How to Build an Entry-Level Resume That Opens Doors in 2024

Starting your career journey is all about making a standout entry-level resume. This guide is specially designed for recent graduates and those looking for internships, giving you a strong tool to shine in the tough job market.

Building Your Resume

Choosing Your Resume Template

Keep it Simple: Select a classic, black and white resume template. A straightforward layout without columns or tables ensures clarity and ease of reading.

Personal Information and Summary

Personal Information: Begin with your name, contact details, and professional links (LinkedIn or portfolio). Ensure your email reflects professionalism, tied directly to your name without extraneous elements, like [your_name]@[email provider].

Summary (Tell them what’s great about you): Replace the traditional objective statement with a brief, impactful summary of your qualifications. Highlight your key skills, experiences, and professional attributes, setting the tone for the rest of your resume.

Experiment with Your Summary in Bullet Points

At Wealth Waggle, we prefer a bulleted list to keep facts front and center, avoiding the trap of flowery language. Your summary should include:

• Years in the industry (“1+ years in digital marketing…”)
• 2-3 more great awards or successes
• Humanizing element to add personality

Crafting Your Summary Section: A Structured Approach

1. Years of Experience:

Start by stating your experience in the field. For entry-level candidates, this might seem challenging, but any internship, part-time job, or volunteer work related to your field counts. Use a positive spin, especially if your experience is on the shorter side, by adding a plus sign to make it seem more impressive.

• “New graduate with 1+ years of internship experience in digital marketing”
• “Recently certified IT specialist with 6+ months of hands-on project experience”

2. A Success or Award:

Highlight a success or award that is relevant to the job you’re applying for. This could be an academic achievement, a successful project, or any recognition that showcases your ability to make a positive impact.

• “Led a university project team to win first place in a national innovation competition”
• “Recipient of the Dean’s List award for four consecutive semesters for academic excellence”

3. A Rare or Unique Skill, or Another Success/Award:

This is your chance to differentiate yourself from other candidates. Mention a rare skill, language proficiency, or another notable achievement. For languages, specify your level of proficiency.

• “Fluent in English and Spanish, with intermediate proficiency in French”
• “Developed a mobile app for campus navigation that is now used by over 3,000 students”

4. Humanizing Element or Interesting Fact:

End with something that adds a personal touch or an interesting fact about you. This element makes you memorable and adds depth to your professional persona.

• “Avid hiker who has explored over 10 national parks in the last year”
• “Volunteer puppy trainer for a local service dog organization, contributing over 100 hours of training time”

Example Summary:

“Recent marketing graduate with 1+ years of internship experience, specializing in social media campaigns and brand development. Led a campaign that increased student event attendance by 30%. Fluent in English and Spanish, with a passion for multicultural marketing strategies. Avid photographer with a portfolio featured in local exhibitions.”

Education (Detail Your Achievements)

Detail your highest educational achievements, focusing on the degree, institution, and graduation date. Include your GPA if it’s above 3.5, and highlight relevant awards or leadership positions.

Example

• Bachelor of Science in Finance, Marvel University (Expected 2020) – Major GPA: 3.8
• Leadership Experience: President, Finance Club
• Scholarships: Kappa Delta Pi, Sigma Phi Alpha Scholar of Excellence
• Languages: English (Native), Spanish (Fluent), Portuguese (Conversational)

Relevant Experience and Projects (Showcase Your Impact)

Showcase Your Best Work: Tailor your experience to highlight achievements that match the job you’re applying for. Focus on projects directly related to your field.

Use the RAC (Result -> Action -> Challenge) format for impactful entries that showcase how you overcame challenges to achieve results.

If your experience is more concise, the RA (Result -> Action) format can be used for a quick and effective summary.

Example Entries:

Commercial Banking Intern
Bank of Stark, New York, NY (Summers 2017-2019)

• Result: Enhanced loan analysis efficiency by 25%,
• Action: Collaborating on 30-40 personal loan analyses,
• Challenge: Adapting to diverse financial portfolios

Enhanced loan analysis efficiency by 25% by collaborating on 30-40 personal loan analyses, adapting to diverse financial portfolios.

Engineering Project Team Lead
Marvel Engineering Project – ENG 227 (2018)

• Result: Secured “best in class” award for AI prototype,
• Action: Leading a six-member team,
• Challenge: Navigating technical and creative challenges for patent submission

Secured “best in class” award for AI prototype by leading a six-member team, navigating technical and creative challenges for patent submission.

Make Your Mark: The Power of Quantifiable Outcomes on Your Resume

In the competitive landscape of job applications in 2024, the ability to stand out to employers hinges on showcasing your tangible impact early.

By strategically placing quantifiable results at the forefront of your resume and succinctly linking actions to impacts, you can captivate hiring managers from the first glance.

Let’s delve more into how you can effectively implement this approach to elevate your resume.

Illustrating Impact Through Examples

How to Quantify Your Achievements:

• Use numbers and percentages to show the impact you made in past jobs or projects. This is called quantification.
• Examples: 
  • Percentages: Increased sales by 20%.
  • Dollar amounts: Saved the company $50,000.
  • Time saved or improved: Completed a project 3 weeks ahead of schedule.
  • Number of people or items impacted: Trained 10 new employees.
• Here’s a simple formula to follow: Result (what you achieved) -> Action (what you did to achieve it).

Examples of Quantified Accomplishments:

To bring this concept to life, consider examples across various job functions:

• Sales: “Boosted annual sales by 20%, generating an additional $1M in revenue, through implementing a new customer relationship management strategy.”
• Marketing: “Drove a 40% increase in website traffic via a targeted social media campaign, resulting in a 15% uptick in online sales.”
• Project Management: “Completed a major project 3 weeks ahead of schedule, saving $50,000 for the company by optimizing project workflow.”

Tips for Quantifying Your Achievements:

1. Think about your biggest wins: What are you most proud of from your past jobs or projects?
2. Find a way to measure your success: Did you increase something? Decrease something? Save time or money?
3. Use clear and simple language: Avoid technical jargon.

Crafting Your Own Quantified Accomplishments

Empower yourself to create impactful resume entries by following these steps:

1. Identify key accomplishments: List your most impressive and relevant achievements and tailor them to the jobs you are applying for.
2. Quantify the results: Use percentages, dollar amounts, etc., to measure your impact.
3. Describe your actions: Briefly explain what you did to achieve those results.
4. Use strong action verbs: Start your descriptions with verbs that show your initiative and skills.

Practice Exercise: Building Your Own Quantified Statements

Fill in blanks to build your own quantified accomplishment statement using the Result -> Action formula. Here is a template:

• Result: _______ (Quantifiable outcome) by
• Action: _______ (What you did to achieve this result)

Encourage yourself to practice crafting quantified accomplishment statements using the Result -> Action formula for multiple achievements in your career.

By adopting this quantification-centric approach and the Result -> Action formula, you can transform your resume into a powerful tool that gets noticed by recruiters and hiring managers, increasing your chances of landing your dream job.

Highlighting Technical Skills

To craft a resume that stands out to recruiters and hiring managers, especially for tech roles, the “Languages and Technologies” section is crucial. Here are streamlined approaches to present this information effectively:

Approach #1: Separate Languages and Technologies Section

Objective: To clearly display technical proficiencies relevant to the job. This approach prioritizes clarity and relevance, avoiding the listing of outdated or unrelated technologies.

Before Example:

Relevant Skills: Perl, C++, Java (expert), HTML5, CSS3, Bootstrap, JavaScript (ES6—proficient), React.js (expert), PHP, MySQL (expert), Oracle SQL, MSSQL (proficient), AWS, Bitbucket, GitHub, Visual Studio, MATLAB, Eclipse, Android Studio, phpMyAdmin, Adobe Photoshop, Oracle Fusion, Rational Rose, Sublime, Trello, Word

After Example:

Languages and Technologies:
- Languages: JavaScript, Java, HTML/CSS, PHP, SQL
- Technologies: React.js, Bootstrap, AWS
- Other: API design, relational databases, unit, integration & E2E testing

Approach #2: Work Experience Conveying Languages and Technologies

Objective: To demonstrate the application of technologies in real-world projects, highlighting recency and depth of experience.

Example Integration:

Software Engineer—Tax Returns
- Led development projects with Microsoft and EPAM, completed on time with 45% cost reduction using Java and Swing on AWS
- Automated API error handling, reducing support tickets by 80% with Java and MSSQL

Software Engineer – Customer Happiness
- Developed troubleshooting tools, improving efficiency by 30% using React and MongoDB
- Built data pre-processing module for transaction platform with JavaScript/Node.js on AWS

Approach #3: Splitting Out Not-So-Hands-On Languages and Technologies

Objective: To differentiate between current proficiencies and technologies where the candidate has foundational knowledge but may require a refresher.

Example:

Languages and Technologies:
- Languages: JavaScript, Java, HTML/CSS, SQL
- Technologies: React.js, Bootstrap, AWS
- Working Knowledge: Ruby, Rails, PHP

Key Takeaways:

• Relevance and Clarity: Focus on technologies that align with the job requirements and your recent work. Avoid cluttering with every technology ever touched.
• Hands-On Experience: Highlight technologies used in projects to demonstrate practical application and proficiency.
• Eliminate Soft Skills: Show soft skills like “teamwork” and “leadership” through your experiences, not in the Skills section.
• Honesty in Proficiency: Be truthful about your level of expertise to set clear expectations and avoid potential challenges in role suitability.
• Proper Formatting: Use a clear, single-column format and list your skills in order of relevance to the job.

Before
Skills: Teamwork, leadership, Microsoft Office, typing, Java, C++, Python, Git, HTML, CSS, IDEs like Eclipse and VS Code, operating systems.

After
Skills: Java, Python, C++, Git, HTML, CSS

Adopting these approaches allows you to craft a “Languages and Technologies” section that effectively showcases your technical skills, aligns with job requirements, and provides insight into your practical experience and expertise.

Resume Crafting Dos and Don’ts

Do:

• Highlight Quantifiable Achievements: Start entries with impactful metrics.
• Maintain Conciseness: Focus on significant, relevant content.
• Customize Your Resume: Align with the job description, reflecting the language used by the employer.

Don’t:

• Go Beyond One Page: Keep your resume succinct, prioritizing quality over quantity.
• Include Irrelevant Information: Focus exclusively on details that strengthen your application for the specific role.
• Add flowery language. Avoid overly descriptive language.

Conclusion

Crafting an entry-level resume that stands out is about more than listing experiences; it’s about showcasing achievements, skills, and potential. By following these guidelines, you present yourself as a valuable candidate ready to make an impact from day one.

For personalized guidance, visit AI Career Coach by Wealth Waggle to further refine your path to success.