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As a criminal justice graduate, you should create a career-specific resume which highlights your relevant work experience through a required internship or other types of experience in the criminal justice field. (Click Criminal Justice-Bachelor Degree-Resume Template, and use the instructions below to create your resume.)
Instructions for creating a criminal justice resume:
A. Heading
List your contact information at the top center like this:
HARLEY MITCHELL
Street Address, City, MI 00000
(000) 000-0000 hmitchellemail@gmail.com
LinkedIn (Hyperlink this phrase to your own LI profile.)
B. Key Qualifications
Begin your resume with a summary of your key qualifications. To write the bulleted statements in this section, be sure to begin each statement with an action verb or strong adjective and use keywords, requirements and preferences mentioned in the job posting. (For more information see Begin Your Resume with Professional Qualifications and 185 Action Verbs That Will Make Your Resume Awesome.) Below is an example:
KEY QUALIFICATIONS
- Solid abilities in organization, data management, and supervision of multiple projects simultaneously
- Skilled in research and verbal or written communication, including report writing
- Meet Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) physical requirements
C. Internship Experience
A criminal justice graduate’s internship experience gives important examples of professional experience. You may list your internship experiences in reverse chronological order as part of your WORK EXPERIENCE section or with a separate heading (INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE). Below is an example:
INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE
MacArthur Foundation City, MI Spring 0000/Hours: 000
Criminal Justice Intern
- Successfully passed background check through Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN)
- Followed all ethical standards of privacy and other protocols to keep identities and information confidential
- Consistently built rapport and respect with clients, offenders, and victims while communicating or gathering required information
D. Education
Place your education information directly after INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE. You may include any colleges at which you have completed courses or from which you have obtained a degree. See the example below which shows how to list your degree:
EDUCATION
Baker College City, MI Expected graduation 05/0000
Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Honors: Dean’s List GPA 0.0
Criminal Justice Studies or Law Enforcement Academy
* Other optional information can be listed: organizations, honors, and GPA if 3.5 +.
E. Licenses/Certifications/Affiliations
List licenses or certifications granted by a governing body. If they are listed as requirements in the job posting, choose the optimum place on the resume for this information. Below are examples of possible certifications:
LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS/AFFILIATIONS
Basic Life Support/First Aid, American Heart Association Expires 00/0000
MCOLES Pre-Academy Certification Expires 00/0000
Michigan Corrections Academy Certification, Department of Corrections Obtained 00/0000
(or) Michigan Police Academy Certification, Department of Corrections Obtained 00/0000
Valid (Name of the State) Driver’s License Expires 00/0000
Pi Zeta Epsilon, Alpha Phi Sigma Honor Society, Baker College Obtained 00/0000
F. Work Experience
List general work experience with two to three bullets which highlight soft skills. Also, be sure to list related criminal justice experience outside of your internship experience which would be desirable to the employer (e.g., Security Officer, Asset Protection Associate, Records Keeper, Clerical Staff) and highlight transferable skills, especially handling data records. Below is an example:
WORK EXPERIENCE
Name of Organization City, MI 00/0000–00/0000
Job Title
- Do not simply list job duties; state an accomplishment or a skill you have shown in this job, beginning with an action verb
G. Optional Sections
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
Volunteer Tour Guide, Michigan Supreme Court Learning Center 0000-0000
Volunteer Clean-up Crew, Sierra Club 0000–0000
National Police Association-Volunteer Bike Patrol
Community Church Volunteer Staff, Children’s Ministry
- Be sure to list volunteer hours in the community, such as clean-up crews, parade staff, or non-profit service.
- Depending on the length of your resume and your goals, the VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE section can simply be a list of your titles and the organizations or can include duties/achievements as in the KEY QUALIFICATIONS section.
RELEVANT COURSEWORK
If you have graduated recently, a RELEVANT COURSEWORK section may be placed after your EDUCATION section to show specific coursework required for or desirable for the job you are targeting if you do not have relevant, career-specific experience.
Revised 17 September 2024