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Allegra Condon -- From education to relevant experience, one alum offers tips to help new grads get started on their all-important résumés.

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If you're applying for jobs or internships after finishing college, you will probably need to provide a résumé. While it's commonly required, it can be confusing to write one yourself. Which jobs should you include? How much detail should you get into? What is "relevant experience" anyway? These tips can help you fit everything you need onto that page.

Write about your education

Include your time at Ulster and any other colleges you have attended. Often, you include the years you attended, your graduation month and year, your major and the type of degree you received, and any awards you received during your time there, including academic and merit-based awards. Some people choose to include their GPA if it is particularly high.

Add jobs

List the jobs you've held over your life. If this is a short list, you will want to include them all and give a brief description of what you did at each. If it's longer, you can be selective and include only the most relevant ones. Generally, it helps to add a brief description of your activities in each position, especially if it is unclear what the job entailed from your job title alone.

Internships

If you've had any internships, be sure to list them and what you did during your time at the internship. These are often valuable, particularly for recent college graduates who may not have traditional work experience in the field they're applying to.

Relevant experience

Need some more things to add? Especially if you're trying to get a job related to your major, it never hurts to discuss relevant class and extracurricular activities you have taken part in. COIL projects, SGO positions, and research projects you've done in class are all excellent activities to mention that highlight intercultural, leadership, and other skills you've developed during your college years.

Volunteering

Potential employers love to see that you've been involved in the community! If you have participated in any volunteer efforts over your lifetime (particularly long-term volunteer efforts), it's great to add them to your résumé. Not only does it show you're active in your community and care about giving back, but it also gives you a chance to showcase skills you've gotten from doing so. For example, volunteering in an animal shelter could be an excellent source of experience for a graduate looking for jobs as a vet tech.

Allegra Condon graduated from SUNY Ulster in 2016 and works as a content writer for SUNY Ulster. She is a primary contributor to Voices, the blog of SUNY Ulster, written by SUNY Ulster's students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

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