5 Essential Sections to Include in Your Resume

 

“You must present all the reasons you’re the best fit for a role quickly, easily, and memorably” ~ Jessica Herandez

Overview

Whether you’re a high schooler looking for your first job, or a recent college graduate, a resume is an essential part of your job search process. It shows the employer who you are, and what you’re capable of doing. Even if you’re a high schooler, creating a resume can help you identify where you can strengthen your resume for the future. Today I present the 5 Essential Sections to include in your resume. 

#1 Skills Summary

Think of this section as a summary of your resume, it most often is the first thing on the resume that employers see, and has the most impact. You should highlight your skills that are relative to the position you're applying for. This section should be about 4 to 5 sentences long, and include at least one example of how you’ve used the skills you’ve listed. 

#2 Education:

The education section of your resume should be tailored to your stage in life, if you’re a highschool it makes sense to list your highschool, and classes you have completed related to the position. However, if you are in college, you really just list your college, specific courses, and the degree you have. Feel free to add course descriptions if you need to make your resume look more complete.

#3 Work Experience

If you’re a highschool student with zero official work experience, this section can be extremely hard to fill out. What you can do is think about those jobs you’ve helped relatives with, maybe it was working a yard sale, or helping your aunt clean houses. You can even put any service activities you’ve done that could be considered a job. If you have work experience, go ahead and add it with a description of your position and role. 

#4 Extracurriculars

This section is most relevant to highschool students who spend most of their time at school in extracurricular activities. In this section you should should include how many years you have been a member, and whether you hold a leadership position. It’s a good idea to add a description of the activity so that the employer knows what you have experience in. If you aren’t in many clubs you can list hobbies, or any organizations you are associated with outside of school or work.

#5 Achievements/ Honors/ Awards

Any achievements, honors, or awards that you have received is significant part of your resume as it lets the employer see you holistically. Not only this but it also allows them to see that you have results from the work you pursue. This is probably the most important part of your resume, because your accomplishments are unique to you.

Conclusion

A resume is your first impression in the employment process. Remember the 5 essential sections but don’t forget to revise and update your resume regularly. Always tailor your resume to the role you are applying for, and think about including only the most important information about yourself. I hope this helps!