Write a winning graduate resume for your first job hunt

Are you looking for a great first job opportunity after college? Then, you are in for some tough competition. Every year, fresh graduates pour into the job market in the same season looking for their first job. Since your competition is just as talented as you, you will need to put some extra spice into your resume to get noticed by an employer.

First, consider your audience

Are you planning to attend career fairs or job fairs to look for opportunities? Then, your resume will be collected by hiring managers and recruiters who will later review it. If you are applying for jobs through online job boards or company websites, your resume has to go through an Applicant Tracking System used by the employers. Then, if your resume makes the cut, a hiring manager will read it. You will need to customize your resume to match your audience.

Resumes are not meant to be flashy

One mistake made by a majority of first-time resume writers is choosing the flashiest resume template available because they think that it will help them get noticed by employers. However, employers are not really interested in flashy resumes. They prefer clean, modern resumes that are clearly organized. But if you are applying for a job in the creative industry, you will need a creative resume template.

Choose a design that suits your industry

As we mentioned earlier, you will need a creative resume design to compete with professionals in the creative industry. If you work in a field like finance, tech, healthcare, or manufacturing, you will need a clean resume that is concise. If you are applying for a job in academia, your resume will need to have a detailed layout with ample space for all your qualifications. The resume design and template you choose must also allocate enough space to include the important details about each facet of your career.

Keep it short

Since you are a recent graduate, you will likely have very little paid work experience to list on your resume. Therefore, you should aim to keep your resume concise, preferably condensed to one page. If there are multiple extracurricular activities, side gigs, internships, or volunteer work to mention, you can let your resume continue to a second page, sticking with a concise narrative.

Find similar work

Do you know what can help you write a great resume on your first try? Sample resumes. Find a few sample resumes from your industry and your career level. These will show you the common elements expected on a new graduate resume in your industry. Instead of copying a sample resume word-to-word, you can use them to help create a better resume for yourself.

Use job descriptions

Job descriptions will guide you to create a better resume for your first job application. Choose a few job descriptions for your target job title in your industry. Download them and highlight the keywords that the employers have used. Soon, you will notice a common pattern among the keywords. You can use these keywords to describe your qualifications on your resume . Things are much easier if you are applying to a specific job and have a target job description. Then, you only need to use the keywords from the description to tailor it to the job.