10 Mar How to Highlight Educational Qualification in Resume for Freshers and Professionals

Your educational qualification in resume is undoubtedly one of the most crucial elements of your resume. In most cases, this section defines your suitability for a job. Employers want to know your academic background and how you fared in your college. While making a resume for beginners, it matters all the more. Some employers give importance to the institute you went to while making a hiring decision. Thus, it is a section you cannot miss at any cost.

Like all other sections in your resume, you need to take care of a few aspects to display the educational qualification in resume in the best way. With VIPApplicant, now you can add all the education details and make your resume comprehensive. A drop-down menu takes care of all the relevant options to make the process easy and fast for you.

In this article

• You will learn the best practices for writing your education section.
• You will know about the mistakes to avoid in your education section.

Also Read: Perfect Your Resume Format With 3 Steps Today 

What is the best place to position your education in your resume?

You should present the most important information first in the resume. If you are a working professional, the employer will be more interested in knowing your current job responsibilities to identify if they match the role requirements they are offering. In this case, your work experience should precede your education section.

What if you are a fresher?

If you have recently graduated from college and are applying for your first job, the employers wouldn’t want to know the details of your summer internship first. Of course, it holds significance, but it is not the first piece of information the employer would want to know about you. While making a resume for freshers, you should position your educational qualification in resume before anything else. If you have worked for a few years and are now back to school to pursue higher education, you may want to follow the order mentioned above.

For instance, you could be an engineer looking for a 2 year experience resume format. You are pursuing your MBA degree and want to pursue a job in your field of specialisation. In this case, it is better to place your educational qualification in resume before your work experience section. By doing this, the recruiters will observe how you are qualified for the job in the discussion.

Hot Tip: If you are applying for a job in academia or want to pursue a PhD, your education should always be top.

What is the correct order of details in the education section?

Your educational qualification in resume should contain details in reverse chronological order. It means your latest education should come first, followed by the one before that and so on. You can also add your part-time education details in this section. However, your certifications and additional qualifications can go into the skills section.

A reverse chronological order implies that your latest education goes first. For instance, you could have done a Diploma course in 2020, a Master’s in 2017 and Bachelors’s in 2015. Follow the same order in the education section.

If you have a decade of experience or more, you can skip the details of your X and XII standards. You will have much more content to present in your resume. It makes more sense to focus on your work experience section instead of your education details.

What is the best way to write your educational qualification in resume?

Now that you know where to place your education section and write your details, here is a template you can follow to mention your educational qualifications.

• Name of the degree: e.g. B.Tech in Computer Science, B.A. Economics
• Name of the educational institution: e.g. Sri Balaji University, St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University
• Years attended: e.g. 2018 – 2021
• Location of the program (optional): e.g. Pune, Delhi
• GPA/Score: e.g. 3.82/4. In India, different universities follow different grading systems. For instance, some universities give a GPA score on a scale of 4, while others give it on 10. Thus, it is advisable to write the scale for better clarity. Moreover, share this information only if your score is impressive. In this case, mention your grade only if you had scored above 3.0.

VIPApplicant, an ai based resume builder, takes care of this and offers a drop-down menu with multiple grading systems. You can choose the one that holds for your case. If you have not finished a course and are still studying it, you can write “Pursuing” instead of your GPA score.

Hot Tip: If you graduated from a reputed university, always mention it along with your college name. Delhi University is well-known across India for the tough competition among students to make it through.

Mistakes to avoid in your education section

Avoid exaggeration

If you are desperately looking for a job, you may get tempted to misrepresent or exaggerate some details about your educational background. Well, we understand your pressure. However, verifying your educational qualification in resume is one of the most straightforward tasks for an employer. We strongly advise you to avoid it at all costs.

Incomplete information = Missed opportunities

Your educational qualification in resume should include your bachelor’s, master’s, and post-graduate degrees. If you did not attend a degree course, you could also include your diploma. Several times, candidates think such information is not required when applying for a job. On the contrary, the recruiter could be looking for a candidate with a profile just like yours. To ensure that you do not lose out on any opportunity, it is always better to put forth all the details.

Key Takeaways

• The resume format for freshers mentions educational qualification in resume before anything else.
• If you are a professional with at least a year of experience, mention your work experience before education.
• When listing your educational entries, follow a reverse-chronological order.
• Skip your scores if you do not have exceptional marks.
• Do not skip your education if you are still pursuing it.

VIPApplicant takes care of resume format for job fresher and gives you a perfect resume in the first go. To make yours today, click here.