I dropped out of college. How do I say that on a resume?

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After the details of my course and dates of attendance, I put that I "left to pursue employment opportunities". That resume has got me at least 4 different jobs since then, so it must be working

i dropped out of college once. i just don't mention it. or do what Ishtara did

I haven't had to look for a job for a long time (I've got a very nice one, which tolerates my Aspie nature). But I dropped out of college long ago with good grades because I simply ran out of money and couldn't stand pursuing the student aid options. It's a decision I very much regret, but at the time I had no skills for handling the paperwork and hoop-jumping of the aid regime.

As I see it, I have plenty of very good experience to stand behind me. The main obstacle my lack of degree presents is the HR department, which uses a checklist of requirements before personal evaluation. So the trick is to go around HR and first talk to the people you'll be working with so that they can grease the skids in HR to deal with your lack of paper.

The very best lie I can come up with would be to say you dropped out because you had to take care of your dying mother. hopefully the interviewer will just want to change the subject.
How about getting back in college. Then you just call it hiatus for exploring other opportunities.

Hello,

In my experience, many employers don't care about education if you have a good deal of favorable experience. If the job announcement doesn't mention education, feel free to omit it.

Or, go ahead and adopt, for example, arielhawksquill's approach to describing education on your resume.

MizLiz, congratulations on doing three years' worth in a year and a half!

And you're absolutely right: "In Progress" is incorrect in this context. If you have left school indefinitely - and any employer with half a brain will figure if the last entry on your transcript is years old that you've left indefinitely - you are not in progress.

More broadly, employers do check resumes. I know the temptation to lie, when we're faced with seemingly irrelevant and arbitrary requirements in the economy from hell. Many people do lie.

And that's exactly why it's a bad idea by now - precisely because employers have learned to check things out.

What if you do get hired? How often are you going to wonder if today's the day you get found out? (Many background checks are only finished - or even started - days or weeks or even months after the employee starts. Sometimes they're only done if the boss is ticked off at the employee and wants an excuse to get rid of him/her.)

Finally, is it right? Especially by Aspie standards?

Meanwhile, Boston_MA has an excellent point. Coaching can help many people get and keep jobs (also friends, personal relationships, etc). I can help you work through these issues and turn your life around.

Last but not least, good luck tio you MizLiz!

Okay, first of all, you will only need to explain leaving college if you are asked. Have a good reason like money or something. People always buy that you couldn't pay for school.

On a resume, it really depends on the job you are applying for. Your resume should always be tailored to the specific position for which you are applying.

As some suggested, if a position requires or lends itself to a particular background that your schooling reflects, list the relevant courses (as "relevant coursework"). If not, always list the name of the school and the number of credits you completed. There is no need to list dates of attendance. This goes for anyone putting any schooling on their resume; dates of attendance may suggest your age (or an incorrect assumption of your age!) and therefore it should not be included on a resume. There are lots of other reasons as well, but there ya go.

(I come from a background in the staffing/recruiting industry.)

I dropped out of TAFE (Tech) courses here.

I used to put what others have suggested you put -

sometimes I put the course title

Then I put which modules I passed in a list.

or

Completed the following subjects from Cert III in blah blah blah.

That was enough to get me some work in the past.

In fact TAFE offers courses as being part courses - say if you do Word and Excel, it's called the Word and Excel course, but they write a letter to say you've done module blah and blah from Cert III or Cert IV or whatever.

Uni's the same here, I think for summer school which is new here you can just do one course from a degree.

I dropped out of college. I don't regret my decision in the slightest.