A few days ago
Anonymous

How long can I call myself a recent graduate???

I’ve graduated from college in May of this year (2007). It’s now almost December and I have recent graduate in my objective of my resume. I have a hard time finding work and have been working temporary jobs. So here’s my question: Am I still considered a recent grad 6 months after my graduation date? Also, I’ve only had internships in my degree field (journalism) and worked as a clerk, so what is the best format for me to use for my resume: combination format, functional, or chronological??

Top 2 Answers
A few days ago
RoaringMice

Favorite Answer

You’re not required to have an objective on your resume at all, and your objective, “recent graduate”, isn’t doing you any favours with employers. They *know* you’re a recent graduate – that will be apparent from your resume in 2 seconds. If you must have an objective on there at all, make it be related to the job to which you are applying.

“Objective: An entry level position in the publishing field…” or the like would be more useful than “recent graduate”.

If you’re trying to break into journalism, have two separate resumes – your journalism resume, and the one you’ll use to apply for paid jobs. Because breaking into journalism is difficult, and it’s six months after graduation. If you want this field, I’m going to suggest that you start small and local, and start contacting your local small weekly papers (“The Photo News” and things like that), and your local papers, to see if they have any (maybe paid, but maybe not) positions open doing journalism of any time. Report on the proceedings in your local courts, or local high school sports, or whatever they need. Be really flexible. Work for very low pay, if that’s what they offer, or even for free, if that’s the deal. Your objective is to start building a professional-level portfolio. Do that in any way that you can.

Use your other resume, with your temp jobs on it, to get a job as an adminstrator, or a clerk, or any entry level job, ideally with a firm or group somehow related to journalism. But if not, then work anyplace solid. If it’s journalism-related, that’s great, because it builds your professional level credentials. But if it’s not, that’s okay, because you’ll be doing that on the side with your local paper.

For your journalism resume, use a combination format, because most of your recent experience isn’t in the field. For your clerk-type, get a job so you can survive resume, use chrononogical.

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A few days ago
MM
Yeah, you can probably still get away with calling yourself that, but you might want to consider whether it’s something you want to have in your objective at all. Yes, it explains any relative lack of experience, but it might be calling up some negative connotations in employers’ minds, particularly for jobs that don’t advertise themselves as being great new grad entry-level positions. Better to focus on your unequivocal strengths.

As for resume format, I think you’re probably best off using something with dates, but play around with it and see what looks best to you.

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