The graduate job market is highly competitive. Thousands of young people graduate each year and there are never enough well-paid positions to go around. If you have dreams of joining a top accounting or law firm, you better pray your GPA is sky-high or you won’t even get a look in.
A resume is the best chance you have of scoring an interview. It is the first thing a potential employer sees. If your resume is poor, the employer won’t bother offering you an interview. Instead, they will send your resume straight into the slush pile.
Relevant Experience
The biggest problem graduates face is that they often have no experience. If you have only just graduated, you might never have had a proper job, let alone anything relevant. This is not so much of an issue if you are applying for a position where on-the-job training is provided, but in all other areas, it is important that you try and show you have at least something experience.
Internships are a useful way to show you have some experience in your industry. Try and find an internship while you are still at college. Even if you spend two weeks photocopying documents and making coffee, at least you can include it on your resume. If you don’t manage to find an internship, do some voluntary work for a local non-profit or volunteer for a charity. Anything that shows you have a work ethic and can take responsibility for showing up every day is good.
Show Commercial Awareness
You need to show the employer that your understanding of the industry is more than superficial. It isn’t enough to throw a few facts in from the employer’s website when you get an interview. Unless you can prove you have commercial awareness, you might not get an interview.
Include a few practical examples of how you stay up-to-date with industry developments. Mention a blog you follow or conventions you have attended. Let the employer know how you developed a marketing strategy for a relative’s business, which boosted their sales by X percent.
Demonstrate Teamworking Skills
Teamworking skills are something all employers look for, irrespective of who the candidate is. Most of us have to work as part of a team when we enter the job market, and given graduates hit the ground at the bottom, you can assume you will be part of a team from the get-go.
Talk about how you have taken part in team activities with positive results. Ideally, mention an industry-specific event, such as a team exercise you completed as part of your internship, but if all else fails, a sporting achievement will work too. Demonstrate cause and effect. For example, during X project, your group increased sales by X percent.
Proofread your resume and polish it to ensure there are no typos and grammatical errors. If you need resume help, ask an expert to help you.
Alternatively, ask a tutor to cast an eye over it to make sure it is fit for purpose.
Have you written a particular good CV/resume? Share any tips you have in the comments below.
David Gutierrez has founded a creative design agency in 2012. Besides that, he provides small businesses with content that aims to increase engagement and conversion.
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