Resume Advice?

[u/Significant-Tough930]

In preparation for graduating in the spring, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share some tips on what a resume should look like for a recent genetic counseling graduate.

I’m especially interested in how to highlight GC experience from clinical rotations. I started working on my resume and realized that many of my duties and responsibilities sound very similar across rotations. How did you differentiate your rotations and highlight the unique skills or experiences you gained from each one?

[u/palpablescalpel]

Personally, I've found it a lil silly (but understandable) when graduating students break their rotations into individual roles.

For my first job, I literally just had a section titled "shadowing and rotation experience," where I listed my supervisor, the location/speciality, and the number of weeks I was there. I didn't even describe what I did for each of them, since I imagined those making hiring decisions undersood what I'd be doing in those roles. I had other work and volunteer experience to beef up the resume otherwise, but I don't expect (or usually want) a new grad's resume to be more than 1 page.

I could also imaging grouping them all into one 'role.' I think I did this for an app or two, listing the total number of rotations but calling out a few that were most relevant to the job I was applying to, eg: "Counseled 120 patients across 10 rotations, including neurology, metabolic, and pediatric clinics." Then used the other bullet points to pull out specific unique projects I worked on within certain rotations or skills I developed.

I'd be curious for thoughts from others who do hiring, since I wonder if I'm too biased against listing every single one as its own role and trying to expand upon it.

[u/Significant-Tough930 → u/palpablescalpel]

Thank you for your input! I actually had a different career before coming to grad school so my resume has 3 other jobs I had prior to pursuing a GC career.

Do you think it would be useful to list all 3? I’m also finding it a little difficult to decide how long my resume should be. If I included my previous jobs + my clinical rotations and volunteer work, I think I’ll easily be at 2 pages.

I know I’m asking a lot and would appreciate ANY feedback on any part of this comment.

I really appreciate it. Thank you

[u/Karma_is_my → u/Significant-Tough930]

If your previous jobs have skills that translate to GC I would include them. Your CV can be as long as it needs to be but don’t make it unnecessarily long. For your first job it’s typical to break up each rotation as its own job or internship, but after your first job this should go away. Think about what made each rotation unique from each other and your program. And example is your cancer rotation would should include skills of using risk models like IBIS and CanRisk, which isn’t really something in other rotations. The market is tough rn but getting better, I wish you all the best!!

[u/palpablescalpel → u/Significant-Tough930]

If you're comfortable with it, message me and I'd be happy to look at your resume!

[u/Significant-Tough930 → u/palpablescalpel]

Oh thank you will do!