You’re approaching the end of your final academic term, and all eyes are on you to see what internship you’ll end up with. Not the best situation to be in, but an excellent one to exploit to your advantage.

Since you don’t have any full-time work experience yet, your education and experience are the only things backing you up at this point, and that’s where a great résumé comes in. Finding an internship with a great company isn’t easy, but a great résumé will go a long way in securing your place with them.

Competition being ruthless, any edge that you can have to make your profile stand out from the crowd will be an obvious advantage.

Here’s how you can go about doing just that.

Step 1

Online resources can provide some great material, but remember that it’s the first place that everyone looks. You can probably use them to understand how the formatting and layout works, but beyond that, they’ll only make your résumé look like one in a million instead of one in a thousand. You want something more – something that will make an employer does a second take and says ‘hey, now that’s impressive’.

Step 2

Your school’s career office is another obvious choice but again, being the ‘go to’ guys. They can only help you so far. Of course, they’re great at helping you with another stuff like how to apply, proper interview procedures and tips, and related things, but the very good stuff on résumé samples – not really.

Step 3

A great idea would be to talk to an alumnus of your college that maybe owns a successful business or is a top-level executive. They’ll be glad just to quiz you on what’s happening at the school, about this professor and that, and old traditions, and will only be too happy to help out with résumé samples. After all, they’re in the best position to know what a great one looks like.

Step 4

Another resourceful approach is to find out from employers what they think a great résumé should look like. Join an HR forum online, for example, and post a query. However, be wary, because hints will be plentiful and mostly just individual opinion, so you will need to learn how to filter out the best advice and use only that.

Once you have collected all the possible tips, put them on paper together and see what makes sense to you. Common sense and empathy will be your best advisors. One will tell you what to use and the other will tell you why. Trust your own judgment rather than blindly following instructions – this will also train you to handle your first job well. If you’re confused about anything, consult with someone again, preferably a different source from the one that gave you the confusing piece of information.

Conclusion

In conclusion, remember to use the following elements in your final résumé. Brevity, Relevance, Accuracy, Clarity and Eloquence – the first letter of each of these nouns, when put together, will tell you exactly what you’ll need to do to yourself before stepping into that first interview room, so good luck and happy job-hunting.

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