When you're composing your resume to submit to a company that is hiring, you want to be sure that the education section doesn't get overlooked. While highlighting your employment history is very important, you can show yourself to be a worthwhile candidate by tackling the education section with the right approach, too. Doing so is especially important if you don't have an extensive employment history; in this case, potential employers will turn to the education section to get to know you better. Here are some steps for making this section stand out.

Don't Automatically Include Your GPA

Including your grade point average in the education section of your resume can either help you or hurt you. If it's high, you'll definitely want to include it. However, including a low resume that shows you weren't an accomplished student can be a bad idea. One approach is to only include your GPA if it's above 3.5, for example. There's no universal rule about the level at which you should or shouldn't include your GPA, but it's important to remember that you should leave it off if you're not proud of it.

Highlight Courses That Are Relevant To Your Career

The education section of your resume can also be valuable for highlighting courses — and how you fared in them — that relate to the field you're hoping to enter. For example, if you're applying to be a music teacher at a summer camp, you'll definitely want to devote a line of the resume to the fact that you studied music in high school and that you were a member of the concert band. Provided that your music grades were high, you should feel free to include them, too. This can even be valuable if you haven't listed your overall GPA.

Showcase Your Overall Involvement

Hiring managers are often interested in people who were involved in plenty of ways in their school careers. A high degree of involvement often shows enthusiasm, which is something that you definitely want to get across to anyone who will be perusing your resume. Be sure to list each of the extra-curricular activities in which you participated; things such as arts groups, service clubs, sports teams, school council, and other such entries are all valuable. You may wish to also detail any highlights related to one of the above activities. For example, you could write that you were a co-captain of your high school baseball team during your senior year. If you're having trouble writing your resume, seek help from a professional resume writing service.

For more information, contact companies like JWC Professional Resume Services.