Resumes: Work Experience vs. Education

There is one resume mistake that stands out from the rest for anyone who has ever had a job (paid or volunteer) or an internship.

No matter what… always move your education to the bottom of your resume and your work experience to the top. This strategy will make your resume more effective time and again.

You Are More Than a Degree

If you begin your resume with ‘Education,’ you sacrifice coveted space to, frankly, the least interesting part of you to an employer.

Employers want to know what do you know how to do

We are entrenched in a skills-based economy, and what really counts are your abilities. It doesn’t matter if you learned them at college, an internship, a full-time job or while babysitting your neighbor’s kids.

Skills. Skills. Skills.

Employers want them, and your resume must quickly prove you’ve got them.

The challenge in this hyper-technological world full of 140-character tweets is to immediately convince someone of your specific benefits to them. Always put yourself in the place of the interviewer or company and think WIIFM (What’s in it For Me).

Start with The Best Stuff

In journalism, it’s called the ‘lead’. The ‘lead’ here is your relevant skills, current job and the most compelling duties or accomplishments you have mastered to date.

If you only have internships and not a ‘real job,’ it’s OK to start with those positions too. Be detailed about the work you did and let your experience — not your college — describe you.

Bosses Don’t Care Where Your Skills Come from But Only That You Have Them.

If an employer has to scan the page to find the goods (the ‘skills’), then you have effectively ‘buried the lead.‘ That’s a journalism (and employment) no-no.

What About My Expensive Education?

Don’t worry. The employer will locate your college and degree(s) at the bottom of the resume. Just realize that a diploma alone won’t make you different. Whether it’s a two-year associate’s, four-year bachelor’s or online coursework, plenty of people have graduated from somewhere.

Show Your Diverse Range of Talents

Crack open your resume right now and place Work Experience at the top. In today’s job market, your skills are the greatest thing you’ve got.