Your education can play a vital role in how you approach federal employment, including careers at VA. In particular, students and recent graduates who may not have extensive work histories can help paint a clear picture of your skills, dedication, and enthusiasm for the job you want through your education.
Whether you’re heading back to school or taking the next step after graduating, here are a few quick tips to help you use your resume to show off the best of your education to our recruiters.
Introduce the essentials
As with any section of your resume, make the information you present as clear and concise as possible. Leave nothing to chance, and leave no room for recruiters to raise a question. With that in mind, start with the essentials:
- Full school name (no abbreviations) and location
- Level of degree attained or pursuing
- Your major and/or minor
- Year (or expected year) of graduation
It seems simple enough, but you’d be surprised how many candidates disqualify themselves by failing to include basic information like this. Don’t be one of those candidates.
Inspect the job announcement
Some federal job announcements may request additional information about your education, while others may not. Read the job announcement thoroughly to make sure you’re including all the requested details, which may include:
- GPA
- Honors and/or organizations
- Job-related coursework
- Certifications
In cases where this information is not required, remember that anything that can help a recruiter see who you are and what value you can bring to the organization is worth adding. If any of these details demonstrate your expertise and help make your case as a qualified candidate, include them.
Inform your audience
When it comes to your resume, your audience is the recruiter and the hiring manager. These are the people who need to get the most accurate first impression of your suitability for the job and give you the thumbs-up or thumbs-down based on what you share.
To achieve the most clarity, never assume your audience is familiar with information pertaining to your major or your degree. Courses and programs are not universal between various colleges and universities, so for any information from above you include, add in:
- Specific duties and tasks
- Tools, software, or systems used
- Any relevant projects
- Results and outcomes
Remember, you want your audience to be able to know, at a glance, what you’ve done and what you may be capable of. Again, leave no room for questions.
Identify important keywords
As we mentioned above, a resume is all about first impressions, and our recruiters can sometimes get dozens of applications depending on the position. Sorting through all that information takes time, so they will start their reviews by looking for keywords.
Go back to the job announcement and examine it for keywords that seem important to the position, things that stand out as relevant to the work you’ll be doing. Those words are there for a reason, so it’s critical that you identify them.
Significant keywords can typically be found in these sections of a job announcement:
- Duties
- Requirements
- Specialized experience
Include applicable language
Once you’ve identified the core keywords in the job announcement, review your resume and include these keywords where applicable. For example, if part of your coursework was “reviewing” data, but the job announcement wants “analyzing” information, make the swap.
These keywords will be important to help bolster your resume, especially if you’re competing against candidates with more extensive work histories. Including keywords shows you read the job announcement and pay attention to detail.
Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of copying and pasting the identical language from the announcement into your resume. That’s a red flag for recruiters and hiring managers, and you don’t want to give them a reason to disqualify you.
Work at VA
Remember: your resume is the first impression you will make on a recruiter, so make sure that impression is a good one!
- READ more job news and advice.
- EXPLORE opportunities for students and new graduates.
- WATCH “Talk About It Tuesday” for more application tips.
- SEARCH for the job you want at VA Careers.
