90s, as these better jobs require increased specialized skills.