Ideal Job Candidate #1 Education

As an established advertising agency in Orlando interacting with universities and diverse businesses, Different Perspective is often looked to as a source of knowledge. Recently our Director of Business Research was asked to present a seminar to the graphic design and web development students about “Interview Tips and Tricks” at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla. The presentation was such a success that we’ve decided to share it with the rest of the world!
There are four main keys to getting that great career: educational background, professional experience, transferable skills and personality. Read on to understand why your educational background is more than a line in your résumé.
As summer goes on, fresh college graduates are starting their careers, jumping into an internship or looking for the ideal profession. Different Perspective, with its veteran internship program and team of experienced career explorers, can offer plenty of advice on being the perfect job candidate. And of course, basics must be covered before anything. The first of the series will cover the importance of educational background and how to convey what you have learned to reach that degree.
Your education may be something you easily overlook because you believe it speaks for itself. You may be thinking your Bachelor’s degree or Master’s degree is all-around proof that you are educated and automatically eligible for the job. However… does it really speak for itself? Does it convey the message you want to get across?
In reality, companies and recruiters come across many resumes every day touting certain universities and degrees. You may be graduating from University of X with a Y degree, but then so are hundreds of students from the same university or with the same degree. So how do you stand out?
The key is to look at what you’ve learned in the course of your academic career and how that applies to the skills needed for a certain job or internship. Look at what courses you’ve taken to reach that degree. Are you familiar with AP style as a result of a reporting class or maybe you’re able to budget well because of a finance course?
In the competitive career world, it becomes necessary to look past just the degree and think about what you’ve actually learned. Those are the skills and knowledge that will be applied every day and those are the skills a company knows they need in order to be successful.
For more information about the internship program here at Different Perspective, please feel free to contact us or call 407.226.9774.
The next criteria of our four-part series will be – professional experience. Stay tuned!