Diversity on Paper
It’s a no-brainer that employers are looking for diverse-minded candidates. Since your resume is your first impression to an employer, showing diversity can only up your chances of getting an interview. If your resume is lacking diversity, Assistant Director of Rowan University’s Career & Academic Planning Center Ruben Britt advises college students and young professionals to start with bullet points.
Summary of Qualifications
Britt advises job seekers to
create a new section toward the top of the resume to best demonstrate
diversity on a resume. Title the section Summary of Qualifications,
Britt says, and list a variety of your skills in brief bullet points.
“After the job objective line, create a summary of qualifications which is basically a sales pitch and it highlights skills and capabilities,” he said. “You can say you possess organizational skills, experience in working with individuals with various cultures, computer literate in Microsoft Office, fluent in Spanish”.
List up to eight bullet points
in the Summary of Qualifications section that hit the reader with key
attributes about yourself as well as your experience.
Fluency in another language
should be listed as the third or fourth bullet point in your summary.
“If you can speak another
language that is a plus, and you can let employer know that you have
experience and knowledge of another culture,” said Britt.
Diversity in Waiting Tables?
If your diverse qualifications max out at three or four bullet points, Britt encourages candidates to continue expressing diversity in their work experience from after school jobs or internships.
“Internships or even jobs where you have the opportunity to work around a lot of people or had the opportunity to interact with a lot of people, they can use it. Even if you work in a restaurant, you are interacting with people from all different backgrounds.”
Sign up for diverse skills
You’ve listed all your qualifications, skills and experience, but still coming up short as a diverse candidate. Britt encourages applicants to get involved in diversity activities to add to your resume.
“I would look at maybe encouraging field experience or getting involved in volunteer work, work in a homeless shelter or some community organization where they can show they are involved in diversity”.
See the video of this article at Diversity on Paper and get more career help and employer videos at www.careertv.com where you’ll find the largest collection of career videos online.
Copyright 2008 CareerTV, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
For Additional Related CareerTV Videos check out:
Comments