Does it matter where you put certifications on a resume

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chickj0434

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Just finished up my resume to send out for emt positions. As of now i have my certifications near the end of my resume. My resume is a little over 1 page so the certifications show up on the 2nd page. Would it be beneficial to move those more toward the front or is it not a big deal. I wanted to keep it to 1 page but am having a hard time trying to eliminate stuff.

Also if anyone wants to critic my resume ill gladly pm it to you.

Thanks
 
I keep a relevant classes and certifications section at the end of mine. After a fair amount of tweaking, that seems to be where it fits best. My resume is about a page and a half right now.
 
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Same, just wanted to make sure. Thanks for the quick reply
 
Personally, as an employer I like to see:

Name

Contact Info

Short list of certs.qualifications and/or degrees (keep in mind I do no want to see every piece of alphabet soup and then some...keep it relevant to job applied for)

Then relevant employment history

At the EMT level or even most Medic level positions, there is not much need for more than 1 page and 1.5 page should be max....beyond that you are listing way too many courses or way too many employers.
 
@alflightmedic how many employers do you think are a good total to list?
 
I like to see at least 5-10 years worth of past employment and hope there are not too many. However in the world of contracting, I know the deal and I know how bad some employers can be, so I am not overly concerned when I see what seems like a long list. Odds are I already know you or know of you anyways. For stateside employment I typically do not want to see more than 3 full time employers in a 5 year period. I realize other jobs are worked concurrently, I just mean 3 main jobs. And I know it is an arbitrary number and nothing is set in stone, but a long list does raise concern when I have equally qualified candidates who do not have as long a list.
 
One page, classes and certs at the end of that page
 
Disagree Summit. When the average hiring authority spends less than 30 seconds scanning a resume, they appreciate having the creds at the top. I want to know what people are, what certs, what education they have before going through all the other stuff. That is secondary, cause if you are not qualified from the outset, I am not going to read the rest. If you are qualified, then I will read the rest...
 
akflightmedic said:
Disagree Summit. When the average hiring authority spends less than 30 seconds scanning a resume, they appreciate having the creds at the top. I want to know what people are, what certs, what education they have before going through all the other stuff. That is secondary, cause if you are not qualified from the outset, I am not going to read the rest. If you are qualified, then I will read the rest...
Click to expand...
Required qualifications like ACLS PALS go in the cover letter as well as the resume.

Alphabet soup like the fact that you are national reg in addition to state certed, EKG, PEPP, or I200 goes at the bottom.

A clearly identified header leads the HR professional to that section if they want.

Any sufficiently large organization (and I mean much smaller than AMR) will have electronic applications that make you enter your certs seperately (reject if you don't have them) or will have software that parses your cover and resume looking for required certs and terms.
 
Roger...then your word stands.

To those who wonder...you got a 50/50 gamble here, good luck.
 
Bigbadwolf25 said:
Just finished up my resume to send out for emt positions. As of now i have my certifications near the end of my resume. My resume is a little over 1 page so the certifications show up on the 2nd page. Would it be beneficial to move those more toward the front or is it not a big deal. I wanted to keep it to 1 page but am having a hard time trying to eliminate stuff.

Also if anyone wants to critic my resume ill gladly pm it to you.

Thanks
Click to expand...
how much content is related to your career goal? for a typical resume, i try to keep it under a page, but after 15 years in the field, mine is now between one and a half and two pages.

Depending on your experience, I may or may not list your certifications at the beginning. If you worked for 2 years as a paramedic at ABC ambulance, that I could safely make the assumption that you are a certified medic, and you don't need to list that at the top of the page.

If you want to PM your resume, I can offer some suggestions (I have helped others in the past)
 
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