Whether you’re a recent college graduate looking for an opportunity this summer or have been in the industry a while and are ready for your next career move, we all know that one of the most important documents to get you considered for a position is your resume. Your resume is a reflection of your past and present accomplishments–both academically and professionally. So what’s the best accounting resume tip that you’ll need to make sure you get your foot in the door? We asked our expert CPAs who have been working in the industry for years–and they all agreed:
It’s the age old question, not just for accounting resumes, but resumes in general. The mistake a lot of the time is that people think they need to include everything they’ve ever done on their resume from the time they were in high school until now. After all–the longer the resume, the more experience it seems you have–and the more experience means being a better candidate for the job, right? Not exactly! You have to go quality over quantity here. The reason being is that the job market is so competitive now that recruiters rarely have time to go over resumes that are longer than a page.
This is particularly true for accounting. Other industries can of course be very different–there are people who apply to work at a university as a building manager and 3-page resumes are typical. But in the accounting world, resumes are expected to be 1 page in length. Here’s exactly what recruiters want to know:
- What was your overall GPA?
- What’s your accounting GPA?
- Did you work during school? Was any of it accounting work?
- Do you plan to take the CPA exam?
- Were you involved in leadership activities (like Beta Alpha Psi)?
If you write a striking resume, you will have all of that information presented in a logical and concise manner. We wish you the best of luck on your career endeavors and hope you found this tip useful!