Building a Perfect Co-op Resume (February 2022)

At Northeastern, we are given the tools to succeed early in our academic careers by preparing us for our professional careers. Co-op is an incredible and fundamental part of our college experience, and preparing your resume is a crucial piece to achieving your dream job. Your resume is often the first point of contact between a job seeker and a potential employer. It’s the living and breathing document that will initially help you get in the door for an interview. The ultimate goal is to highlight your personal skills, experiences, and achievements in a positive and memorable light. Here are a few tips in constructing the perfect co-op resume to help secure the co-op of your dreams!

Tailor your resume to the job you are applying to

There are lots of ways to specialize your resume to effectively market yourself depending on what position you are applying to. In order to do this, it’s vital to research the general field you are interested in as early as possible. Reaching out to your individual network and learning more about the field you are interested in is vital to understanding the candidate recruiters are looking to hire. Read articles, take classes that prepare you for the hard skills you’ll want to demonstrate, and join clubs with the same professional motives. 

Once you have an idea of the position you are looking for, crafting your resume around what an employer might want to see is the next step. This can be presented in a multitude of ways. Organizing your bullet points to focus your reader on the skills you want to highlight, as well as describing your experiences in a digestible and effective manner will benefit your employer.

You can do this by using keywords that are highlighted in the specific job description at hand. Employers love seeing quantifiable impact as well, if you can explain the why and your individual impact on an experience, that will help your interviewer understand the boxes you check off as a candidate.

Keep it concise

Recruiters spend less than ten seconds skimming through your resume, therefore it is incredibly important to keep it snappy. They read through an unfathomable amount of resumes, therefore Effectively communicating your accomplishments through your resume is arguably as important as the accomplishments themselves. Highlight your relevancy efficiently. 

Revise, Edit, and Revise again

Before submitting your resume it is imperative to proofread your resume numerous times. Having typos, inconsistent styling, or grammatical errors looks sloppy and unprofessional and will likely hinder your chances of getting the position. Have your peers read through your resume as a second set of eyes to ensure that you are not missing anything.

And remember, you can always edit your resume, there is no deadline!

Building the perfect resume requires time and effort, but the results are worth it. Good luck in your job search!!