How can you make the most of your college experience?

I'm 24, I didn't go college, and my work experience is very limited. What can I put on my resume to make my high school education look more stand out?

• Answer:

  High school is ancient history. Your resume should show the last five years. However, just because it may SEEM limited doesn't mean you don't have skills/talents/experience. There are multiple formats you can use to do a resume. I highly recommend that you pick up a current version of What Color Is Your Parachute? This is an excellent tool for identifying what makes you worth hiring. The common type of resume you see is chronological order of jobs, but if that doesn't benefit you, try another one such as highlighting skills and grouping experience together. You can put your jobs down like this: XYZ Corp Job Title 01/01 - 06/01 ABC Inc Job Title 06/01 - 02/02 And then under it summarize your skills & experience: Think about each job you've had, and list the skills that you may have learned. List any volunteer or hobby activities that may be useful. Example: Let's say that your job was being the counter person at McDonald's, which may not sound that impressive. However, in that job you may have used the following skills: Conflict resolution Sales Organized Time management High demand environment Multitasking Team Player Customer Service Perfect Attendance Trustworthy Did you fill in for the manager? Did you help with inventory? Did you balance the drawer? Did they give you any training? Did you win any awards? Put it on there. Do you have any computer skills? Do you have any honors people might be interested in? Eagle Scout? Honor Roll? Do you have a perfect driving record? Did you ever work on a big project (like an Eagle or God & Country project, or Junior Achievement)? If so, then you've done project management. The main thing you want to do is make sure that everything you put down is TRUE. While it's natural to want to fudge a little to make it souind better, false information can get you fired when it's discovered even if it is YEARS later.