Education Vs Work Experience on a Resume: What Comes First?

June 4, 2018

A lot of people find themselves in a dilemma when it comes to formatting the content on their resumes. Is it better to list your education first or your professional experience? Like most answers, the answer to this question depends entirely on you.

People who list education first on their resumes typically have little to no work experience or are recent graduates, and this is usually the proper way to formulate your resume. Education will never hurt you on a resume, so if you’re applying for a job and have little to no work experience, it’s probably best that you include your education first. You can further boost your resume by including any educational awards you’ve received and you can also list courses you’ve completed that are relevant to the job you’re applying for. That's why you should pay a great attention while writing your internship resume.

On the flip side, if your work experience far outweighs your education, it’s probably best to include this first, but it’s entirely up to you to decide. It’s important to keep the job you’re applying for in mind when deciding how to construct your resume. Are you applying for a position as a marketing director, for example, and you have 15 years of experience in a similar position? If so, this should be one of the first things a hiring manager sees on your resume.

The most important thing to remember, however, is that both education and professional experience are equally valuable in their own right. If you’re concerned about which to list first on your resume, you can include both of them in your objective statement to make sure that they are both noticed straight away.