Dear Cindy – New Grad Résumé

I'm a new grad looking for work as a medical technologist. My previous work experience includes two summer lab jobs during undergrad, along with some unrelated jobs in sales and retail. One friend said that I should list only the lab jobs in my résumé, since that will make it shorter and more readable. Another friend said I should include the retail jobs to show that I have people skills. Whose advice do I follow?

Sincerely,

New Grad

When you are a new grad in a new career, you usually don't have to worry about your résumé being too long, you commonly worry about it being to sparse. So at this point, I wouldn't worry about length, particularly when the job gives you a transferable skill.

There are several ways in which you can indicate the information. For example, if you are setting up your résumé with bullet points near the start to foreground the skills you possess, one of these lines could be "customer service skills."

Since you're applying for medical laboratory jobs, it would be a good idea to emphasize that you actually have experience in the field by putting the summer jobs under a header such as "Lab Experience," while adding the retail experience beneath it under a separate header, such as "Other Employment Experience." After all, in addition to showing a transferable skill, it will show an employer that you have held real jobs. As your lab career progresses, you can lose the retail information from your résumé.

Good luck!