How to talk up your study achievements in your CV
Studying has plenty of benefits like boosting your employment prospects, highlighting your credibility as well as emphasising your reputation as a professional. While having a qualification in a field you’re genuinely interested in is beneficial, you need to be marketing yourself as a valuable professional on paper as well. The process of looking for a job can be tedious but if you put in the work and know how to structure your resume and cover letter to highlight your study achievements, it can benefit your career in the long-term.
According to Elevator magazine, a job post receives an average of 250 resumes, so with competition being high, writing a quality resume and cover letter and incorporating your study achievements can potentially help you make your mark with future employers and get the dream role you want.
Here are the steps to take on how you can talk up your study achievements and highlighting the value of the course you studied in your CV.
4 tips to talk up your study achievements in your CV
- Talk about the skills you gained from your qualification.
- Include volunteer experience.
- Highlight your academic achievements in your cover letter.
- Emphasise how study has helped you with a promotion.
1. Talk about the skills you gained from your qualification.
You can highlight how a business management qualification has helped you develop skills in project management, leadership, managing finances and more. By highlighting these valuable skills and tying it into real-work experiences, you can effectively show the value of your qualification and how it has helped you move up the ranks and be able to manage tasks effectively in your current role.
Upskilled has a range of business management courses you can choose from and are designed to be completed within 12 months. Due to their flexibility of being online, you have the opportunity to study without compromising your work schedule.
2. Include volunteer experience.
Despite not receiving any remuneration, volunteer work is valuable to have on your resume. By taking time outside of your current schedule to build new skills and make connections with people within your industry can be beneficial to your career.
Volunteering also helps you do rewarding work. It allows you to develop new skills and build relationships with other people. It also shows loyalty because you are committing your time to an organisation and highlights your positive approach to working.
Emmett Findley started working in the volunteer department at God’s Love We Deliver before working in the Communications department of the organisation. He shares that volunteering is an opportunity that “shows your commitment and your work ethic”, which leads to the point that by showing a sense of loyalty in any role, especially in a volunteer capacity, can help enhance your job prospects.
Gaining volunteer experience can also be beneficial if you’re returning to work after a while and need relevant skills combined with your studies.
3. Highlight your academic achievements in your cover letter.
However, when highlighting your academic achievements, you need to think outside of rankings and marks and more so about how your studies have made an impact in an organisation. By asking yourself the following questions, these may help you highlight your achievements better, especially when talking about your studies in your cover letter:
- How has this qualification made a difference in my previous job roles?
- Has further training produced positive results for a particular work project?
- Do I have volunteer or internship experience that has complemented my studies?
Writing a cover letter can be difficult at first since it needs to be concise and ideally be between half a page and one full page in length. By using dot points to highlight your academic achievements can be a smart way to display this on your cover letter if you are limited to how many words and pages you can fit for a job application.
4. Emphasise how study has helped you with a promotion.
If you’re looking for ways to promote yourself into a better position, then undergoing further study may be worth looking into. Not only does it prove to employers that you’re highly skilled and knowledgeable, but it can also demonstrate that you’re more than capable of doing a job that is related to your desired career path.
For example, you may have pursued a 10118NAT - Diploma of Social Media Marketing qualification because you wanted to be promoted into a social media manager position from a coordinator role. You could explain how this qualification has helped you boost a company’s online channels by using effective stats on your CV like, “After course completion, the number of followers on LinkedIn and Facebook went up by X%”.
In a job interview, you can use these stats to your advantage, highlighting your expertise and the relevant skills you gained from a qualification that can help you talk up your study achievements and how it has been integral to your career progression.
Need to boost your skillset before returning to work?
Whether you’re a seasoned professional looking to return to work after a leave of absence, it’s important that you are well-prepared for a job interview and be able to write an impressive CV that highlights your existing talents and skills. If you’re looking for an opportunity to boost your self-confidence and knowledge, then undertaking further study may be your answer.
Upskilled has a great range of online courses in community services, information technology and business. Most qualifications are designed to be completed within 12 months and you will receive the support of a dedicated trainer throughout your studies.
By having the flexibility of online study, you can accelerate your studies and finish earlier but that all depends on your skill, experience and motivation. Get in touch with an education consultant today and explore your options on how an online course can help you when it comes to finding employment.
)
)
