From the course: Resume Makeover

Share education and coursework on your resume

From the course: Resume Makeover

Start my 1-month free trial

Share education and coursework on your resume

“

- While you don't have to have an Education section on your resume, and this is especially true if you're applying for jobs that don't require a degree, it'll likely be advantageous to highlight any degrees, coursework, or relevant training that you've completed. Let's start with completed degrees. List these of course, and list them in reverse chronological order with your most recent degree first. You can list graduation year, and for sure do this if doing so will explain why you have limited career experience or a career gap, but this information isn't mandatory. If your degree goes back 20-plus years, I would consider leaving it off. In the worst case, you could experience age discrimination by including this information, whether people realize they're doing it or not. Generally speaking, your education should be listed after your Experience section. The exception to this rule would be if you recently graduated and have little or no work experience or if your education will likely serve as a solid advantage, like a prestigious degree. In this case, I would list your education before your Experience section. Now, if you started at one university and then transferred and earned your degree at another, it's fine to leave that first school off of your resume and just list the one you earned the degree from. Likewise, if you left college before finishing your degree, I would still include it. List the university and then something like, "Coursework completed towards Bachelor of Science in Engineering." It might look like this. And if your degree is in progress, you can list the university, name of degree, and then anticipated graduation date. It's not deceitful to include this. Just be sure to indicate that you're in progress. For continuing education that's relevant to your target job but not a degree, you can list this within the Education section if you'd like or create a separate section called something like Continuing Coursework or Professional Development. There's really no hard and fast rule when it comes to how to list your education, but generally speaking, sharing how and where you acquired your expertise in that chosen field is going to be advantageous.

Contents