Crafting a Standout Resume: Grads With A Bachelor’s Degree

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Key Infor­ma­tion:

  • Cus­tomize your resume for each job appli­ca­tion by high­light­ing rel­e­vant skills, expe­ri­ences, and edu­ca­tion that match the job require­ments.
  • Focus on quan­tifi­able achieve­ments and spe­cif­ic exam­ples to demon­strate your impact and effec­tive­ness in pre­vi­ous roles or projects.
  • Main­tain a clean and pro­fes­sion­al for­mat with clear head­ings, bul­let points, and con­sis­tent font styles to ensure read­abil­i­ty and a pol­ished look.
  • Incor­po­rate indus­try-spe­cif­ic key­words to pass through Appli­cant Track­ing Sys­tems (ATS) and catch the atten­tion of hir­ing managers.

Most col­leges don’t do a great job with job mar­ket prep. In fact, you might get through col­lege with­out ever learn­ing to write a resume. While col­leges teach a lot of impor­tant stuff, they often for­get about prac­ti­cal things like this. Writ­ing a resume is super impor­tant for get­ting a job, but many stu­dents grad­u­ate with­out know­ing how to do it. This can leave them feel­ing unpre­pared when they start look­ing for work. Col­leges need to do more to help stu­dents get ready for the real world after grad­u­a­tion. But in the mean­time, I’d like to use my place at Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter to tell you the best tips for craft­ing an impres­sive bach­e­lor’s degree resume.

As a for­mer col­lege writ­ing cen­ter direc­tor, I helped many stu­dents with their resumes. I under­stand how impor­tant resumes are for get­ting a job. Whether you’re a high school senior, a par­ent help­ing your child apply for col­lege, or a col­lege stu­dent about to grad­u­ate, know­ing how to write a good resume is cru­cial. In this guide, I’ll share tips specif­i­cal­ly for cre­at­ing a win­ning resume for bach­e­lor’s graduates.

First pub­lished in March 2024. All data was accu­rate at time of publication.

Resume Writing Guide for Bachelor’s Degree Holders

When I was a writ­ing cen­ter direc­tor, the tough­est part for new grad­u­ates when writ­ing their resumes was not hav­ing job expe­ri­ence. This made them unsure about how to show their qual­i­fi­ca­tions well. But, what I liked most was help­ing them see how their aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ments, activ­i­ties out­side of class, and skills they could use in dif­fer­ent jobs were valu­able. By high­light­ing these things in their resumes, they could prove they were ready for work even if they had­n’t had many jobs yet.

One thing I often sug­gest­ed was talk­ing about class­es they took that relat­ed to the jobs they want­ed. I also told them to men­tion any intern­ships, vol­un­teer work, or part-time jobs they had that gave them use­ful skills. Even being part of clubs or lead­ing activ­i­ties on cam­pus could show they were good at work­ing with oth­ers and tak­ing on responsibilities.

I also told them to include num­bers when they could to show what they achieved. This could be things like their grades, rank­ings in class, or results from projects or vol­un­teer work. Adding num­bers made their achieve­ments more impres­sive and eas­i­er for employ­ers to remember.

Over­all, even though not hav­ing much job expe­ri­ence might seem hard, with the right help and think­ing dif­fer­ent­ly about their skills, new grad­u­ates could make resumes that showed they were a good fit for the jobs they wanted.

Relat­ed Resource:

Col­lege Intern­ships: The Impor­tance of Real-World Experience

Bachelor’s Degree Net­work­ing: The Impor­tance of Build­ing Career Connections

bachelor's degree resume tips

Resume Tips: Basic Resume Writing for Recent Graduates

When it comes to writ­ing a resume, there are some things that are true no mat­ter what kind of resume you’re writ­ing. Your resume should be easy to read and under­stand quick­ly. Make sure to include only rel­e­vant infor­ma­tion that relates to the job you want. Check every­thing for mis­takes before you send it out. 

If you fol­low these rules, you’ll have a good resume that gets noticed by employers. 

  • Keep it Short: Try to make your resume fit on one page. This makes it clear and rel­e­vant. Focus on the most impor­tant stuff to get the recruiter’s attention.
  • Sim­ple Lay­out: Choose a neat, pro­fes­sion­al design with clear head­ings and bul­let points. Employ­ers like well-orga­nized resumes that look professional.
  • Show Rel­e­vant Expe­ri­ence: Talk about expe­ri­ences that relate direct­ly to the job. This could be intern­ships, part-time jobs, vol­un­teer­ing, or impor­tant projects from your class­es. High­light what you achieved to show off your skills and what you can bring to the job.
  • High­light Trans­fer­able Skills: Talk about skills you’ve gained through school, activ­i­ties, and any jobs you’ve had. These skills, like com­mu­ni­ca­tion, team­work, lead­er­ship, prob­lem-solv­ing, and time man­age­ment, are real­ly impor­tant to employers.
  • Check for Mis­takes: Go through your resume care­ful­ly to catch any spelling or gram­mar errors. It’s also help­ful to get feed­back from men­tors or career advi­sors to make your resume even better.

Resume Tips: Highlighting Academic Achievements and Extracurriculars

Craft­ing an impres­sive bach­e­lor’s degree resume is dif­fer­ent from reg­u­lar resumes, too. For recent grad­u­ates, it’s about show­ing what you’ve learned in school and any oth­er activ­i­ties you’ve been involved in. You might not have much work expe­ri­ence yet, so you have to high­light oth­er things like intern­ships or projects you worked on. It’s impor­tant to focus on the skills you’ve gained, like prob­lem-solv­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and show how they relate to the job you’re apply­ing for. 

Here are some of the things you should keep in mind when it comes to writ­ing a resume as a new graduate. 

  • Edu­ca­tion Sec­tion: Put your aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ments first. Include your degree, major, uni­ver­si­ty, grad­u­a­tion date, and any awards you got. This part shows what you’ve studied.
  • Rel­e­vant Course­work: Cus­tomize your resume by talk­ing about class­es that relate to the job you want. This is espe­cial­ly impor­tant if you don’t have much work expe­ri­ence yet. It shows you’re ready for the job.
  • Extracur­ric­u­lar Activ­i­ties: Talk about any clubs you were in, lead­er­ship roles you had, vol­un­teer work you did, or hob­bies you’re pas­sion­ate about. These things show what you’re like out­side of class.
  • Projects and Research: High­light any big projects, research papers, or pre­sen­ta­tions you worked on. This shows you’re curi­ous, good at think­ing crit­i­cal­ly, and can solve problems.

Resume Tips: Tailoring Resumes for Specific Job Applications

One thing about resume writ­ing that a lot of peo­ple for­get is that you can’t just send the same resume to every job. Every job is look­ing for some­thing a lit­tle dif­fer­ent. Tai­lor­ing your resume to each job you apply for is cru­cial. This means adjust­ing your resume to high­light the skills and expe­ri­ences that are most rel­e­vant to the spe­cif­ic job and com­pa­ny you’re apply­ing to. 

By cus­tomiz­ing your resume for each appli­ca­tion, you show employ­ers that you’ve tak­en the time to under­stand their needs and that you’re gen­uine­ly inter­est­ed in the posi­tion. It also increas­es your chances of mak­ing a pos­i­tive impres­sion and land­ing an inter­view. So, take the time to per­son­al­ize your resume for each job opportunity—it could make all the dif­fer­ence in your job search success.

  • Research and Cus­tomize: Before you write your resume, learn about the job and the com­pa­ny. This helps you make your resume fit the job bet­ter. Under­stand­ing what the employ­er wants lets you per­son­al­ize your resume to stand out.
  • Use Key­words: When you write your resume, use words from the job descrip­tion. This helps your resume get noticed by com­put­er sys­tems many com­pa­nies use. Using the right words makes it eas­i­er for recruiters to find your resume and see you’re a good match.
  • Tell Them What You Want: Write a short state­ment about your goals. Make sure it match­es what the com­pa­ny wants. This shows you’re real­ly inter­est­ed in the job and starts your appli­ca­tion off on a good note.

Bachelor’s Degree Resume Examples

If you’re not sure what to do with your resume, it helps to look at some exam­ples. Here’s a resume for a recent com­put­er sci­ence graduate: 

Jane Smith

456 Oak Avenue, Tech City, USA | (555) 987‑6543 | email@email.com

Objec­tive:

Recent col­lege grad­u­ate with a Bach­e­lor’s degree in Com­put­er Sci­ence seek­ing an entry-lev­el posi­tion in soft­ware devel­op­ment. Eager to apply aca­d­e­m­ic knowl­edge and gain prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence in a dynam­ic tech environment.

Edu­ca­tion:

Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­put­er Science

Tech Uni­ver­si­ty, Tech City, USA

Grad­u­at­ed: May 2024

Rel­e­vant Coursework:

  • Intro­duc­tion to Programming
  • Data Struc­tures and Algorithms
  • Web Devel­op­ment
  • Data­base Man­age­ment Systems

Expe­ri­ence:

Soft­ware Devel­op­ment Intern | Tech Solu­tions, Tech City, USA | Sum­mer 2023

  • Con­tributed to the devel­op­ment of web appli­ca­tions using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
  • Assist­ed in debug­ging and test­ing soft­ware solutions
  • Col­lab­o­rat­ed with team mem­bers on var­i­ous cod­ing projects

Tech­ni­cal Sup­port Assis­tant | Tech Sup­port Ser­vices, Tech City, USA | Part-time dur­ing college

  • Pro­vid­ed tech­ni­cal assis­tance to cus­tomers via phone and email
  • Resolved soft­ware and hard­ware issues effi­cient­ly and effectively
  • Doc­u­ment­ed trou­bleshoot­ing pro­ce­dures for future reference

Skills:

  • Pro­fi­cient in pro­gram­ming lan­guages: Java, Python, HTML, CSS, JavaScript
  • Famil­iar­i­ty with data­base man­age­ment sys­tems (SQL)
  • Strong prob­lem-solv­ing and ana­lyt­i­cal skills
  • Excel­lent com­mu­ni­ca­tion and team­work abilities
  • Detail-ori­ent­ed and high­ly organized

Extracur­ric­u­lar Activities:

  • Mem­ber, Asso­ci­a­tion for Com­put­ing Machin­ery (ACM)
  • Vol­un­teer, Girls Who Code men­tor­ship program

Ref­er­ences:

Avail­able upon request

I’ve helped many stu­dents improve their resumes. I know how impor­tant resumes are for your career. By fol­low­ing the tips in this guide, you can stand out to employ­ers. Show off your achieve­ments, tai­lor your resume to each job, and make sure it reflects who you are. Your resume is your chance to shine, so put in the effort to make it great.

FAQs

How do you say you have a bach­e­lor’s degree on a resume?

On your resume, list your degree under an “Edu­ca­tion” sec­tion. You can write it out in a full for­mat like “Bach­e­lor of Arts in Eng­lish Lit­er­a­ture” or use abbre­vi­a­tions like “B.A. in Eng­lish.” 
If you’re tight on space, using abbre­vi­a­tions is okay, but make sure your resume for­mat­ting is consistent!

How do you write a resume if you just grad­u­at­ed?

Since you’re a recent grad, focus on show­cas­ing your aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ments. List your degree, rel­e­vant course­work (espe­cial­ly if it relates to the job you’re apply­ing for), and any aca­d­e­m­ic hon­ors you received. 
Don’t for­get about vol­un­teer work, intern­ships, or research projects you par­tic­i­pat­ed in dur­ing col­lege. These expe­ri­ences can high­light valu­able skills like team­work, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and time management.

Should I put my asso­ciates degree on my resume if I have a bach­e­lor’s?

Gen­er­al­ly, you can skip list­ing your asso­ci­ate’s degree if your bach­e­lor’s degree is in a sim­i­lar field. 
How­ev­er, if your asso­ci­ate’s degree is in a rel­e­vant area that your bach­e­lor’s degree does­n’t cov­er, it might be worth men­tion­ing. For instance, if you have a Bach­e­lor of Arts in His­to­ry but also have an Asso­ci­ate’s Degree in Para­le­gal Stud­ies and are apply­ing for a legal assis­tant job, includ­ing the asso­ci­ate’s degree could be beneficial.

Should I leave my bach­e­lor’s degree off my resume?

Almost always include your bach­e­lor’s degree on your resume! It’s a sig­nif­i­cant accom­plish­ment and shows employ­ers you have the edu­ca­tion­al foun­da­tion for the job. It also demon­strates your com­mit­ment to high­er learn­ing and per­se­ver­ance.
There are a few rare instances where you might con­sid­er leav­ing your bach­e­lor’s degree off your resume, but it’s gen­er­al­ly rec­om­mend­ed to include it. Here are some excep­tions to con­sid­er:
• Dif­fer­ent Degree Need­ed: Apply­ing for an elec­tri­cian job with an Eng­lish degree? List your elec­tri­cian skills instead of your Eng­lish degree.
• Out­dat­ed Degree: Your com­put­er sci­ence degree is from the 1980s? It might not be as help­ful. You can still men­tion it if the skills are use­ful (like prob­lem-solv­ing).
• Lots of Expe­ri­ence: If your resume is burst­ing with rel­e­vant work expe­ri­ence for the job, you could skip the bach­e­lor’s degree to save space.
Usu­al­ly, include your degree! It shows you have a good edu­ca­tion and are a hard work­er. Only skip it in rare cas­es. You can always change your resume for each job you apply for.

Is it okay to put fresh grad­u­ate in resume? What can I say instead of fresh grad­u­ate?

Skip “fresh grad­u­ate” on your resume. Instead, use phras­es like “Recent Grad­u­ate” or “Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­put­er Sci­ence — May 2024” (or your grad­u­a­tion date):
New grad­u­ate
Entry-lev­el pro­fes­sion­al
Junior pro­fes­sion­al
You can also get cre­ative and high­light your skills and expe­ri­ences. For exam­ple, if you did a senior project in web devel­op­ment, men­tion it! This way, you’re show­cas­ing your abil­i­ties while still acknowl­edg­ing you’re a recent grad.