An Educated Guess

Often, deciding what to list on your resume in terms of education is to ride the horns of the proverbial dilemma.   Too high an academic level can remove you from the candidate pool as the employer may fear that a.) you will demand an exorbitant salary or b.) usurp him as manager, as his own education is not as impressive as yours.  The opposite side of the coin indicates that too little education could also knock you out of the ball park, and not in the way that you’d like, as the employer will view you as a.) basically unschooled and/or b.) not ambitious.

Certainly, those at the Master or Doctorate level are better positioned than those who possess an undergraduate degree or a high school diploma.  Job candidates holding Master’s and Ph.D. degrees can choose not to list their highest level of education, if the position seems to call for lesser responsibility.  But, candidates who do not hold those degrees can only tell the truth.  However, the truth can be viewed, as well as presented, in a number of ways.

If you hold a high school diploma, you may wish to list it so that the potential employer does not assume that you did not complete the requisite twelve years of education.  Or, you may choose to not list it, on the assumption that the hiring manager will, in turn, take for granted that you do hold the diploma.  The logic in the latter case is that this scenario does not call attention to your limited formal education.

Those who entered but did not complete college can also tackle the dilemma several ways.   Beneath the name and location of the school, you can list Degree Program, followed by a colon (:), followed by what the degree would have been, had you finished your education.  If you view “Degree Program” as subterfuge, you can list your major or general curriculum, thus indicating that you have pursued some level of higher education.

Remember also that regardless of how notable higher education may appear on a resume, not everything can be learned from textbooks alone. Other credentials include licenses, certifications, and certificates indicating that you have completed relevant (career-related) seminars or training programs — whether independently or via your former employer(s).  If these comprise the bulk of your education, you may wish to list them first, followed by your formal education.  And, dependent upon the industry in which you maneuver, these qualifications may be actually be more beneficial than a degree.  If, for example, management positions are few and far between and you are willing to return to a more hands-on type of job as a Stationary Engineer, a Black Seal License is more meaningful to a prospective employer than a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) degree.

Also, you might consider having your entire career and general life experience evaluated by an educational institution to ascertain what it would equate to in terms of college credits or even a degree.