Need resume advice

June 27, 2007 12:06 PM

I took some course/seminars. I'm updating my resume and getting ready to apply for new jobs. Should I put the courses on my resume? See below for specifics on job and course.

Ok, my next job will definitely be an Engineering position either Aerospace or Mechanical.

The courses in question are 2 AMA courses:
Technical Project Management
Effective Presentation Skills for IT and Technical Professionals

Also a Fred Pryor Seminar:
How to deliver Exceptional Customer Service

I have been in the workforce for only 2 years, but my one-page resume is pretty full. I don't want to go beyond one page, so in order to include these courses maybe the membership section will have to come out.

Is it worth trying to squeeze the above-mentioned seminars in my resume?

posted by spacefire to Work & Money (7 answers total)

My two cents' worth: I'd include the courses, but only if you got good grades in them and are prepared to discuss them in interviews. I would not include seminars, which presumably did not require any participation from your end. And yes, I'd easily sacrifice the 'membership' section of your resume...
posted by widdershins at 12:30 PM on June 27, 2007

I asked a professor about the same thing, and she mentioned that professionals already know what courses are taught at universities, and that you should focus your resume content on stuff it would be easy to ask questions about. If they are curious about courses, they might ask about what courses/professors you had at Whatever University.

I personally would leave the membership section in there.
posted by debit at 12:43 PM on June 27, 2007

Best answer: Only include them if they earned you a recognized certificate.

Another alternative is to add a single line:
"Additional coursework in Management and Customer Service. Details upon request."
posted by nax at 12:51 PM on June 27, 2007

Folks, the courses in question are professional continuing education courses, not academic ones. No grades, no universities.

I agree with nax's response- only if you got a certificate. Or, not specific to your case, if they taught some quantifiable skill, like a programming language or piece of complex software.
posted by mkultra at 1:04 PM on June 27, 2007

No grades for the courses? Leave them off, then. Any chump can go to a seminar/lecture - it doesn't mean that he/she actually learned something. I rescind, and second nax's suggestion.
posted by widdershins at 1:34 PM on June 27, 2007

I'm a recruiter, but not in engineering. I would include the two AMA courses but not the customer service one.

Tangentially, some very effective technical recruiters in my office say "the day of the one-page resume is over". Actually, they say the same about two-page resumes. These days most people are going to see your resume online, where "pages" are an anachronism. Not to say you should include your whole life story, but leaving potentially valuable things off your resume in order to keep it artificially short isn't a wise decision.
posted by sevenyearlurk at 2:29 PM on June 27, 2007

Current coursework does show that you're continuing to learn and grow.

If you decide to leave it off the resume, it might be worth working into an interview answer.
posted by 26.2 at 8:02 PM on June 27, 2007