The very first thing most people would do upon completing a course is applied for an internship, traineeship, or junior-level job. That’s because no fresher can pick up a role that requires experience. Obviously, you’ll apply for lots of such positions and await an interview call. Hence, the question arises what kind of Resume should you send to get that call for the first interview? Here are some resume tips to help you out.

Drafting a resume for your first job and interview is more complex than that of an experienced job applicant. This is primarily because a fresher doesn’t have a lot to talk about other than educational qualifications.

Therefore, here are some Resume tips that could help you create that killer Resume to bag the first interview of your career.

Resume Tips for First Interview

The Resume tips and tweaks that follow are time-tested and proven. As a fresher, they may sound a bit overwhelming. However, with some effort, you can easily draft a superb Resume for that first interview.

Understand Your Career

The most important part of writing a resume is to understand what is the exact definition of a career? Broadly speaking, a career is a profession or work that you would be doing for a greater part of your life. A career defines your financial, social, and professional status. 

Therefore, as a fresher, be very careful in selecting your career. This means selecting a profession that matches your academic qualifications and personal likes, interests, and passion as well as aptitude. Remember, a career is lifelong while a job can be temporary. Therefore, a career has to be in a field you would love to work till retirement.

The best way to understand what career you’re cut for is by studying job roles and responsibilities of various positions. These can be found on various top job boards. Once you are clear on the career path you seek to follow, writing a Resume becomes easier.

Create the Right Document

Now that you’re aware of your preferred career, the next step is to create a superb Resume with these Resume Tips. Be careful at this step, e a lot of people, including experienced jobseekers are blissfully unaware of the vast difference between a Resume and Curriculum Vitae (CV). 

Before applying, check the job post to find whether an employer is asking for a CV or Resume. Read a good article that describes the difference between these documents.

In the US, most employers generally call for a Resume. That’s because a Resume is a brief summary that describes your educational qualifications, work experience, and any successful project with a list of employers you’ve worked with in the past. However, as a fresher, it’s obvious you wouldn’t have any experience and employment history.  Therefore, simply stick to your academic qualifications.

In stark contrast, a CV is an altogether different document. It contains a summary of your education, job experience, skills, projects, and lots more information. Often, colleges and universities seek a CV from a candidate because it’s comprehensive and hence, lengthier.

Leverage Your Education

As mentioned earlier, lack of experience can bother you while writing a Resume. Fortunately, there’s a superb way to overcome this shortage. This involves leveraging your educational qualifications to prospective employers. That’s fairly easy because you would have chosen an educational course according to the career you seek to pursue.

Write in detail about how your educational qualifications make you an ideal candidate for the role. One of the top Resume tips is to stress how your degree would enable you to learn the ropes of the job quickly. The trick here is to pitch your educational qualifications in a manner that they overcome the lack of experience. To do so, it’s best to read the job responsibilities before applying. Apply for jobs only if you have the necessary qualifications.

Remember, an employer also needs people with your degree. That’s the reason they would invite you to an interview. Hence, highlighting the relevance of your knowledge to the business is very important. When you read the job responsibilities of the position, check which roles you can effectively play at the organization and pitch your qualifications accordingly.

Mention Your Extracurricular Activities

Just in case you’re unaware, most employers pay a lot of attention to extracurricular activities on a Resume. That’s because these activities indicate some parts of your personality. And there are a lot of personality traits that employers actually look for while hiring people for a specific role, which go beyond academics and experience.

For example, if you’ve led a sports team or are a player, it means you’re good at teamwork.  Volunteering indicates a sense of social responsibility. Participation in writing contests and debates highlights your communication skills. Collecting stamps might sound unintelligent on a Resume but it’s not. The hobby of stamp collection shows you have an eye for detail. These personality traits help an employer decide whether you’re a fit for the position you’re applying for.  Internship or Traineeship

If you’re applying for an internship or traineeship, the best thing to do is mention why you’re choosing that specific career. Point out how working as an intern or trainee can help you achieve your career objective. 

An internship or traineeship is to gain some hands-on experience in a particular field of work. Therefore, show how your educational experience combined with the experience you would gain by working at that organization would help you become successful in your chosen career and how the employer could help.

Generally, most employers would be willing to help an intern or trainee embark on their career. Showcase your interest in a proper and clear way. Also, add a sentence or two to show your interest in creating a long-term association with the employer beyond internship or traineeship.

Resume Tips-Career Objective: Write or Not?

A lot of employers argue whether a career objective that appears at the beginning of a Resume is important or just a mere formality. That’s because most career objectives are written vaguely to fit almost any work.

Use a career objective on your resume only if you’re clear about what you wish to achieve professionally, financially, socially, and personally. Else, you can safely skip this step. Including a career, the objective is your personal choice.

Resume Tips: Get Better Scores

You can get wonderful scores that will help create a superb Resume by taking some outside homework help to do your homework and learn subjects well. Such assistance helps you score higher grades at school and high school, which are essential if you’re going for higher education. These grades also matter on your Resume or CV while applying for jobs. Also, it’s possible to use the services of a good resume writer to create one that wins at least an interview call.

Additionally, remember a Resume is a brief summary of yourself and your achievements. Therefore, do not exceed one or at best, two pages.

Never exaggerate or make tall claims on your resume, since that could disqualify you for the job and is in poor taste too.

In Conclusion

The above tips should help you create that killer Resume to get the first interview call. Use only your educational qualifications, extracurricular activities, and interest in a profession to create such a Resume. That would impress an employer.