Writing Your First Resume

Writing a star resume as a seasoned veteran is relatively easy. What’s not quite as simple is creating one that stands out from the crowd as a recent graduate or a beginner in the field. However, with just a few simple tweaks and customizations, you can create a stellar resume, regardless of where you are in your professional career.

Work Experience

Oftentimes strong resumes include a detailed description for each position held. However, when you are just starting your marketing career, you may not need to describe in depth what you did as a bagger at the local grocery store. So, rather than including bullet points that document skills and tasks unrelated to the position for which you are applying, you may opt to simply list the work experience itself.

However, if there are transferrable skills from your seemingly unrelated work history, be sure to list those under each position. For instance, if you exhibited great teamwork or initiative at one of your part-time jobs, be sure to highlight that.

And regardless of whether or not you add descriptors, if you worked in a particular position for a lengthy period of time, be sure to underscore this, as it shows great reliability and dedication.

Categories

The traditional resume likely includes categories like Education, Work Experience, Recognitions, etc. As a newbie in the field, however, you may not have enough information to write a solid resume using such a conventional format. Therefore, it is imperative to customize your resume accordingly. Like with work experience, try to capitalize on transferrable skills that would be ideal in the sought-after position.

For instance, traits like Teamwork (or Cooperation), Initiative, Integrity, and Leadership are desirable for almost any position out there. Your resume should subsequently highlight how you have exhibited such skills. Perhaps you excelled as a team player on your Model UN team. Maybe you developed a small change that increased productivity in your position at a fast-food restaurant. Perhaps you admitted fault in a pivotal tennis match. Maybe you approached the administration on behalf of the student council to amend a policy that did not benefit students.

All of these are incredible feats that should be showcased to potential employers — but that may not have a place on a traditionally-formatted resume.

Key Words

When creating a resume for a specific position, purposefully read the job posting for words that the employer uses to describe a strong candidate. Look at this example: “If you have strong communication and organizational skills, are someone who takes initiative, and can work well both independently and as part of a team, complete the online application process for this job posting.” When creating a resume for this particular job, be sure to highlight ways that you have exhibited strong communication, organization, initiative, and work ethic. These four elements should become the aforementioned categories that you highlight.

Yes, it may be easier to write a resume with years of experience under your belt. However, regardless of whether or not you have started your professional career, you likely have a plethora of experiences that have developed and established skills that will help you excel in the workforce. The key is simply knowing how to market yourself — how to showcase those traits and highlight you as the star candidate.

Ready to start your career? Here are some helpful resources.

1. Resume Examples for All Experience Levels
2. Cover Letter Examples for All Levels
3. Online Resume Builder to customize your resume for job applications
4. Resume Analyzer to check ATS score and improve your resume