Brittany Cotton contributed this post “How to Make your Resume Stand Out as a Medical Student”. If you too have an idea of which you would like to write about, please fill out the form below to contribute a guest post!
As you course through medical school and begin to think about residencies, it’s important to think about how to make your resume stand out as a medical student. Your experience before and during medical school are what will help you match with your dream residency. But as cycles become more competitive, you may feel apprehensive about your own qualifications.
What can help you stand out from the crowd? Well, your resume will be one of the most important documents that may determine whether or not you will get an interview call. It’s up to you if you want to make it simple or elaborate with all the details, but what is most important is that your resume reflects who you are, and explains why you are a suitable candidate for that residency position. To learn more, continue reading to find out how to make your resume stand out as a medical student.
What Is a Resume?
A resume is a document that includes a summary of the student’s work experience, educational qualifications, and other details such as essential skills for the job. This document aims to provide an overview of one’s career goals and abilities to potential residency programs.
What Is the Importance Of a Good Resume?
You should not underestimate the importance of having a catchy resume. It might be tempting to consider resume writing in a standard format, but by doing so, you risk losing out on opportunities and letting other candidates get ahead of you. Although you have grades, exam scores, and recommendation letters also contributing to your residency application, having an outstanding resume can truly help your resume stand out as a medical student. Here are five reasons why having such a great resume is so important.
1. It Confirms That You Are the Right Choice For the Position
A good resume convinces residency directors that you are the right student for the residency position. Your resume should be tailored to match the specific qualifications and experience that the directors are looking for. In addition to including those attributes, you can also use your creativity to create an interesting and different resume from other applicants. This is where you can let your individual experiences truly shine, such as research, community service, school engagement, etc.
2. Outlines and Sells Your Relevant Skills and Experiences
The goal of a resume is to sell your relevant skills and experiences to a residency director that they want and need. The introduction to your resume should be a compelling headline. It should highlight what you have done in your previous positions, or throughout medical school, that will add value to their program. You can also use this space to highlight skills that are relevant to the specialty and the specific program. Adequately doing this will require you to do research into the specific programs of which you would like to train, and creating several drafts of your resume that speak to each program.
3. Catches the Program Director’s Attention
Residency directors are currently being slammed with residency applications, potentially having to read over 1,000. This means that some of them have to screen residency applications before they can even open them, simply due to the amount of time it would take to thoroughly review all of them. Therefore, it would due you well to catch their attention early.
If you want your resume to stand out as a medical student, it is going to require a well-written and well-structured resume. It is one of the first things a program director pays attention to. On average, they will take 20 seconds to scan a resume, but for that 20 seconds, their brain is working hard trying to figure out if you are a candidate they want to spend more time on. If you don’t include experiences that immediately grab their attention, you may risk being lost in the screen. It’s an unfortunate situation, but the current state of large numbers of applications is making the process more and more difficult.
4. Explains the Advantages That You Have To the Program Director
Indeed, a resume is not the most important factor for a medical student to get an interview, but it is still something that program directors will review. Again, you have so many other aspects of your ERAS application that must be attended to in order to present your very best self. But, a well-structured written resume will allow the medical student to show their strong points, convincing the program director that they are what they need. As a result, it will help your resume stand out as a medical student and increase your chance of matching.
5. Can Result in a Job Interview
The interview process can be long and stressful. After completing the ERAS, you then have to wait for interviews from all the programs to which you applied. These interviews can take different formats, which can also be just as stressful. What can help you better prepare yourself is to have a well-structured resume, and be very familiar with it. After you make your resume stand out as a medical student, you want the interview to match that impressiveness. Make sure you highlight all of your skills and qualifications that will make programs eager to match you.
What Top Things Should a Medical Student’s Resume Include?
As you’re looking for a position in the medical field, your resume needs to be specific about your credentials and experience, concise, and well-organized. Here are some general guidelines for how to make your resume stand out as a medical student, and what to include in it.
Your Education
In the education section of your medical school resume, it’s important to highlight your most relevant education background. You will want to list them in chronological order. Listing a degree that you are currently working on as your most current education background is also helpful, as it shows that you are committed and striving for success.
Your Research Experiences
The next thing that you should mention is the project that you have worked on or led. You can mention your role in it, whether it be an experimenter, a presenter, etc. Furthermore, if there are any publications based on your work or anything else related to your work, mention them. Research experience will definitely make your resume stand out as a medical student in specialities that highly value scholarly activity.
Include in the research experience section the name of the laboratory or research institute you were associated with, followed by the time period.
Your Work Experience
This section is all about your work history and experience in the job market. It’s an overview of what you’ve done professionally that is relevant to the medical field. Clinical experience is valuable here since it shows that you have worked in the medical field, which can help your resume stand out as a medical student. If you don’t have much clinical experience, that is okay too.
Include any work that you think may be relevant, and shows what you’ve done in the past that is related to your future career goals. Saying you worked at a sandwich shop when you were 16 is probably not as important as being a teaching assistant in medical school. So leave off the former, and definitely include the latter until you garner some more relevant and substantial work experience.
Awards and Honors You Have Received
In this section, you must list any awards or honors you have received in chronological order, with the most specific ones at the top and general ones towards the end. Receiving awards will undoubtedly help your resume stand out as a medical student because it shows that you were so committed to something, or worked so hard, that it was recognized by an award or scholarship. You should also describe what award it was when it was awarded, and who it was awarded if possible. This will make it easier for employers to find out what they are looking for when selecting candidates for interviews.
Your Certification
Certificates provide a way to help your resume stand out as a medical student, and differentiate yourself from other applicants. Use this space to mention any medical certification that you have. This will show directors that you already have taken steps to prepare yourself for that career, and that you are committed. Plus, it’s one less certification that you’ll have to do when you finally match!
Your Personal Information
All contact and important information should be listed in this section, with an easy-to-read format that makes it simple for a recruiter to access pertinent information quickly and efficiently. You should Include home addresses, emails, professional websites, and portfolios. Ensure that you make your resume stand out as a medical student by making this section very organized and visually appealing. In fact, if you have any design experience, then now is the time to utilize it to create an attractive looking resume.
Your Interests
This section is important to highlight your interests. This may sound counter-intuitive to include your interests to help make your resume stand out as a medical student. However, you may want to include some of your favorite activities, organizations, or hobbies. Talk about why these things are important and how they reflect your personality. Residency program directors like knowing their residents have hobbies. Hobbies prevent burnout and lead to an overall happier workforce. Plus, if you have some unique hobbies, those are always fun to talk about in interviews. You never know how your interests will help someone perceive you in a positive light!
Key Takeaways
A well-written resume is an absolute necessity if you are looking to match. You should not underestimate the importance of your resume. It’s important to make your resume stand out as a medical student so you can land the position of your dreams.
1 thought on “How to Make Your Resume Stand Out as a Medical Student”