Qualifications Summary

Having extensive professional experience in your desired career is not a requirement for including a qualifications summary in your resume. According to Business Communications Essentials, the goal of including a qualifications summary is to “let a reader know within a few seconds what you can deliver” (366). The book also suggests using a qualifications summary if you do not have extensive career experience. If work experience is lacking, then using skills acquired through education is an alternative way to create a qualifications summary.

During college, every student has that awkward point when he or she is ready to apply for real jobs but he or she has no experience to prove that it would benefit the employer to hire him or her. There is no way to avoid this lack of experience phase because we are not just born with work experience; everyone has to start somewhere. In lieu of incorporating skills achieved through past work experience, I have included skills that I acquired through education, sports, and extracurricular activities. Even though I wasn’t able to incorporate skills form work experience, it is more beneficial to include some skills than to include none at all. Qualification summaries not only give insight to employers on your capabilities, but they also show a sign of confidence in yourself. Confidence is necessary when it comes to corporate jobs. If you cannot explain to a company how you could be of benefit, then why should they choose you? Know your strengths and put them in your qualifications summary regardless of whether or not you have work experience in your desired career.