7 Mistakes That Are Common In College Students Resumes

7 Mistakes That Are Common In College Students Resumes7 Mistakes That Are Common In College Students ResumesThis article about college students resumes was originally published on Business Insider by Julie Bort.Its an accepted factthat whatyou need most in order to land an awesome job or internship is the perfect resume. But as it turns out this is not an easy thing to have, especially when you are a college grad with limited work experience and almost no knowledge regarding how tocraft a resume that will actually takeyou to the interview.Going through dozens of college students resumes on a daily basis, weve found a pattern, so here is our list with mistakes you can avoid next time you make yoursMistake 1 College grads think they dont have enough experiencefruchtwein recent graduates dont have any work experience. As a given, employers usually prefer graduates with at least some work experience, turning the whole thing into a feedback loop where you need experience to get hired but to get hired you need experience. Experience is not just work, however it can be many different things, ranging from projects to volunteering. All of thesegive you practical and useful skills. So include any sort of extracurriculars or initiatives you might have, as long as theyre relevant to the job youre applying for. Even that part-time university gig might do. Thesmall experiences matter because theyshow an accurate image of what you can and cant do.Mistake 2Submitting the same resume for every company youapply forTheres a popular misconception that you need just one resume, something you send to 10+ employers. Far from it the HR wants to know why youre applying for that specific company and position. Hint, the answer shouldnt be you had an open position on a job-search website. Instead of looking for several random jobs, what you SHOULD be doing is looking for the right companies. If you already have a couple in mind, you should tailor your resume to each different open posit ion that they are offering. Try to figure out what the job is all about, and what the company is particularly looking for. As reference, check out Nina4Airbnb. What she did was exemplary, tailoring her skills and experiences to the specific needs of the company.Mistake 3Not backing up your claimsOne of the the hardest things when writing a resume is accurately representing your skills. Its even harder for the person reading it to understand whether you actually possess them. So when talking about your skills or strengths, do back them up with real life examples and tangible explanations. Instead of thinking, Umm, Im probably good at communication, look back and reflect. What were some of your biggest accomplishments? Then, work back from there. What skills helped you get where you are? Lets say were talking about your strengths. Maybe you did the recruitment for a university club? Or if it wasnt foryou that group project would have failed. Well, in this case you can label this as co mmunication but mention these experiences to back it up.Mistake 4Not conveying the full amazingness of youraccomplishmentsIf I told you I was a winner of a Hackathon, what exactly would you get from that? Unless its a really famous one, probably nothing. Same goes for recruiters while your achievement might be something mind-blowing, they cant tell if they havent heard about it before.Related articlesWhat Game of Thrones needs an HR departmentRobert scored a point against autism and found a job thanks to A job specific resume the key to landing your next jobThus, when talking about your accomplishments, mention the specifics. What was the prize? How big was the competition? Winning 1st place against 500 people is a lot more impressive than against 10. If youve established the scope of the achievement, you should probably move it somewhere higher up in the resume, not somewhere in the middle. ansicht are your biggest accomplishments and should be where they belong on the front li ne.Mistake 5Thinking that yourpersonal passions and hobbies are of no importanceor may seem unprofessionalin your resumeHobbies and passions are something people tend to hide away at the last lines of resumes, especially when it comes tocollege students resumes. To be fair, in most cases, they should be. If you told me that youre into movies or books, youre not saying absolutely anything. You can, however, use this to your advantage instead. Companies tend to hire proactive people, so instead of a bland statement saying books, you can talk about what exactly youve read and has strongly influenced you, your true passions, and even the places youve traveled because traveling shapes our personalities. These kinds of things say a lot about your character, and thats exactly what top companies look for.Mistake 6Listing tasks and responsibilities from your experience, instead of results and achievements**As someone who recently graduated from college, youve probably worked on quite a lot o f variousprojects in and outside of school. That means youre supposed to already have some measurable and solid accomplishments and skills you can show off. Mentioning what courses youve taken is bland the recruiter has no idea what youve actually done for the course. Instead, you should talk about the real projects youve done. I.e its better to mention that group project for creating a database, notthe fact that youve taken a class on databases. In addition to that, when talking about experience, quantify it. Lets say you were doing marketing for your local TedX chapter. Instead of saying you did flyers, ransocial media, etc. say what counts. An example might beincreasing the number of attendees by X compared to the last event.Mistake 7Afraid to apply for top companies due to perception of lack of required skills or experienceIf you have followed all the advice scattered across the web, youd make a pretty sweet resume. Despite that, most graduates tend to be scared of applying for top companies. The best advice we can give you on this is not to underestimate yourself. Your competition is applying for the same position? Theyre as scared as you are and their college students resumes arent that flawless, either. You do have enough experience, and a little confidence can take you a long way.To visualize all thesemistakes andthe difference they make on your resume, take a look at Jacks resume Before AfterA comparison of twocollege students resumes which one do youthink works better?To read next Check out our resume examples section that got people hired at their dream jobs.