Education information

After your work experience, the next most important factor hiring managers look at on your resume is your educational background. Very often, there will be an education requirement for the job you want. To make sure a hiring manager knows that you meet this requirement, you should always include an education section on your resume.

In this lesson, you'll learn how to craft your educational background, as well as what information you should include.

Common ways to list education information

The Education section tells an employer if you meet the educational requirements for a particular position. Your resume should always include this section, regardless of the level of education you have achieved.

To highlight your education, put this section directly below your career objective or summary of qualifications. To de-emphasize it, put this section last. To see examples of different ways to present your educational background on your resume, see the profiles below.

Ashley

Ashley is a recent graduate with work experience that is not in her career field, so she has placed her education toward the top of her resume before her work experience. Her education includes the name of the college, location, date of graduation and degree awarded. She has also listed her high grade point average (GPA) of 3.75. However, you do not have to list your GPA on your resume, especially if it is low. Recent graduates may also want to describe their program of study along with a list of relevant coursework, as Ashley has done.

Zachary

Zachary listed his education at the bottom of his resume because he has extensive work experience and it has been some time since he graduated. Notice that Zachary does not include the dates he earned his degrees. Some hiring managers use your date of graduation to determine your approximate age and may discriminate against you based on this information. You may choose to not include your graduation dates if you think it will be a disadvantage.

Jordan

Jordan's education includes not only her degree but also her more recent certifications. She has listed her education chronologically, but you can also choose to list certifications under a separate heading. Make sure to include the school/organization name, location, and certification awarded for any non-degree educational program.

Try this!

Download our Chronological Resume Template if you haven't already. If you've already started your resume template from a previous lesson, you can open that document.

You will be working only in the Education portion of this document for this activity. Please refer to the following picture:

Replace the template text with your own information. Be sure to remove the brackets as you are replacing text.

1. If you want, you can change the name of this section to reflect what you are including. Some possible titles include Educational Background, Education and Training, or Education and Professional Development.
2. Enter the name of the school you attended in the [Name of School or Institution] placeholder. Use full names of the schools, like Eastern College instead of the abbreviation E.C.
3. Include the city and state where you attended the program in place of the [City, ST] placeholder. Use state abbreviations.
4. Replace the [Years attended] with the name of the month and year you completed (or expect to complete) your education.
5. Enter the name of your degree or program in the [Degree, Award, and/or Honor] placeholder. This can include those earned at traditional two- and four-year universities, community colleges, educational institutions (such as GCFLearnFree.org) and vocational training, Armed Forces training, certifications, workshops, and high school diplomas or GEDs (if you are new to the job market or don't have any additional training). For example, you could write B.A, Communications; A.A., Marketing; or Certificate, Construction Management. If you are including high school on your resume, you can simply use the word Graduated or include a specialty area or honors you received.
6. Include any additional schooling or professional development you may have completed.
7. Save and close the file. You will be adding to it as you progress through the lessons in this unit.

For workshops or training programs, include the workshop and provider name, location, and dates attended.