Scholarship Resume: The idea of a scholarship resume is not well known to many individuals. In fact, you might be questioning why your high school or college kid even needs a résumé if you’re their parent. A CV is typically not requested by scholarship committees, so it feels like unnecessary extra work. However, it is crucial, especially if your pupil wants to be noticed. What you should know about preparing a scholarship resume is provided here.
The Need for a Resume for Your Child
Putting together a CV now provides your child a leg up in life because they will require one in the future for a variety of options. Additionally, it aids students in developing a positive impression for a number of applications they’ll be making as they prepare for college or continue their education.
Academic Resume
Most scholarship applications don’t require a CV, but included one is a wonderful way for applicants to stand out.
Scholarship applications are frequently quite restrictive. They just allow your kid to give a brief overview of their capabilities.
A résumé is a terrific addition to “additional materials,” which are usually allowed when applying for scholarships. Your child can address a variety of extracurricular activities, prior jobs, or volunteer work that would not be covered in a general application or essay. This makes them a more desirable candidate since they can provide the committee with useful information.
Your youngster may be able to get the money they require to attend college debt-free by submitting a scholarship CV.
Resume for Internship
Your child can benefit from having a résumé on hand as they pursue their schooling. For many internships, you must submit a résumé. The prospect of winning an internship becomes less frightening and most definitely less time-consuming for them if they already have a scholarship CV prepared that they can readily modify to match these requirements.
Resume for Employment
Most companies also demand to view resumes. Therefore, building a scholarship resume now offers your student the structure they need to make one ready for employment applications when the time comes, whether they want to work while they are in school or just want to be ready for graduation.
What Should Be on a Scholarship Resume?
It might seem as though high school or college students don’t have much to say because they often lack years of professional experience. However, there are many non-employment-related topics that may be put to a scholarship CV (though these entries also assist).
Employment, Volunteering, and Activities
It would be fantastic for this résumé if your child has employment or community service experience! It provides your child a means to demonstrate the abilities they have acquired along the road and can demonstrate to the scholarship committee that they have already started to encounter the “adult” world.
Students with little to no job experience should also include a section outlining their extracurricular activities. Typically, they involve involvement in clubs or organizations for students, such as student government, theatre, or athletics. Your kid has the opportunity to develop skills and earn accomplishments via experience in various fields, making this section a great place for them to hear from you. Additionally, it shows their dedication, particularly if they persisted with a certain group throughout high school.
Education
No matter if a resume is for a scholarship or for another reason, it is generally accepted that it must discuss schooling. Students in high school and recent graduates from high school should mention their high school. If they are already certain of their intended college and major, they can additionally provide information about it.
College sophomores and beyond should limit their information to their college, while freshmen may wish to add information about both their college and high school.
What to Remove from Your Scholarship Resume and When
Not all the information you include on your resume is “evergreen.” That implies that in order to maintain their scholarship CV current over time, your child will need to delete certain entries.
High school students and college freshman, for instance, can provide details about their high school. However, once they have completed their freshman year, this item should be taken off.
They may wish to remove information about the summer job they had as a sophomore in high school from their scholarship CV if they later earn relevant experience in their profession through internships or jobs.
The goal is to make everything clear, succinct, and uncluttered while concentrating on information that is particularly relevant to the scholarship for which they are seeking.
selecting a resume format
There are typically two major resume formats to pick from: professional and creative. While creative resumes allow greater flexibility, professional resumes adhere to the established standards.
A professional scholarship resume is frequently preferable for most students. It makes appropriate to arrange the components of their resume in this sequence as their education is probably one of their strongest selling points:
- Education
- Awards/Achievements
- Involvements
- Employment Experience
- Volunteering/Community Service
Please feel free to omit any of those parts that your child doesn’t have content for. Once they have more experience, they may add it back in as necessary.
Generally speaking, creative resumes ought to just be utilized if your youngster is aspiring to a job in a creative industry, like graphic design. You have the option of producing a scholarship CV fully on video or utilizing layout akin to an infographic.
These resumes are risky, though, even for creative roles because not all employers find them appealing. In fact, a recent poll found that, regardless of the job category, 70% of employers prefer a professional resume. So, whenever in doubt, adhere to the tried-and-true method.
Scholarship CV Key Phrases
Your child should make every word count when preparing a resume, and employing power words on a scholarship resume is a fantastic place to start.
Power words are very effective and aid in capturing the committee’s interest. Additionally, they meaningfully discuss what your kid has accomplished, giving the reader something to consider.
Here is a list of excellent power words that, depending on the expertise of your student, they might be able to utilize to get you started:
- Accomplished
- Analyzed
- Collaborated
- Delivered
- Encouraged
- Gave
- Lobbied
- Nourished
- Overhauled
- Planned
- Presented
- Ranked
- Selected
- Tutored
Have your child remember this while they create their scholarship resume: “Power words speak to actions more than they do to capabilities.”
Tips for Scholarship Resumes
A scholarship resume need not be difficult to write. The ultimate objective is to be succinct yet complete, providing the committee with all the information they want in an uncomplicated manner.
1. They must, above all, ensure that their contact information is prominently displayed at the top.
Make certain they mention their:
- Name
- Phone number
- Email address
- City and state where they live
2. Since “I” statements aren’t frequently used on resumes, your youngster should generally avoid them. Instead, in order to keep things simple, they should think in bullet points.
3. Choosing an easy-to-read font is essential since constructing a scholarship CV is useless if nobody can read it. You can’t go wrong with Arial, Calibri, Times New Roman, or Verdana if they aren’t sure which to choose. Just be certain that the size is between 10 and 12.
Focusing on content that adds value will boost their chances of getting chosen because these documents don’t need to be overstuffed with details to have an influence on the scholarship committees.