For recent graduates, the organization and format of your resume should be slightly different than for someone who has been working for a few years. Remember the purpose of a resume is not to showcase everything you’ve ever done, but rather to show that you have the background, skills, and experience for the job at hand.

Follow these guidelines to help put together a resume now that you have finally graduated:

Education

For a new graduate, your education is your “greatest accomplishment” and you do want to have this front and center. Remember, when applying for positions, employers will be looking closely at your education.

Beneath your university, you have the option of adding two sub categories if they will showcase relevant skills for the position:

Relevant Coursework — if you completed a specialized course or a course outside of audiology requirements, highlight these and how they contributed to enhance/further your educational experience.

Awards — If the honors you’ve earned mainly serve to illustrate that you did well in school, you don’t really need this section. But if you have awards that showcase your leadership abilities or other professionally relevant skills — go ahead and keep it.

Experience

Create a sub-category of “Relevant Experience” under education since most of this was obtained as part of your education.

Below that you could add another section titled ”Additional Experience” if you participated in an internship that you feel will help with the job application.

Extracurriculars

Extracurricular experiences are a big part of any college experience — not to mention, they often help you develop skills that companies want. With this in mind, try branding your extracurriculars in a way that is appealing to your future employer. For example, if you’re going into a field that requires taking initiative with limited supervision, labeling your extracurricular experiences section as “Leadership” might be a good way to go. On the other hand, if your position requires more teamwork and community building, consider “Community Involvement.”

In terms of format, it’s a good idea to format your extracurriculars like you organized your work experience: the organization name, your role (president, VP, social chair, sophomore representative, etc.), the dates you were involved, and bullet points detailing your accomplishments. You want to send the message that you took your work for student organizations just as seriously as your internships — and that they should be considered as such.

Skills and Interests

This section of your resume will likely be on the bottom. Think “hard skills” for this section — Excel, manufacturer fitting software, specific ABR equipment — not “soft skills” like communication or organization. You can also consider adding relevant interests. If you feel some of your interests would be applicable to your audiology position, then adding it would be a plus. For instance, you volunteer at charity events which could translate to helping with outreach programs or organizing community hearing screening. Remember, you have a page to put information that will be appropriate, so putting down that you waterski is not adding anything to your resume.

Go ahead and put together your resume and remember you may need to tailor a resume for each specific position that you apply for. Now go ahead and get your resume out there!

Adapted from: https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-stepbystep-guide-to-your-postcollege-resume

Words to include or not to include in your resume…that is the question!

With only a short amount of time to make an impression with your resume, using the right words to communicate your value to potential employers is important.

When putting together your resume, highlight your skills and experience using action-oriented phrases that will show rather than tell why you should be considered. Some common terms such as "results driven" or "go-to person" are overused, have lost their meaning and won’t have the impact you are trying to the convey to a potential employer.

For example, instead of saying "Results driven person that delivers impactful results", try something like “Developed a new hearing aid checklist to be used with student interns to increase efficiency during the hearing aid fitting process.”

Avoid self-promotion phrases such as "self-starter" as this does not explain how you would bring value to your role. Instead use something like "Identified the need to coordinate services with speech language pathology for newly identified hearing-impaired patients under the age of 3 and Implemented a new procedure to reduce time in receiving benefits."

Another phrase to stay away from in your resume is “people person” since any job in Audiology will require you to work with people. Again, you want the statement to be action-oriented, so use something like “Established monthly meetings increasing team collaboration and resulting in better communication to coordinate services.”

Other phrases to stay away from:

• Go-getter
• Strategic thinker
• Think outside the box
• Detail oriented
• Hard worker
• Self-motivated
• Team player

Words to include on your resume:

• Created
• Developed
• Established
• Managed
• Improved
• Increased/decreased
• Trained/mentored

Tip: Include numbers to support your accomplishments as this will help you stand out from other applicants!

Adapted from: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/words-to-avoid-and-include-on-a-resume

View more action verbs here: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/action-verbs-to-make-your-resume-stand-out

Resume tips

Getting a job? A 4th year placement? It all starts with the resume. When creating your resume, keep in mind that the main goal of the resume is to obtain an interview. Remember you have about 15 seconds to impress a potential employer.
Use resume templates…here are a few examples:
www.resumetemplates.com
https://novoresume.com/resume-templates

Keep your resume to one page
Keep it professional…no fancy fonts, italics or underlining
Leave out personal information
Quantify work results as they have more impact

Examples:
Instead of: Experience working in a fast-paced environment
Try: Completed 20-30 hearing evaluations per day during clinics

Instead of: Team player with cross-functional teams
Try: Collaborated with Pediatrics, Internal Medicine and ENT to streamline referral process and prevent interruption of care to patients.

Want to have your resume reviewed?
The American Academy of Audiology provides a free review service.

Learn More

The cover letter

A cover letter is a document sent with your resume to provide additional information on your skills and experience and why you are qualified for the job to which you are applying.

What should be included in the cover letter:

How you learned about the job…and a referral if you have one
Why you are qualified for the job…be specific
What you have to offer the employer…match your skills to the job description
Thank them for being considered for the job

Some helpful pointers:

Use the person’s name if you know it, otherwise use “To Whom it May Concern”
Proofread your cover letter – no typos or misspelling of the company name or contact person. Read the letter aloud. It is a good way to catch small typos, such as missing words.
If you are sending the cover letter via email, in the subject header include the job title or reference number, then follow it with your name.
The cover letter should not be more than three paragraphs with the most important information in the beginning.
Focus on the employer and how you can help their organization.
Use keywords relevant from the job description.

Reference materials

The phone interview

More and more, phone interviews are being used as an initial employment screening technique to determine whether you will be invited for a face-to-face interview.
Since this is your first initial contact with the company, you should approach this interview in the same manner as you would the in-person meeting.

Below are some tasks to to help you get prepared:

Have your resume and cover letter accessible
Research the company website
Have a cheat sheet with bullet points of what you want to say and a pad and pen to take notes
Make sure the location is quiet and private
Consider using a landline or make sure you have a good connection if using your cell phone
Smile… it conveys enthusiasm
To help increase confidence, consider dressing more professionally
Have some water nearby
Your calendar should be handy to schedule the face-to-face meeting

Next:
Read interview tips

Go to Interview Tips

Pre-interview tips

Post College Resume: Step-by-Step Guide

Words to include or not to include in your resume…that is the question!

Resume tips

The cover letter

The phone interview

Next: Read interview tips

Next:
Read interview tips