It’s never too early to work on your resume. Whether graduation is three months away or three years, there are important steps you can take to build and enhance your resume. Companies in the future will look at more than just your GPA, so you need to make sure you’re doing what you can to bulk up those other important areas of the page. Below, we’ve listed several important ways to improve your resume before graduation—from volunteer opportunities to joining more clubs. These resume builders will add more meaning to your personal life as well; check them out!
Participate in Volunteer Work
Giving back is great for your resume and building some more character for yourself. There are tons of different ways to give back as a college student, from setting up clothing donation drives to regularly visiting a local nursing home. The more regular you can make your volunteer work, the more impressed prospective employees will be with your ability to handle multiple projects at once.
Learn a New Skill
You may not have the time to become a complete graphic designer, but you probably have time to learn how Photoshop works. There are two different types of skills you can put on a resume—hard skills and soft skills. Soft skills are universal and refer to things like communication, empathy, or active listening. Hard skills are the new skills you can really lay some groundwork for. Some examples are MS Office, CRM Software, coding, and SEO.
Get Work Experience
You probably already know that this is an essential aspect of the resume, but you may be quite stressed out about it. Everyone always talks about how important work experience is, but truth be told, some work experience is better than none. Even if it doesn’t directly correlate to your dream job, chances are there some important soft skills you’ll learn there that will transfer over. Strive for some sort of work experience, whether that’s a part-time job or an internship.
Join Some On-Campus Clubs
As we briefly mentioned, clubs are a wonderful way to improve your resume. Prospective employees will want to see that you cared about something other than schoolwork. Better yet, take on a leadership role in the club. Though they may not care too much about being on the debate team, they will care if they see that you were in a leadership role for the club. It showcases those soft skills that are easily transferrable.
Start an Off-Campus Project
Now, if you really are graduating in three months rather than three years, you may not be able to get this project in the air by the time you start applying; but the sooner you start, the better. Participating in unique projects that relate to your major will show employers that you have a creative mind and the motivation to get things done. You could manage the social media website for a local radio station or sell t-shirts for a local fundraiser. It’s a great way to network as well!
