Post Academic

Welcome to the Post Academic Resume Series. We’ve covered the Resume Objective and your Work Experience. Now we’re at the easy part–Education!

If you’re reading this blog, you’re going to have plenty of information for the Education section of your resume.

And that’s the problem. When filling out the Education section of your resume, you don’t want to overdo it. I am in no way suggesting that you should dumb yourself down. Far from it. You’ve gone to a good program, you’ve busted your butt for a graduate degree, and the whole world should know.

Keep your Work Experience section should be at the top. It should also be longer than the Education section. Period. Here are some tips to keep your considerable education from overwhelming the rest of your resume:

Do not list every paper your wrote or every class you took. Keep it at “PhD, English” or “PhD, Philosophy.”

More after the jump! Image of a Swedish typist, public domain on Wikimedia Commons.

Use caution when listing publications. Jerry Jellison has advocated learning to let go of your publications, and I agree, but that doesn’t mean you can’t sneak one or two in. The dissertation is a big accomplishment, and a published book is even better. A list of scholarly articles in journals that few people read might put a hiring manager to sleep, though, so keep it short.

Skip the GPA. GPA info is appropriate only if you’ve just left undergrad and you don’t have a lot of work experience. If you have a PhD, it’s already obvious that you’re smart.

Share pertinent awards. If you have awards related to your educational experience, you may want to list them, but only if they are pertinent to the job. If your award is not related to your educational experience and is relevant to the job, create a separate “Awards” section.