How to Write Impressive Resume for Scholarship ?
Competition to win scholarships is very tough and you should be better prepared to present your case in such a manner that it makes you stand out among the hordes of other resumes for the same scholarship.
Before exploring any further the art of writing a winning resume for scholarship, let’s understand what is resume for scholarship. A resume for scholarship is a vital piece of information that highlights your academic qualifications and achievements, your future career goal and any other relevant information that could help you get a scholarship.
Though, writing a resume that helps you win scholarship is an art, yet you can master it with research, good writing and a bit of patience.
Below are listed some steps that will help you compose professional looking resume’ for scholarship:
1. Gather All The Relevant Information: Don’t just start writing scholarship resume, it would be wise to gather all the necessary relevant and important information before starting. Make a list of all your educational qualifications, honors and awards (if any), achievements, extracurricular activities and information that you think might help. Afterwards critically analyze your list and categorize which information is worth featuring on your scholarship resume and which can be left behind.
2. Organizing Scholarship Resume in Right Order: After finalizing your list, it’s time to organizing it in a manner that will seem objective, professional and leaves good impression of you. You should list your achievements in descending order, meaning you should feature your current achievements foremost and then others.
3. Information on Resume: Mention all the required information such as your name, phone number, address, email, date of birth, nationality, education qualifications, marks or percentage scored, school activities, languages known, computer skills, extracurricular activities, hobbies (only those that matters) or job experience or internship etc. You could also mention the objective and how attainment of scholarship will help you achieve your goal. If you are thinking about simply stating you are applying for so and so scholarship then better not mention it. Don’t provide personal information such as marital status, religious affiliation, political views, gender or sexual orientation etc.
4. Be Truthful, Honest and Specific: Temptation to write a resume, embellished with achievements that will instantly stand out is usually great. However, just to make your resume stand out you should never add information that you can’t back with facts or actions. Be honest and truthful when mentioning your skills; don’t write down skills you don’t process.
Also, refrain from blowing your own trumpet. Yes you want scholarship committee to consider you but over embellishing facts, going on and on about your minor irrelevant achievements and not presenting an objective view of your achievements will not help you win that scholarship.
5. Checking for Mistakes: Before sending your scholarship resume to its destinations, make sure your have included all the relevant information and have edited it to make it error free. Small grammatical or spelling mistakes will reflect poorly on you.
Most importantly, refrain from asking someone else to write it for you, even if you think you are no good at it. Do research on scholarship resumes online, get some examples, re-write your copy until you get it right and finally have someone check it for mistakes.
Also, remember, resume isn’t a place to show your drawing skills, make it appear professional by sticking to point and using appropriate font size.
Good luck !
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Resume 101
Rule 1 - Misinformation
Over 60% of what you have read, what you have heard and what you know about a job resume probably does not apply to you. Close is no cigar in Job Seeking. Only one gets hired! The short version is: misinformation is probably (wrong, outdated, and supplied by a person not on the pulse of hiring decision-making) costing you thousands of dollars in pay, costing you job interviews, and leaving your career at a place less than where you want it to be.Rule 2 - 1st impression is not your appearance, but the appearance of the resume
The Layout creates your first impression. If your resume was a new car at a car dealership, you want the hiring manager (customers) to be crowding around your car. You can look like you make $10,000 on paper aesthetically or you can look like you make your market value. Think of book covers and magazine covers. Some are distinguished. Some are cheap and unrefined.Rule 3 - What format is best
Never use the words functional or chronological again they are from the 70's! Whatever it takes to showcase your transferable skills to the employer in your target career field dictates the format. There should be no rules except for honesty to do what it takes to get you an interview.Rule 4 - Use of an objective or other forward looking section
Your resume has to have a forward-looking skills and goals representation at the top of the resume; a "Today through tomorrow" if you will. This section is critical to save the reader time and allow them quick access to your most valuable transferable skills. It should showcase what you are bringing to the table, what your experience and skills mean. The section must be written to build the reader's confidence and momentum (in terms of wanting you) CREATE A PERCEPTION OF VALUE!Rule 5 - Experience Section
The Experience and education section serves to substantiate the perception of value created in the today through tomorrow summary/bio/goals/objective section as detailed in Rule 4.
Over 60% of what you have read, what you have heard and what you know about a job resume probably does not apply to you. Close is no cigar in Job Seeking. Only one gets hired! The short version is: misinformation is probably (wrong, outdated, and supplied by a person not on the pulse of hiring decision-making) costing you thousands of dollars in pay, costing you job interviews, and leaving your career at a place less than where you want it to be.Rule 2 - 1st impression is not your appearance, but the appearance of the resume
The Layout creates your first impression. If your resume was a new car at a car dealership, you want the hiring manager (customers) to be crowding around your car. You can look like you make $10,000 on paper aesthetically or you can look like you make your market value. Think of book covers and magazine covers. Some are distinguished. Some are cheap and unrefined.Rule 3 - What format is best
Never use the words functional or chronological again they are from the 70's! Whatever it takes to showcase your transferable skills to the employer in your target career field dictates the format. There should be no rules except for honesty to do what it takes to get you an interview.Rule 4 - Use of an objective or other forward looking section
Your resume has to have a forward-looking skills and goals representation at the top of the resume; a "Today through tomorrow" if you will. This section is critical to save the reader time and allow them quick access to your most valuable transferable skills. It should showcase what you are bringing to the table, what your experience and skills mean. The section must be written to build the reader's confidence and momentum (in terms of wanting you) CREATE A PERCEPTION OF VALUE!Rule 5 - Experience Section
The Experience and education section serves to substantiate the perception of value created in the today through tomorrow summary/bio/goals/objective section as detailed in Rule 4.
Your experience content cannot be a responsibilities and duties set. Two reasons, one duties and responsibilities are the minimum you are supposed to do therefore this creates a collection of minimums (How attractive!) And secondly, your value is not in what you did, but what you learned from the experience, how doing your job well helped your employer, what you have retained from this experience and how efficiently you can apply what you have retained from this experience. That's why we interview you! Leave migration from a collection of minimums to performance messaging to us.
Rule 6 - Average quality resume does no justice for good quality employee
If your resume does not delineate your most valuable transferable skills and does not expedite the reader's access to these skills then the format is unacceptable!
If your resume does not delineate your most valuable transferable skills and does not expedite the reader's access to these skills then the format is unacceptable!
Rule 7 - English language is your friend or your enemy
If you make $75,000 per year (for example) and your lack of expertise in proper resume preparation has allowed you to put task statements and traits on your resume that you needed for a part-time job in high school (self-motivated, good communicator) then you have infected your resume with terminal career cancer.
Executives don't represent themselves with words that can describe cakes and pies (good, excellent...nonsense!)
Executives form and manage partnerships, create new company cultures, increase interdepartmental idea sharing!
If you make $75,000 per year (for example) and your lack of expertise in proper resume preparation has allowed you to put task statements and traits on your resume that you needed for a part-time job in high school (self-motivated, good communicator) then you have infected your resume with terminal career cancer.
Executives don't represent themselves with words that can describe cakes and pies (good, excellent...nonsense!)
Executives form and manage partnerships, create new company cultures, increase interdepartmental idea sharing!
Rule 8 - A Resume is the most important document you own !
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