Undergraduates - What to and what not to include in resume?

Paul Caint

Hey all,

I had a question about what someone applying straight out of undergrad should include in their resume. I've worn a lot of hats over my undergraduate career. I was originally Pre-Med, so I worked in two biomedical research labs during my freshman year. After realizing medicine was not for me, I spent a summer interning for an appellate court, and then my sophomore year working at a law school as an assistant event planner. Then my junior year I actually took 9 months off school to work on the presidential campaign.

My campaign work is definitely my biggest job, and the one I had the most "prestige" and "authority" in. It was also the largest commitment - while I worked only 15-25hrs/wk in previous jobs, I was working 80-100hr/wk on the campaign. Consequently, I want to devote more space in my resume to this campaign work.

That being said, what should an undergraduate include in their resume? I know the conventional wisdom is keep your resume to ONE page. Thus, space is a precious commodity. Should you include every job you held in undergraduate, or should you just pick the most important ones/relevant ones? I'm thinking of just removing the research labs from the resume, and only including work on the court onward.

Thanks all,

Paul

jack.igoe

@"Paul Caint" said:
Hey all,

I had a question about what someone applying straight out of undergrad should include in their resume. I've worn a lot of hats over my undergraduate career. I was originally Pre-Med, so I worked in two biomedical research labs during my freshman year. After realizing medicine was not for me, I spent a summer interning for an appellate court, and then my sophomore year working at a law school as an assistant event planner. Then my junior year I actually took 9 months off school to work on the presidential campaign.

My campaign work is definitely my biggest job, and the one I had the most "prestige" and "authority" in. It was also the largest commitment - while I worked only 15-25hrs/wk in previous jobs, I was working 80-100hr/wk on the campaign. Consequently, I want to devote more space in my resume to this campaign work.

That being said, what should an undergraduate include in their resume? I know the conventional wisdom is keep your resume to ONE page. Thus, space is a precious commodity. Should you include every job you held in undergraduate, or should you just pick the most important ones/relevant ones? I'm thinking of just removing the research labs from the resume, and only including work on the court onward.

Thanks all,

Paul

Hey Paul,

I was kind of in a similar situation as yourself. Not so much that I had one internship that I was particularly proud of, but that I just had a lot of them. I think it's safe to cut the internships/jobs that don't lend themselves to the purpose of either: proving your interest in law, or providing some alternative confirmation that you're a superior applicant. With that being the case, I would probably cut the research labs.

Seeking Perfection

I wouldn't say the conventional wisdom is to keep your resume to one page. It just usually makes sense for undergrads because our resumes are so thin. Yours is thicker than mine, but I see little reason why all of those things could not be listed on one page.

You could try to combine the biomedical research labs into a single slot. Other than that you listed three things: the internship with the court, the planning position, and the campaign work.

You should have enough space to fit four jobs on a one page resume and to expound a little on the one most meaningful to you. I'm pannicking over how thin my resume seems with 3 jobs.