Yes, it is that time of year again. Time to pick out your professional outfit, put on your blue suede shoes (please don’t actually..), grab your portfolio, print your resume, and head to the career fair. Each year, The Amica Center for Career Education hosts two career fairs-or should we call them “sweaty-hand-shakes-and-nervous-stutters-while-networking events”. There is absolutely no doubt in our minds that you are going to be shaking in your business shoes as you walk up to, what could be, your future employer. Saying “My name is marketing and I am majoring in Jessica”, will definitely make you stand out a bit, but there are ways to stand out while not embarrassing yourself. There is one thing you are more than likely going to hand the recruiters that can make them forget a button on your blouse fell off, spinach is logged in your front teeth, and you stuttered when you asked them about their HR department. What is it? Oh, your resume.
With just around 4,500 undergraduate students, you should be made fully aware that there will be hundreds of students attending this fair. All with more than mediocre GPAs, an extroverted personality, professional experience that will knock most House Representatives off their seats (maybe), and a solid resume. How in the world are you going to stand out from that? More than likely, you won’t. Unless you follow these 6 steps, or tips, to make your resume stand out from the crowd. Ready for the fair?
- Resume paper – For heaven’s sake please, please, please print your resume on professional resume paper. You will actually be surprised at how many students will show up with a still-hot-right-from-the-printer-normal-paper resume. It’s sickening. It’s also the easiest thing to do! Run over to Target and grab some off the shelf-it’s not that expensive and will be so worth it!
- Include important keywords – RESEARCH the companies you want to meet. It takes five minutes to scroll through their website to figure out what they do, what their mission is, and what opportunities they have for you. Target your resume by including keywords found on their site like “teamwork….global….driven…” you get the point.
- Infograph the shiz-nit out of it! – If you are studying something creative like marketing or communication, you may want to prove to the recruiter that you fit the role. Don’t expect an advertising agency to want to hire you if your resume looks like you’re applying to a top accounting firm…make it stand out! Sites like vizualize.me and infogr.am can help you get there.
- Make it relevant – the only thing we can say about this is that, through your resume, you should tell an employer what they want to know about you, not what you want to tell them…does that make sense? Make it relevant to the industry you want to venture into. At this stage in the job search, where you are desperate for anything, it is semi-okay to make it a bit broader than normal, but make sure you make your introduction relevant to the recruiter.
- Include your social media presence – Don’t be scared to put your blog or Twitter account on your resume! Of course, you want to make sure it is “brand” and professional, but it encourages employers to see how you showcase yourself online and network!
- Be passionate – Don’t be nervous to add on the bottom of your resume that you love scrapbooking, dogs, and you choose a different country each year to travel too…your passion outside of academics and professionalism could be something that distinguishes you from other candidates..you never know!