You've Finished Uni, Now What?

After you complete your Bachelor Degree, there is a multitude of different options to fill out what is likely a bare resume. The following is some options to set yourself apart from the thousands of people who completed the same degree as you.

Masters Program
In an increasingly competitive professional workplace, a Bachelor degree may not be enough to set you apart from other applicants. More and more people are completing their Bachelor Degree and to set yourself apart from other employees you may have to consider completing your Masters.

The following schools are just some of the Masters programs offered in Australia.

University of Queensland
University of Melbourne
La Trobe University
University of New England
Charles Sturt University

Volunteering
Having volunteering experience on your resume shows your potential employee that you are a 'team player' and give back to the community. However as a general rule it is probably better if you steer clear of political and religious affiliations on your resume. Whilst discriminating is illegal on these grounds, it is probably better to go the safe route.
Volunteering can also be a cathartic experience, which will benefit you and your mental well-being.

Keep Reading
An important thing to do when you've finished university is to keep reading within your field of expertise. For example a Business major would read Forbes, Harvard Business review or the Economist online. Go to the library and read something from the last few years. Keeping your knowledge up to date will set you apart from other employees and candidates for a position, and it's easy to tell if someone is well read. Just twenty minutes a night before bed can be all you need.

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Resume Skills - Referees

Referees will show an employer that people are willing to vouch for you as a person. You should use previous employers or mature co workers. It's important to always notify the people you intend to list, so they can expect the call.

If you have no previous work experience it can be tricky finding someone. You may consider a teacher that you got along well with. If you have some time you could consider doing some volunteer work, not only will you benefit the community, but you can also get a handy referee or two up your sleeve.

If you have only worked at one workplace, asking an employer to be a referee is considered inappropriate in many instances. This is especially true if it is a professional workplace, for example you move from Accounting Company A to Accounting Company B. In this instance you could approach a co worker you trust to keep the information to themselves, if not it is probably best to look for other people outside of the organisation. If you ask someone and word gets to your boss, you may be treated unfavourably in many situations in your workplace. There are stories of people being bullied after word gets out of their planned move. This may seem like it's not so bad because you are leaving soon, but you might change your mind about leaving, or due to a dry employment market you may be forced into staying.

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Resume Skills - Key Skills

An important section to include on a resume is your key skills. These are skills that are transferable between jobs. Some examples of transferable key skills are:

• Microsoft Office
• Time management
• Team work
• Communication
• Problem solving

The skills you list are going to obviously depend on the job you are going for. A warehouse worker will probably not need Microsoft Office skills for example.

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Resume Skills - Work Experience

Work experience is one of the most important parts of a resume. The most recent job you had comes at the top, and goes in descending order. If you have held many jobs, then it's not necessary to write detailed information on the job you had as a teenager.

A common format to list your work experience is:
Company Name
Position                                                                                 Year Start - Year End

• Responsibility/Achievement
• Responsibility.Achievement
• Responsibility/Achievement
• Responsibility.Achievement

You can have the time frame next to the company name, or your position. If you have been promoted within the same company it might be better to have it next to the position title, so you can split up the timeframe.

XYZ Accounting Company                                             
Intermediate Accountant                                                         2010 - Current

• Face to face client contact to complete tax returns
• Completion of BAS statements for small to medium sized companies
• Working closely with office support staff
• Increased billings by 5% from 2011/2012 to 2012/2013 financial years

Super Awesome Accounting Firm                                  

Intermediate Accountant                                                       2008 - 2010

Junior Accountant                                                                 2007 - 2008

• Supporting intermediate accountants with tax returns and BAS statements
• Lodging of tax returns to ATO
• Promoted from Junior to Intermediate Accountant within a year

Local Fish & Chip Shop

Store Assistant                                                                     2005 - 2007

• Customer service
• Cash handling

If you have done volunteer work, this may be the place to list it. If it's related to the field you are working in, you can put it in the work experience section - you don't even necessarily have to say you were a volunteer. However if you have had more than one volunteer job, and it's unrelated to your field, you may want to list it in a separate section towards the end of your resume. Volunteer work is excellent on a resume, it shows you are a team player and contribute to your community.

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Resume Skills - Education

Education is one of, if not the most important thing you can do to kick-start your career. For this reason, if a job advertisement asks for your university or similar qualifications, it is best to have it towards the top of your resume.

If you have completed your studies, the below is an example of how to put this on your resume:

University of Melbourne                            2009-2013
Bachelor of Business
Marketing Major
Academic transcript available on request


If you have not completed your studies yet, you could display your current studies as follows:

University of Melbourne                         Expected Graduation December 2015
Bachelor of Business
Marketing Major
Academic transcript available on request

It's unnecessary to list all of your units and marks, however do mention that a transcript is available.

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Resume Skills - Personal Brand Statement

A personal branding statement is basically the 'elevator pitch' of your resume. It's a quick blurb that sits at the top and consists of 1-3 sentences where you try to sell yourself. It can be a tough part of your resume to write, and how you decide to write it is entirely up to you, but I have included a couple of basic examples to get you going:

- I'm an enthusiastic and motivated marketing graduate. I have five years experience in the industry, with complete focus on the customer experience.

- As an executive sales manager, I develop long-lasting customer relationships to increase sales and referrals.

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Resume Skills - Contact Details

At the very top of your resume you will have your contact details. This should be pretty straight forward

Name
Address
Mobile Number
Email Address

Sample:

Bill Gates
100 Main Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
0444 111 555
billgates@gmail.com

Note, it is very important that your email address sounds professional. xoxbill_gatesxox1958@hotmail.com is not professional. 

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Resume Skills

Over the next week I will be posting a guide to writing your resume, one section at a time. Below is a general outline of what should be included on your resume, a guide to each section will be posted daily, with a culmination of the information posted on the last day with a sample resume.


Contact Details

Personal Brand Statement

Education

Work Experience

Key Skills

Referees

Complete sample resume - Coming Soon


Miscellaneous tips:

• Keep the formatting and font simple. Extravagant fonts look unprofessional and can take away from your overall message.
• Don't include a picture unless requested in the job ad
• Keep it to 1-2 pages, especially if you have just left school, in which case you most likely wouldn't have enough experience to fill up more pages.
• Keep dot points short and sharp - you have a cover letter for a reason.

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