What’s More Valued, Education or Experience?
Knowing their relative value to potential employers will help you organize your resume.
By Shane Christopher

Military transitioners constantly ask me how to best position their education on a résumé.  Education and experience are each vital components of your résumé. Knowing what level of importance they are to an employer is important information when creating a résumé. (For the purpose of this article, consider education and training to be synonymous terms.)

Examine how your education benefits a prospective employer. More than anything, an education teaches you critical thinking skills and a thirst for lifelong learning. Unless your desired field is highly specialized, the specific coursework choices are not very important. College conditions you to ask questions, analyze problems and improve processes. Someone without college education may look at things from a more shortsighted perspective.  An educated employee is able to look at the bigger picture and ascertain causes, effects and trends. 

Here’s an example:

Problem: Our sales are down.

Uneducated solution: Hire more sales people and make them work harder!

Educated solution: How are your sales people compensated and incentivized? What are the market trends?  Have you seen increased competitor activity recently? 

If education builds your professional foundation, experience proves your ability to effectively use your education to the benefit of your employer.  By itself, an education is little more than a license to work a particular job. Graduation ceremonies are called commencements because they mark the beginning of your career. Now that you have graduated, your experience will differentiate you from others and prove your abilities in the workplace. 

So it follows that you should lead your résumé with what is most relevant to your stage in proving those abilities. Moreover, if you have made the most of your education, then your post-education work experience should be more impressive than your education itself. 

If education is listed at the top, employers will presume that you have little or no relevant work experience in the field.  If that’s true, then by all means put it at the top.  I’ve seen some job seekers who graduated from prestigious schools who, despite having several years of work experience, wanted to list their education at the top of the résumé.  Believe me, employers will find your education and if you attended a great school, you will receive your deserved credit.

Résumé Tips

When listing your education, here are some good guidelines:

Always include:

• Degree or certification name.
• Name of the educational institution along with its location (city, state).
• Dates attended and graduation date.
• Honors achieved.

Consider including:

• GPA (typically only list if you’re a recent grad and typically only if 3.0 or above).
• Scholarships (only for relatively recent graduates).
• Sports or extracurricular activities (typically only if at a varsity level).
• Leadership positions held in student government or within extracurricular activities (only for recent   graduates).
• Listing of relevant courses (only for new graduates to show knowledge within a field).
  

5 Questions Interviewers Always Ask

Richard Bolles, author of “What Color is Your Parachute? A practical manual for job-hunters and career-changers,” said there are five questions all employers ask.  Practice answering these questions to align your thoughts and nail your next interview.

1) Why are you here?

A: To effectively answer this question, you must know why you are interested in working for an organization.  Be savvy when answering by giving specific examples drawing from the research you’ve conducted about the company.

2) What can you do for us?

A: An employer needs to know that hiring you will benefit the company.  Provide specific examples from your past experiences and relate them to the position.

3) What kind of person are you?

A: By meeting you in a face-to-face interview, an employer gets to evaluate your personality and how well you carry yourself. In this case, they are trying to see how well you match up with the company’s culture.

4) What distinguishes you from 19 other people who can do the same thing?

A: An employer is asking what makes you stand out among the other candidates who are applying for the same job.  Your answer should include qualities and specific accomplishments that can be directly related to the job. It should be something that will impress the employer.

5) Can I afford you?

A: Employers are often wondering how much you want to be paid. If you are asked this question, try to state your answer as a range. This helps you to avoid pricing yourself out of the market for the position. Be sure to research your geographical area to determine the appropriate salary.