Resumes – A marketing tool that all students need

11/06/2007

Typically, when we think of resumes, we think of seniors applying for positions for after graduation.  However, there are many reasons why all students need to know how to prepare a “tailored or customized” resume.   Let’s take a look at some of these reasons – and encourage your daughter or son to begin working on theirs! 

The Career Services’ home page has information to help students learn about resumes including many samples to review for format and style.  Students are also encouraged to have a draft of a resume critiqued by Career Services’ staff.

First Years/Sophomores:

Possible Uses:

• First year and sophomore students may not be applying for full-time positions but there are many other experiences that they may want to apply for AND that will require a resume.  For example, some scholarship applications ask students to include a copy of their resume to summarize their experiences.
• Many student employment positions on campus require a resume as part of their application process and so students looking to obtain a different position for their sophomore year, may need to submit a resume.
• Students may need a resume to apply for an upcoming summer job or volunteer experience.

Why it’s helpful to create a resume:

• Many students were very active in sports, extracurricular and volunteer activities, as well as leadership positions as part of their high school experience.  Now that they’re in college, what are these same students doing to gain related experience to help them test out options and demonstrate their skills to future employers and graduate schools?  Putting together a resume in college will often show the “gaps or holes.” What do students have to put on a resume?   Students cannot rely solely on their academic major to get them into graduate/professional school or to help them get that first job after college.
• Seeing these “gaps” often motivates students to think about “experiences” that will help them learn more about themselves. What can they do each semester?  Each summer?  For example, students can think about student employment, volunteer experiences, extracurricular activities such as clubs and organizations, summer/part-time jobs, and internships that they’d like to take advantage of as a student.  It can be things such as choosing to work for The Record as a staff writer or copywriter to gain experience in media and journalism., applying to be an EMT to gain medical related experience or applying for a position as a Career Assistant to develop interpersonal, communication and marketing skills.

Juniors/Seniors

Possible Uses:

• Many juniors and seniors are using resumes to apply for internships, summer jobs, undergraduate research and other kinds of career experiences.
• It’s often helpful to try and cluster “related experiences” (related to the “Career Objective”) to show employers/graduate schools that they are a good “fit” for the position and to “tailor” the resume to the kind of position they are seeking.  See examples of this on the Career Services’ home page under “Resumes: Samples.”

Why it’s helpful to create a “targeted” resume:

• Resumes are typically one of the first documents requested by employers as part of the application process.  This document needs to “market” the individual and demonstrate to the employer that they have the necessary skills.  It doesn’t work to have  a “one size fits all” resume.
• It is important to “describe” what they’ve done  using action verbs (e.g. Supervised and trained four summer employees including creating work schedules and dealing with employee issues and concerns) rather than making general comments such as “Utilized leadership skills.” 
• Many employers may scan a resume in 30-60 seconds; first impressions are very important!  It needs to be readable, look interesting and give the employer the info they need to say “I’d like to talk with this individual!”  The interview is the next step in the “selling process!”
• Many students think a resume is a summary of “everything they’ve ever done in their life.”  Well, not exactly.  Students need to examine the variety of experiences they’ve had and ask themselves “Which of these experiences demonstrate the skills the employer is asking for?”  So, it’s a manner of “picking and choosing” which experiences (paid or unpaid) best speak to the skills needed.
• Using “keywords” is helpful.  Many employers know which skills they’re looking for to fill an intern or full-time position.  Students need to do their research about the position so that they can use these “keywords” (which often are skill-related) to describe and highlight their experiences.