When writing your resume, you should always try to mention the most impressive details about your career. Listing your certifications and licenses on the resume is a great way to set yourself apart from the crowd. Not every professional takes the time to upskill themselves and earn professional certifications in their industry. If you have earned a few certifications for your skills, mention them proudly on your resume.
Decide the certifications you want to feature
Just like with your work experience, the certifications you mention on your resume must also be customized for the position. If you are trying out for a marketing role, you can safely remove your BLS certification from the resume, unless the role happens to be for an employer in the healthcare sector. Certifications that highlight transferable skills such as leadership, management, organization, and communication can be mentioned on any resume.
Organize your certifications by priority
The certifications which are directly related to the position and highlight relevant technical skills should be placed higher on the priority order. Then, you can add any certifications which highlight soft skills related to the role. Any of your certifications that highlight transferable skills important to the role at hand must be placed below. Once you have arranged your certifications, go through the employer’s job description. Have they used a different priority order when mentioning the qualifications? Then, by all means, align your list with the employer’s priority order.
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Create a separate section
You should create a separate “Certifications & Licenses” section for your resume to draw the attention of potential employers to your qualifications. If you are a job seeker with more work experience, you can place the Certifications section toward the end of your resume, after your work experience. If you are a recent graduate or a younger professional with less experience, the Certifications section can be mentioned before your work experience section. The same is true for career changers. If you don’t have enough related experience to add to the resume, placing the Certifications section toward the top is a great idea.
Mention all the necessary information
Instead of simply listing a bunch of certifications on your resume, you can use the Certifications section to add value to the document. This requires you to mention a bit more information than just the name of the certification. Here’s a list of information to include about your certifications on your resume:
Highlight the certifications throughout your resume
Other than mentioning your certifications in a separate section, you can highlight them at the beginning of your resume. If you need to have a particular license/certification to be eligible for a certain job, mentioning the abbreviation by your name is a great idea. For example, if you are a registered nurse applying for a nursing job, you can list your name on the resume as “Alex Smith, RN.” Another way to highlight your certifications at the start of the resume is by mentioning them on your resume summary.
