Academic Skills resume example & writing guide

Why use this academic skills resume example?

This example resume focuses on pointing out relevant skills and experience that fit the job description the candidate is applying for. The order of the content is a bit different from a typical resume format because it starts out with a section called “Qualifications Profile” that highlights areas of knowledge, as well as strong skills and abilities. 

The next section is “Educational & Professional Training”, listing formal education, professional development activities, and certifications. This area is very important for any student preparing to finish their studies and enter the working world. The way most resumes show degrees and formal education is to list the degree name, date of completion, school name, and location. Optionally, you may also include your GPA and any honors you received.

For your training and certifications, you should list those after your degrees. Using a similar format, name of certification or training, date of completion, and the name of the provider. Optionally, you can include some extra details about the subject of the training or certification. This is helpful if it is something that is unique or proprietary.

The last section on the example resume is experience-related - both academic and employment. Your academic experience is just as important as your work experience, at this stage of your life. Create good descriptions that cover what you learned and specific skills or tools you gained. Don’t make any of your descriptions too long. Just a few sentences, at most. Focus on the key topics and subjects that were covered in your primary or major area of study.

How to write a great academic skills resume

Creating your resume when you are just starting your career after college is tough. You don’t have a lot of experience to include. As we already covered, you need to build your resume based on your academic work. If you did have any jobs, either during college or before, then you will want to include those as well. It's crucial to highlight both your work history (formal or informal) and your education. You can also show your skills and abilities by including extracurricular activities, internships, and volunteer work.

Determine what skills and experiences are required for the job you want by looking at the job listing. Examine your experiences in school and outside of school, and identify how you developed the necessary skills and knowledge. For example, if you worked as a cashier, then you learned customer service and organizational skills. Use your extracurricular activities too. Team sports, for example, can give you teamwork and leadership skills.

Some general tips for writing a good resume are:

• Use action verbs. Start your descriptions and achievements with strong action words. They are more effective and grab the reader's attention. Use action words like developed, built, led, researched, and created to portray your experiences in a more vibrant way.

• Quantify your examples. Use numbers whenever you can because they make your work and accomplishments more tangible and understandable. Using the cashier example again, you could say that you managed over $20,000 in revenue daily, or that you assisted over 100 customers per day.

• Proofread. Check your resume very carefully before submitting it. You don’t want to send a resume with spelling, grammatical, or other errors. That will ruin your chances. It’s always a good idea to have someone else review your resume.

Which key skills are relevant for an academic skills resume?

As a student, you may not have a lot of professional skills. However, you do have all the skills and knowledge you gained during your academic career. This is what you need to put on your resume. You can include these in your experience descriptions or as a separate section with a list of keywords or terms, one for each skill.

Some great skills to put on your resume include:

• Critical-thinking

• Troubleshooting

• Customer service

• Detail-oriented

• Communication

• Teamwork

• Leadership

• Quick learner

• Computer programming

• Mathematics

• Business administration