Pongo Resume

(This post originally ran April 7, 2010. Here it is again in case you missed it the first time around.)

If you took advantage of an internship during your undergrad years, you've already got something great to list under the Experience section of your first professional resume. Employers put a lot of weight on internships (if they're relevant) since they prove that you were interested in your career path well before you received your degree.

But what if you don't have an internship to vouch for your experience? What if the only jobs you've had involved manning a cash register or serving up pizzas? Fear not! Here are a few things you can add to your resume that count as experience:

1. Relevant Coursework
   
   New college graduates can get away with using coursework for experience. To do this, add it as a section heading on your resume, and list all the college courses you've taken that are somewhat relevant to the job you're seeking. For example: If you want a writing job, you can list any English writing and Communications courses you took that taught you something about the language communicating through media.
    
2. Extracurricular Activities
   
   Sorority/Fraternity Roles
   No, your medal for Most Creative Keg Stand doesn't count, but congratulations on that accomplishment! Seriously though— if you served as your fraternity's treasurer and you're seeking a job in accounting, you can work that into your experience. Example: Managed cash flow of fraternity funds collected through organized fundraisers.
   
   Student Council Involvement
   You develop negotiation and management techniques when you're active on the student council, which are great skills to transfer into your first professional job. If you were elected into a position, your communication skills are also worth highlighting since you effectively convinced people to vote for you.
   
   Academic Clubs
   Event planning for spring or holiday breaks, organizing blood drives, or even handing out t-shirts can count. Think out of the box and get creative with what qualifies as experience.
   
   Volunteer Work
   The effort you put in to help your community can be easily transferred as accomplishments to your resume. Check out this post to find out more.
   
   
3. Irrelevant Part-Time Jobs
   
   That's right. I just told you to put irrelevant information on your resume. Believe it! Again, only new college grads can get away with this. Listing your part-time jobs shows you have some kind of work ethic, even if it has nothing to do with the jobs you're applying for. Just create a separate resume heading titled "Work Experience" and place those items toward the bottom of your resume.

When you identify roles that qualify as experience, you can create a professional title for each of them. (I'm talking about the extracurricular or volunteer roles that might not have had titles.) Create titles that you think the roles would be called if someone actually hired you to do them.

If you're not sure if something you did in college qualifies as experience for your resume, ask me in a comment and our team will let you know!


RELATED LINKS
Writing a Resume When You Have No Experience

I have not worked outside of the home since March of 2009 would it be relevant to add to my resume that I wrote my Biography during that time or should I leave that out.

Good Day:

My problem is that after several decades in the workforce I decided to go to college. After graduation from a four year university I created a new resume. Unfortunately, what I am experiencing is that when I am selected for interviews, after two seconds recruiters see me I am automatically rejected because of my age. Beyond that, my current salary does not reflect my potential value as I worked part time while I attended classes fulltime.

Should I list my education and courses taken that relate to the position first and experience last or vice versa? I have excellent references from past professors and employees. I am very frustrated because I went back to school and performed very well all to no avial.

I would appreciate any advice.

Sincerely, Julie

@yuketha: It would be ok to add that to your resume if it's relevant to the jobs you're applying for. If you are a writer, I can see how that could be relevant (but have the biography prepared to share to prove your work).

@Julie: If your experience is relevant to the jobs you're applying for, then I would recommend listing that first, then add the education section after. We advise new grads to highlight their education and courses, but only because they likely lack the real-world experience to prove their knowledge and skills. Employers put more weight on past experience and accomplishments, so in this case, you have work experience that you've accumulated over the years, and that should be the main focus. Congratulations to you for your new college degree!

I am having a challenge finding any kind of work. I enjoy fixing things like auto's, appliances, a/c, etc. And I have been to school, and have Diploma's and certificate's to prove that I am certified in this line of work. In 1996 I decided to become an over the road truck driver, because one of my life dreams was to be able to travel and see the country, and get paid for doing it. In 2009 I decided it was time for a career change, so I started looking for work in the fields that I was qualified in. But what I found out was that I am no longer qualified in those fields. I am now back in college learning how these things are done today. I have applied at all the temp job services, and all they ever tell me is that the companies are looking for experienced help. So what do I do now.

The eduction and experience dilemma are potential issues. You have to keep up with the field. Health care experience in the 90's is useless in 2011. Outdated skills and experience demonstrate a job candidate is not seasoned enough to perform the job.

Companies will use any excuse to reject you. I hold several degrees, including a BA & MA. I just earned my MA. I have writing experience. I know it's a catch 22 with education and experience.

The safe bet is to maintain experience and skills, even if you only perform the job part-time. I can't use military medical experience from back in the 90's. I can use my education and writing experience. Good luck to you all.

HI Jason! Nice to see you checking in on the Pongo Blog! I hope all is going well for you and your endeavors.

Great advice on maintaining experience and skills. Especially at the rate technology changes these days.

Take care, Amy