Writing a Resume

I'm an awful person for not posting for 9 days, and even worse for being that guy who apologizes on his blog!

But here goes.

One thing that has been occupying my time since I've been back at school; my resume. It's not the most complicated thing in the world, but definitely one of those things you want to do right. It's your first impression to potential employers/internships! So thank God for SMC's career counseling services. I was able to bring in my resume, have it looked over, and get help writing a proposal for the internship I want this summer at MVRCR; an outreach center for refugees in Utica, NY. This is my first internship (fingers crossed), so I'm really hoping I'll be picked, because working with Refugees is something I see myself doing after undergrad. Exciting stuff!

And I said that it's not the most complicated thing in the world, but it's definitely a process. Some things you have to do in the process of compiling a resume are:

Remember What You've Done

Especially after having taken a gap year, it was difficult for me to remember things I could put on a resume. For example, while a job that I held for a year until my last semester of high school seemed applicable, summer jobs from the year before did not. Also, I wanted to work my experience abroad into my resume, but I wasn't sure how. Thankfully, with guidance from my dad as well as a career counselor here at SMC, I was able to make it pretty clear what I had done and why this was relevant to the internship. 

Learn to Brag

For most people, it's pretty awkward at first to write clearly and confidently about yourself. You don't want people to overestimate your abilities; but at the same time it would be worse if you talked yourself down. That's why it helps to have a third party (I had my parents, siblings, grandparents, friends and career counselors read it before I was satisfied). But even so, learn to brag! It's ok to tell people what you can do, just as long as you're not exaggerating. It's a good skill to have.

Collect References

This may be the most important thing, because you want to make sure that your references know your abilities as well as your personality. If contacted, these people will give your employer a sense of who you are, in addition to how you come off on your resume. Professors, former employers, mentors and advisers are possibilities.

Be Concise

You can't ramble in a resume. In fact, you're encouraged not to write in full sentences. Rather than, "I was a dishwasher, helped the cook and cleaned the kitchen", you would write, "washed dishes, helped cook, cleaned kitchen, etc.", or something to that effect. Usually, your resume has to be only one page, so the shorter your descriptions are, the better.

If all goes as planned, I'll be sending my completed resume as well as my internship proposal and application off within the next few days! Here's a *small* (sorry) snapshot of the finished product!

Thanks for reading!