How to List Education on Your Resume - Your Career Intel

How to List Education on Your Resume - Your Career IntelYoure probably familiar with the Golden Rule of Resumes experience first, education second. In most cases, your recent professional work is much mora relevant to your application than where you went to college a decade ago. As a result, its easy to invest a lot of effort into perfecting those job achievement bullets only to lose steam by the time you get to the resume education section.Unfortunately, the resume education section is leid always straightforward. What if you attended multiple schools but never formally completed your degree? What if youre a mid-career candidate will including old graduation dates work against you? Should you list your GPA or college honors in the education section of your resume?Fear not weve got you covered. Heres how to address some tricky resume education section dilemmasIf you attended multiple colleges before receiving your degreeOnly list the final school from which you graduated. Theres no n eed to list every school you spent a semester at before switching to another program. The same goes for study abroad programs. Unless that semester you spent in Australia a decade ago is immediately relevant to your current job application, leave it off.If you graduated with honorsDefinitely include your summa cum laude status or that you were in the honors program at your university, but skip the GPA. Unless youre a recent graduate looking to land your first job, including your GPA is considered a resume faux pas.If youre currently in schoolAttending a part-time master of business administration or Masters program? Even if you have not formally completed coursework and received your degree, as long as youre currently enrolled and intend to fulfill all the degree requirements you can include the program on your resume. Be sure to note that youre a degree candidate and include the date you anticipate receiving your degree. For example, you might list, The University of Texas at Austi n, McCombs School of Business, MBA candidate, expected May 2018.If you didnt complete your degreeDont lie, embellish credentials, or list something cheesy like School of Life, Attendee. If you satisfactorily completed coursework in a relevant field, you can certainly include these classes, but dont imply you earned a degree if you never did. If you feel your education section is a little light, sign up for continuing education or professional coursework and include these classes. For example, if youre applying for a digital marketing role, you could include recent SEO or social media certifications.If youre more than five years out of schoolDont list your graduation dates. The reviewer cares that you have a degree, not when you earned it. In fact, including graduation dates could even backfire, especially if the reviewer becomes concerned that youre too old for the position.Of course, there are always exceptions to a rule. Perhaps you took two years off to return to school and compl ete your Masters Degree. You graduated a few months ago but are having a tricky time finding a new job. By all means, include your recent graduation date. This will address any concerns the reviewer may have about the job gap on your resume.For more resume tips, be sure to check out the following blogs.Resume Skills Section 4 Dos and DontHow to Include Internships on Your Resume