There can be some unforeseen circumstances that can create a roadblock in a person’s journey towards education. That can be heartfelt and will cause a lot of wounds. But in the American education system, there is a way out. GED tests are designed by a group of people that take into account a person’s basic knowledge or the knowledge a person has equivalent to a high school student in areas of language, math, and science.
To get a high school degree a person needs to seriously acquire a minimum of 165 marks to pass the test but it also makes you ready for being hand in hand and qualified as a high school student.
Why is GED Important?
GED can be termed as the first line of qualification for any applicant if they want to secure a job in the American market system. The truth can be a little hard to digest but it is what it is? And people cannot run away from it. There can be some exceptions but mostly one has to be pertinent in the test.
From a technical point of view, it will be a drawback if you do not submit your GED. In most jobs that exist in the American market, GED is a bare minimum requirement that helps people to gain entry into the American job market in case the candidate has no high school diploma. A high school diploma provides a stamp of approval that you have knowledge equivalent to that of a high school degree. In case you do not have it, GED helps in approving you to have that in front of a recruiter.
GED vs. High School Diploma
GED and High School Diplomas are not the same simply because both degrees are different and serve the interests of different candidates in different ways. GED is for a person who has skipped high school but now wants to do something worthwhile in his life like get a job and continue going to school.
Some students later realize their potential and they want to put their skills to good use. So a High School Diploma is essentially given to a person at the end of their high school education. GED on the other hand can be taken by anyone as per their wish. All they require in the present time is to take the prep classes and do better than 60% of the High School students that take them.
Other equivalent tests can be taken and that will approve you’re qualified as much as a High School passed candidate for a job. But these tests are mostly at the state level. GED on the other hand is approved all over. There exist these state-specific tests where if you haven’t cleared your GED, you might want to think about giving these tests. Let’s list them in pointers:
List of Diplomas Similar to GED
- HiSET – High School Equivalency Test
- TASC – Test Assessing Secondary Completion
- CHSPE – California High School Proficiency Exam
So, this was all about why is GED important? Now, let us see how should you add GED on a resume and a few examples for the same.
How to Put GED On a Resume?
Listing GED is quite an integral part of the job application. All of your work boils down to letting your employer know that you have attained the basic tiers of education and that makes you a perfect fit for the job. Listing GED has to be formal and hence the employer peeks and sees your minimum qualification.
Several pointers one needs to assess, there is an ATS system or better known as ‘Application Track System’ that churns out potential job seekers with the company or institution before really calling them for a job interview. So using keywords such as diploma helps. You can try mentioning your job in expanded sentences rather than using the abbreviation of GED which expands to, ‘General Educational Development Diploma’. Let us look at all of these by substantial examples:
Put GED on a Resume (Examples)
There are many ways where one can put GED on their resume. They need to decide which method will make their application stand out amidst a sea of applicants that are competing for the same job. For instance, GED has three ways to dictate whether your way of putting it helps your application. Let us look through some concrete examples:
Put GED on your Education Row
Everybody knows that GED is a minimum qualification and in case someone has failed to attain their high school diploma they can very well get this degree easily. Some people do not have work experience and hence they need to emphasize the GED degree more on the education side.
They can list it in proper expanded sentences as that will help in abruptly creating keywords which makes the ATS workers track and see the validity of the application. If you are not at present in a job, then keep the degree on your Education Qualifications subheading.
Put GED at the Bottom of the Resume
For many workers, education has started to become a bare minimum that sets up a person to think and get a job. For instance, in many job profiles, the emphasis is more on the work that you do and not on your education until and unless it’s just high school education.
In that case, the best shall be to mention work-specific certificates that are from sales, computer work, communication skills, and managerial skills. Once you have gotten these skills through work, certification, and various other sources, simply list all these down in the CV in a sequential fashion.
At the bottom then you can think about mentioning having a GED certificate. And it’s not limited to GED any person who aspires to be in the professional fields where the workspaces are evolving and no matter of education can make you ready for them, only the work environment can guarantee you will rather stay or leave your job.
Put your GED Along With Your Skills
As discussed in the previous section, GED alone cannot hone or make you job-ready. If you require polishing or for that matter assistance, it will be the industry that will be deciding your fate. But industries do not take the responsibility to give jobs to every person that applies to their company.
They will sort their applications out based on the right fit. If you are not the right fit as per the sorting process they won’t pursue you afterward. Hence, it becomes very imperative for you to list your skills. And you need to integrate those skills through your work experience.
For instance, if you just say, you are good at sales? You are a good photographer but that may not be enough. You have to mention relevant work experience or if you have been working freelance then mention references/testimonials. Other than that if you are eyeing creative work, you need to have a well-put portfolio that sorts your skills in the best manner possible.
How to List GED on a Resume?
A resume emailed with a proper subject line creates a first impression of the candidate on the employer. Also, formatting your resume as per the requirements of GED can be a tricky subject, however, with some ideas, we will try our best to work on the entire resume and make GED stand out. Let us, first of all, see the resume format and How you can make your GED stand out.
Here the emphasis is to make your GED stand out and persuade your employer to recruit you. Hence in this resume template, we will focus on the format that gets you the job. Every employer only wants to see if the person that they are recruiting is a perfect fit. Let us know about these aspects in more detail.
Template of your Resume/CV
In this para, I will mention a most well-sought template that you can use to increase your chances of getting recruitment. The thing however that needs to be of constant importance is that the Resume needs to be correctly formatted. The points that are mentioned need to be concise and the resume should become more of a short, crisp ID document with a little elaboration: Let’s look at it.
Personal Information
(Candidate’s name)
(Email address)
(Mobile Phone no)
Professional Information
Please remember here you do not have to make a long list of justifications for why you shall be recruited. Just in 3-4 sentences, mention your job profiles throughout your working career.
Skill
Please make sure to add on skills here. Skills need to be 4-5 and you can simply add them in pointers denoting the range of skills you have.
It would be really helpful for the employer if you can list out the proof. Some people tend to add links to either any publication, certificate course, or range of small certification, diplomas, and apprentice courses. It’s much like the Europass CV that is often used to secure a job in the European Union.
Experience
(Mention your job title)
(Company Name)
(Date of Joining-Date of Leaving)
Mention about 4 job duties that were mandatory for you to perform. Use proper bullet points here. Here you can also mention any achievements that you have attained while working in the previous organisations.
Education
At last, you need to mention your GED, try to write its non-abbreviated form which is ‘General Education Development Diploma’.
How to Put That You Have No GED On Your Resume?
Having No GED might feel like a big-time setback, but you can always apply next time. If you are of working age, you always have the option to continue your work. But in case there is no way around getting one. All you need to supplement that is by gaining real-world experience. Let us know some techniques to boost your CV without GED.
Final Say on GED on Resume
One can miss out on education and that’s alright. GED is an alternative route to complete your high school education in 7 hours instead of 4 years. As the industry-specific work now relies on practical knowledge, it is becoming more and more appropriate even for high school graduates and even college graduates to have skills in their field.
