How to list Education and Certifications on your resume (with examples)

The education section is often one of the most overlooked parts of a resume. Not because it’s unimportant, but because it’s taken for granted: just listed chronologically and left at that. But in 2025, employers are looking for signs of continuous learning, adaptability, and specific skills; not just official degrees. Your education (formal or otherwise) is key to showing your knowledge, skills, and commitment to professional growth.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, more than 50% of workers will need to learn new skills to stay competitive. And if you don’t have much work experience, how you present your education could be your biggest advantage in a hiring process.

This article is for you if:

• You’re just starting your career and education is your strongest asset.
• You’re switching industries and need to highlight your growth and transferable skills.
• Or you simply want your resume to better reflect who you are today.

You’ll learn:

• How to write the education section on your resume (especially if you’re early in your career).
• How to highlight certifications and what recruiters value most.
• How to include self-taught education, with concrete examples.
• Top certification trends for 2025, and how to align with what the job market is looking for.

What education to include on your resume: key tips and examples

Not everything you’ve studied needs to appear on your resume. Recruiters spend just 6–8 seconds scanning a CV (Ladders), so every line needs to earn its spot by showing why you’re a strong fit for the role. Here are the types of education you should consider including:

Formal Education

University degrees, accredited master’s programs, vocational training, or equivalent technical education. These are your institutional foundations, especially important in traditional sectors like law, medicine, architecture, or engineering.

Supplementary Education

Courses, workshops, bootcamps, or online programs that strengthen key competencies or prove you’ve mastered in-demand skills. In 2025, recruiters are looking for recent, relevant, and actionable learning. Make sure this type of education is:

• Recent (completed within the last 3–5 years),
• Relevant to the job,
• And highlights specific skills, like tools (Figma, Excel, SQL), methodologies (Scrum, OKRs), or languages.

Professional Certifications

Recognized credentials from platforms like Google, Coursera, Scrum.org, HubSpot, Cambridge, or TOEFL that validate hard skills (like data analysis) or soft skills (like leadership or communication). These are especially valuable because they show you’re staying up to date.

Ongoing Education

Listing what you’re currently studying is a smart move. It shows a commitment to learning and can help bridge your current profile with a career pivot.

Be sure to label it clearly as “in progress,” include the start date, and an expected completion date (if possible).

What not to include on your education section (and why)

Think of education as a filter: does this help me get hired for this job? If it doesn’t clearly add value, leave it out.

• Courses that are more than 10 years old and unrelated to the role.
• Hobby-based workshops unless they add something unique to the position.
• Education that’s irrelevant to your current goals (unless it tells a compelling story of growth or change).

For example, if you’re applying for a digital marketing role, include your Communications degree, a Google Ads certification, and an SEO course from Coursera. But that molecular gastronomy workshop you took for fun in 2018 probably is not necessary (unless the role somehow ties into creative culinary concepts).

Formal vs. non-formal education: what do recruiters really value in 2025?

For decades, traditional education was the gold standard. University degrees, accredited master’s programs, and vocational training were the main path to employability. But the reality in 2025 is different: the job market is evolving faster than academic programs can keep up.

In fast-paced fields like tech, digital marketing, or design, non-formal education (e.g. certifications, online courses, bootcamps) is gaining traction and often holds more weight.

A survey by Coursera found that 76% of employers consider online certificates as valuable as traditional degrees, as long as they’re aligned with the job requirements. In other words, what you’ve learned after graduating can matter just as much (or more) than your original degree, if it’s relevant for the job.

And it makes sense: with how quickly digital tools, AI, and agile methods evolve, college curricula can become outdated in just a few years. Non-formal learning shows that you’re proactive, market-aware, and capable of picking up specific skills fast.

A resume that only lists a degree from ten years ago, with no ongoing education, sends a message that you’ve stopped growing.

When non-formal education carries more weight

• Industries undergoing rapid change: tech, digital design, marketing, sustainability.
• Career changers whose previous degrees don’t align with their new field.
• Skilled professionals without a traditional college degree, who demonstrate their expertise through certifications and portfolios.

That said, some traditional recruiters still view online courses with skepticism, mainly because not all of them are rigorous. So it’s crucial to:

• Choose well-known, credible platforms.
• Include concrete outcomes (projects, grades, duration).
• And show how you’ve applied what you learned; whether at work, in freelance gigs, or personal/volunteer projects.

How to write your education and certifications on your resume

Presenting your education and certifications clearly and strategically doesn’t just improve your resume’s readability, it also boosts your chances of passing through ATS and catching a recruiter’s attention. This section is especially important if you have limited work experience and need your education to do the heavy lifting.

Academic Background

Your academic background should be concise, professional, and tailored to the job you’re applying for.

• Basic structure: include the degree name, school or university, dates (start and end, or “in progress”), and location if relevant.
• Reverse chronological order: always list your most recent degree first. It helps recruiters quickly assess your current education level.
• Adjust detail based on your experience: if you’ve completed a university degree or higher, there’s no need to include high school.
• In-progress or incomplete studies: these are totally valid, as long as you’re transparent about it.

Certifications

Certifications can make a real difference, especially if you’re pivoting careers or don’t have much experience yet. According to Indeed, adding relevant certifications to your resume can boost your chances of getting hired by up to 15%.

Where you should list them

• Dedicated section: if you have several certifications, create a section titled “Certifications” or “Additional Training.”
• Merged with education: if you only have one or two, they can sit in your education section.
• In your summary: mention the most relevant ones in your resume summary to catch attention early.

How to present them

• Basic format: certification name, issuing organization, date of completion, and if applicable, expiration date or verification link.
• Relevance is key: only include certifications that relate directly to the role. A Photoshop course may be great for a design job, but won’t help much in finance.
• Certifications in progress: these are totally fair game, just make sure you’re clear about the status.
• Group by theme: if you’ve taken many online courses, group them by topic. Example: “Data Analytics Courses” or “Leadership Training.” It makes your resume easier to scan and shows focus.
• Self-taught learning: free courses or independent learning count too, as long as they’re relevant, verifiable, and show results.

What to do if you don’t have a college degree

Not having a college degree doesn’t put you out of the game. In fact, industries like tech, logistics, design, and digital sales increasingly care more about what you can do than what you studied. According to LinkedIn, 45% of global companies plan to drop college degree requirements for many roles in 2025. What they’re looking for is practical skills, real portfolios, and a mindset of continuous learning.

Here’s how to stand out if you don’t have a university degree:

• Industry-recognized certifications

  Invest in certifications that carry weight in your field. A Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate, CompTIA A+, or HubSpot Marketing Certification might be your ticket past the first filter.

• Personal projects that speak for you

  Are you a designer? Build a Behance portfolio. A developer? Upload projects to GitHub. Into marketing? Simulate a campaign in Notion or Canva. Don’t just say you know something, show it.

• Portfolios, case studies, and skill assessments

  In creative or technical fields, your portfolio often matters more than a diploma. Make sure to link to it from your resume and explain your role in each project.

• Accessible and official training

  Vocational programs, bootcamps, or diplomas from credible institutions are gaining ground. A Web Development bootcamp, for example, might open more doors than a traditional degree.

In a job market where, according to the World Economic Forum, 40% of today’s skills will be obsolete by 2030, showing you’re actively learning is often more valuable than a degree earned years ago.

How to include self-taught learning on your resume

These days, some of the most in-demand skills don’t come with a diploma. If you’ve learned how to create social media content, run SEO campaigns, or analyze data in Excel, chances are you picked it up on YouTube or by experimenting with your own projects. That’s gold.

But just saying “I’m self-taught” won’t cut it. To make it count on your resume, you need to structure it, connect it to real impact, and present it with professional honesty.

1. Don’t hide your formal education (even if it’s not directly related)

Your degree still adds value, even if it’s unrelated to the job. A degree in Art History might not scream “digital marketing,” but it shows you can research, think critically, and see things through to the end.

2. Create a section for your self-taught learning

Call it something like “Supplementary Education and Self-Taught Learning” or “Alternative Education.” The key is to:

• List specific skills (e.g. “Professional video editing,” not “watched tutorials”).
• Mention your learning sources (e.g. YouTube, blogs, real-world practice).
• Highlight how you applied what you learned (Where did you use it? What results did you see?).

Example:

Supplementary Education and Self-Taught Learning

• Social Media Content Creation

  Self-taught in scripting, filming, and editing using CapCut and DaVinci Resolve. Applied to managing a personal Instagram channel, growing it to over 5,000 followers.

• SEO and Copywriting

  Hands-on training through Moz and other expert blogs. Optimized a personal blog, resulting in a 30% increase in organic traffic within six months.

• Online Community Management

  Practical learning with Meta Blueprint resources. Actively moderated a Discord community with over 2,000 members.

3. Turn your learning into experience

Knowledge only becomes valuable when applied. If you’ve used what you learned in personal projects, freelance work, or on social media, list it as experience. You can create a “Personal Projects” section or include it under work experience if relevant.

Example:

Personal Project

• Content Creator on TikTok and Instagram (2023 – Present)
  • Wrote, filmed, and edited weekly videos.
  • Achieved 40% organic growth and an average of 10,000 views per video.

According to HackerRank, 32% of tech companies value hands-on projects more than degrees.

4. Be transparent if you don’t have certificates

You don’t need official diplomas. But be clear with your wording, avoid saying “certified” unless there’s formal accreditation behind it.

Instead, say things like:

• “Self-taught with practical application”.
• “Non-certified online course”.
• “Project-based learning with real-world outcomes”.

How to highlight your education on your resume when you have no work experience

If you’re just entering the job market and your professional experience is limited (or you haven’t had your first job yet), your education becomes the star of your resume. It’s your chance to show that you have potential, commitment, and a solid foundation to build on.

Where to put your education if you have no experience

When you don’t have work experience, place your education section right after your resume summary. That’s what recruiters will care about most. Include academic degrees, professional certifications, and self-taught learning, as long as they’re relevant to the job you want.

How to write your education to show transferable skills

Don’t just drop a cold list of courses and degrees. Instead, show how your education prepared you to add value from day one. Highlight transferable skills you’ve developed through your studies or projects and connect them to the role you’re applying for.

You can learn more about how to write a great resume without work experience in this article, but here’s a quick example:

Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate Coursera (September – November 2024)

Learned SQL and data visualization. Applied this knowledge in a capstone project that identified ways to boost business efficiency by 15%.

Add educational projects as experience

One of the most powerful ways to strengthen your profile without job experience is to list academic or personal projectsas hands-on experience.

Describe the context, your role, the tools you used, and ideally quantifiable results.

Let’s say you’re applying for a community manager role. Your resume’s education section could look like this:

Education

• Bachelor’s in Communication (in progress)

  Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (September 2022 – Expected June 2026)

  • Featured project: social media campaign for an NGO, increasing engagement by 30%.

• HubSpot Content Marketing Certification

  HubSpot Academy (December 2024)

  • Learned SEO-optimized content creation and inbound marketing strategies.

• Self-Taught Social Media Management

  Meta Blueprint + hands-on learning through personal Instagram account (2023 – Present)

  • Managing an account with 3,000 followers and achieving a 25% engagement boost every 3 months with strategic content.

How many courses to list if you have little work experience

Don’t list every course you’ve taken. Pick 3 to 5 key programs that are most aligned with the job. If you have more that you’re proud of, link to an online portfolio or save them for the interview.

Top certification trends to watch in 2025

The 2025 job market is being shaped by three major forces: digital transformation, the green transition, and demographic shifts. According to the Future of Jobs Report 2025, an estimated 170 million new jobs will be created by 2030; especially in artificial intelligence, data analytics, sustainability, and cybersecurity. In this landscape, certifications have become an accessible and effective way to stay competitive and visible to recruiters.

Here are the most valuable certifications to earn this year:

In-demand Online Certifications

Platforms like Coursera, edX, and Udemy have become widely respected in the professional world. In fact, Jobscan reports that over 50% of recruiters use certifications as a filter in ATS systems. A well-chosen online credential can open real doors. Here are some of the most valued:

• Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning
  • Google AI Certificate.
  • DeepLearning.AI Specialization.
• Data Science
  • Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate.
  • Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Scientist Associate.
• Cybersecurity
  • CompTIA Security+.
  • Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).
• Project Management
  • Project Management Professional (PMP).
  • Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).
• Cloud Technologies
  • AWS Certified Solutions Architect.
  • Microsoft Azure Fundamentals.

In addition, microcredentials and digital badges (short, skills-based, results-oriented courses) are gaining momentum. Platforms like LinkedIn Learning and Google Career Certificates offer verified, shareable badges that instantly strengthen your professional profile.

Why are certifications becoming so relevant?

Because companies are looking for people who can solve today’s real-world challenges:

• Artificial Intelligence is everywhere, from show recommendations to medical diagnostics. Those who master it gain a major competitive edge.
• Data Science turns raw information into strategic insight. It’s the compass of modern business.
• Cybersecurity is a global priority in the face of rising digital threats. Companies need people who can protect what matters.
• Project Management keeps everything moving, on time and with results. Startups and global firms alike need organized leaders.
• Cloud Computing is the new normal: data, software, and operations are moving online. Knowing how to manage it = job security.

Getting certified in these areas is like saying: “I’m ready for today’s challenges, and tomorrow’s. too”.

Certifications for career starters or career changers

If you’re just getting started or pivoting careers, there are beginner-friendly certifications that are affordable, hands-on, and highly employable. These credentials can qualify you for real jobs in months, not years. Here are some great entry-level options by field:

• Tech:
  • Google Data Analytics Professional Certificate: a smart entry into the world of data.
  • AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner: your first step into cloud computing.
  • CompTIA A+: a foundational credential for IT support and general tech roles.
• Business & Management:
  • PMP (Project Management Professional): globally respected and relevant across industries.
  • Certified ScrumMaster (CSM): agile, adaptable, and not just for tech.
  • HubSpot Inbound Marketing Certification: perfect for creatives or sales profiles entering digital marketing.
• Health, Wellness & Education:
  • First Aid & CPR Certification: useful in education, health, and community services.
  • Personal Trainer Certification (ACE or NASM): ideal if you want to work in fitness or wellness.
• Finance:
  • Financial Analyst Certification (CFA Level I): a solid starting point in banking, investing, or corporate finance; no MBA required.

Your education is more powerful than you think

Whether you’re just starting out, switching fields, or growing your career, your education and certifications can truly set you apart if you know how to showcase them.

In 2025, employers value more than degrees; they want people who learn fast, adapt, and stay current. Highlighting relevant courses, side projects, or self-directed learning could be what turns you from a “maybe” to a “must-interview.”

As Heraclitus said, “change is the only constant.” Your education is what equips you to embrace that change with confidence.

Not sure how to showcase your training on your resume?

Try CandyCV: we help you create a resume that shows your true value, even if you don’t have much work experience yet.