For many, it can be intimidating when they write their resume. A document that encapsulates yourself, showcasing yourself for a company to see your abilities and skills in a one or two-page paper. Fresh graduates may feel pressured by the idea of “the real world” plus the impending search for the right position with the skills that they have, but we’re here to help!
As you put your togas and graduation caps to rest, and you’re ready to put yourself out there, here are tips on what to put in your resume if you’ve just graduated from college.
1. Name and Contact Information
Make sure that you write your government-registered name in your resume. This is how you can be formally addressed when you hand in your paper for the company’s hiring team to view. Having your full name is also vital together with the legal documents or other files that you will be sending together with your resume.
Contact information would be your email address, home, and mobile numbers, and location. Make sure that they are active because this will be the way for companies to easily reach you if they ever are interested in having you join their team. Don’t forget to double-check if you input the right numbers, correct email address, and real location.
During your job hunting, you should always be alert to your contacts, they might contact you as soon as they can!
Must include: correct spelling of your full name, active contact numbers and email address, and real location.
2. Academic / Educational Background
List down the educational facilities you went to in this area. From Elementary to High School to College, including all the years you’ve stayed in each too. Sharing the longevity of your years in the schools can give the HR department an impression that you have been ardently attending school. Include your major or program that you graduated from in your college or tertiary bullet.
If you have awards that would be helpful in the career path you’re thriving into, you may also put them under the facility or level that you achieved them to. This helps summarize your resume, without needing to add a separate panel for your achievements only.
Must include: school name, educational level, degree, years stayed, and achievements.
3. Accomplishments
Before we dive into your work-related experiences, let’s take a step back and look at your academic accomplishments! Since you are still a fresh graduate, showcase yourself through your greatest achievements, and mention a project you led or an achievement that you’re most proud of here.
Create a list of the awards you have attained, may it be during your university or high school years. Your awards can reflect your intelligence and skills. You can add your score on language testing systems or examinations to test your knowledge in your field.
These can also be a presentation you did on a number of people, a high or leadership position you acquired in an organization or an event you helped conceptualize and manage. All of these are helpful in telling yourself that you are experienced enough even as a student.
Must include: award, organization name, the program, position, or a short description.
4. Experience
Here we go. Now we are done with the basics. Being a fresh graduate can mean that you are freshly picked out from the garden, and that’s not something to shy away from! It means that all the learnings you’ve studied are still, well, fresh to you.
Most fresh graduates may include their experience in the internship program they’ve been to, and that’s normal deeming that most college curriculums require a course on this to help you get ready for the real or corporate environment.
Expound as much as you can when writing your job experiences, there may be simple tasks that you think aren’t useful but remember that it is all a learning experience. So list as many as you can without ever being shy about the tasks you proudly accomplished.
Must include: the company, your position and department, longevity of your stay, and a detailed description of your duty.
Now that you’re settled on the must-haves on your resume. You can start arranging all these in applications that already have resume templates like Canva, Google Docs, and your local Microsoft Office.
There are various ways you can further present yourself in your resume like taking free exams online like English language proficiency or an IQ Test.
If you’re all good to go, you can start searching for job positions across different online platforms like GrabJobs, Indeed, Jobstreet, or LinkedIn. You may also check Sourcefit’s available positions! There are also emerging job application apps on Google Play and App Store.
Best of luck on your job hunting!
