The best gift I have ever received was a professionally written resume.

Although I asked for cash for my graduation gift, my beloved late father Don Goodman (founder of About Jobs) gave me a different kind of paper. It was my first professionally written resume and while it wasn’t what I asked for, it’s proven to be what I really needed.

Here are 3 reasons why a resume is the best gift for a new graduate:

#1 – YOUR RESUME IS A BLUEPRINT FOR YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

It’s never too early to start building your personal brand. As a new graduate, your resume is simply a collection of what you are most proud of. It summarizes the goals that you worked hard to achieve, the projects that were challenging to complete but worth the effort when you saw the results, the internships and lessons learned that give a small taste of the real-world and make you want a bigger spoon to eat this sundae we call life.

Seeing my personal achievements on paper only inspired me to accomplish more, allowing me more time to build my own brand. After all, seeing is believing!

#2 – A GOOD RESUME INSTILLS CONFIDENCE IN THE FACE OF UNCERTAINTY

When faced with a major life change such as graduation, you’re thrust into a new level of uncertainty and many feel insecure about how to carve out their own path or “fit in” within a new environment. Each life stage widens the pool of competition, and in a world where seemingly everyone is sizing you up and cutting you down, it’s hard to feel good about what you bring to the table.

Employers want you to have experience but hesitate to hire you first. An at-the-core Creative with a skill set conducive for corporate America, I was daunted by the idea of fitting into the working world.  Having a professionally written resume put me back in the driver’s seat of my job search, allowing me reconfigure my mindset to play to my strengths and ultimately change my story.

Though I was initially insecure about my inexperience, my resume laid out all of the skills I gained throughout the years and suddenly my experiences became relevant, marketable, and impressive achievements that I felt confident speaking to because they were mine.

#3 – A GOOD RESUME TAKES THE STRESS OUT OF SUCCESS

I often hear the phrase “work smarter, not harder.” The reality is, life is hard work yet I have found that “working smarter” means acknowledging areas of weakness and asking for help from those who know better. If I had to write my own resume, I would probably still be working on it…

I never knew that there were so many rules for writing a resume! Were you aware that resumes have to be keyword optimized for specific roles, and that employers have entire systems dedicated to ranking each resume they receive? You can be the most qualified candidate, but if you don’t have the right words in your resume in the right places, you may never even be considered.

I never knew about what it takes to write a top resume because I never needed to until About Jobs wrote my resume and explained all the rules and did all the work. My professionally written resume turned finding a job into a fun activity instead of it being a full-time job in itself.

The right resume led me to stress-free success, securing me every opportunity I applied for and ultimately allowing me to start my senior year of college with a full-time job offer already lined up.

This is not a sales pitch, these are personal examples that I share because I care about passing on what I’ve learned to help other people succeed.

Hands down, having a professionally written resume from About Jobs was the best gift I’ve ever received for so many reasons. Outside of the personal growth and development a good resume enables…it just works!

I’ve received job offers for every single role I’ve interviewed for throughout my career. Why? Because all I had to do during the interview was talk a hiring manager through my resume…

contributed by: Alana Goodman

Co-Owner & Chief Innovation Officer | About Jobs Resume Writing & Career Consulting