The Biggest Resume Mistake Students Make (And How to Avoid It)

 Arya College of Engineering & I.T. says a resume is a concern that one should have in mind when graduating from the first year of engineering. One may think that having an internship, project or a whole range of technical skills is necessary before one starts writing one's resume. However, a resume is not only a documentation of one's achievements; it is a tool that needs developing as one learns, tries and explores new areas of interest.

The resume that one makes while being a student is much clearer regarding one's accomplishments. It covers the education, his achievements in school concerning engineering, technical skills, volunteering, clubs, competitions or part-time work. Even class assignments and personal small projects can be mentioned. First-year resumes emphasize the classwork, technical skills and extracurricular activities. The career guides also provide advice about including academic and personal projects.

From one's resume, one can find out what he still wants to know. He can figure out that he already knows some basics of programming but lacks a project or finds robotics fascinating enough to get into it despite not joining any robotics club and this information can become a good foundation for choosing the next course, extracurricular activity or project and one does not need to wait until the perfect moment comes and take a small step instead, for example, make a simple website, analyze some data set, build a circuit, do teamwork.

Focus on activities and accomplishments when you describe the experience. Use action verbs that indicate the activities, such as designed, tested, built or organized. Mention the tools you use while doing an activity and the results of the accomplishment if you can mention them truthfully and do not use the phrase "worked on a coding project" and write something like "built a Python quiz program using loops and conditional statements". Tips on writing an engineering resume include speaking about your projects, tools and accomplishments rather than your tasks.

Make sure that the resume contains factual details and it is well written. Mention only those skills which you possess and don’t overstate your contribution to the work in the team and revisit the resume whenever you gain any new experience, update it by verifying facts and formatting and get it reviewed by a teacher, senior student or career counselor. Whenever you apply for an opportunity, update your resume by mentioning your experiences and skills.

A first-year resume shouldn’t make everybody excited about it but make you reflect upon what you have accomplished till now and it is just an exercise to prepare yourself for future opportunities and begin with what you know, keep learning and update your resume accordingly. When the internship or job opportunity presents itself, you will have the experience of preparation for the same.