➪ Preparing, Fixing, Refining (and repeating..) your Resume:
As far as resumes are concerned, I've prepared a list of suggestions. Again, these are just suggestions, not guarantees. These are just a few pointers that I picked up along the way, which worked in helping me in being gainfully employed.
Visually ↷
1. If you have the time, which you will, once you’re done 1A, try writing your resume in LaTeX. For those of you that don’t know (I was in the same boat), LaTeX is a document markup language. If you’re unsure about what that visually looks like, view a sample document written using LaTeX. Having your resume in LaTeX gives both you, as the prospective job applicant, and your resume, a good impression. I don’t think you can become proficient in it in the 2 weeks or so that you’ll have (people spend entire semesters writing their assignments in LaTeX to reach that level of proficiency), but you can certainly learn as much to complete your resume.
Tip: There’s tonnes of help available online. You can just about google everything. A couple of tutorials on YouTube, a few google searches, and I promise you you’ll be able to complete your resume, no problem.
2. While creating your resume, take a look at some resumes of upper year students and model yours accordingly. You don’t want to go too overboard, and at the same time, you don’t want it to look too dull. It needs to look visually appealing and balanced. Moderation is key.
Content-wise ↷
1. Please don’t put your accomplishments from middle school. Your resume should only have your accomplishments from the past 3-4 years (some may even suggest a smaller time frame). Again, you need to give your accomplishments some thought. Which ones are really worth it? Keep in mind that you’re competing with a large audience. You need to advertise yourself. The employer’s not going to have a premonition that you’re a worthy candidate.
2. DO NOT HAVE A TWO PAGE RESUME. THAT’S A BIG NO. HIGHLY FROWNED UPON. The employer doesn’t care how many accomplishments you have; they’re interested in the big ones. They’ll skim your resume, quite literally. You don’t want to bore them. Keep it short and only put on stuff that’ll establish you as a strong candidate.
3. Make sure to include brief descriptions of your accomplishments. Just putting on ‘volunteer at XYZ’ isn’t sufficient and doesn’t convey anything to the employer. Include key details, and what you took away from this experience. This was something that most people asked me to revise on my resume. Again, don’t go overboard with the descriptions. You shouldn’t have an essay narrating your experience.
4. Use bullet points.
5. Use figures/numbers if you have them to convey meaningful details.
6. I have to give credit where it's due. The PD course will give you access to a list of ‘resume action verbs’ that are essential for resumes. Words like ‘developed’, ‘engaged’, ‘assisted’ etc. Use these words. They convey your takeaway from your experiences quite efficiently.
7. Use headings.
Refining ↷
1. Once you’re finished with your resume, you HAVE to get it checked by upper year students, irrespective of how conscious you feel about it. You JUST HAVE TO. It's crucial. You could get some of your friends to look at it, but I don’t really see the point in that, considering they’re new to this as well.
2. Don’t go overboard with the above stated suggestion. Loads of people tend to do that, and I’ve been advised that it does more harm than good, since you get loads of opinions, most of which are contradicting. Keep it to 3-4 people (that what I did, and it worked out pretty well) and do incorporate the changes they suggest. They’re upper years students, who’ve been through these experiences. You might not agree with their suggestions, but you have do it. They have a much better sense of what the employer wants from your resume.
3. If you want to be pro-active (which you should, considering how you’ll be swamped with your courses by the time Jobmine opens), you should try to have your resume completed before the semester starts. You might find it quite stressful to balance both your courses and investing time on your resume.