If you’re like me, I did not have a clue about writing a resume, I knew I put my work experience and the clubs and orgs I was a part of but what else was there to put on it? Where do I put all these things? What the heck is a cover letter?? Since seniors are anxiously waiting for graduation and their first Real Life Job, I figured this would be a good time to share some tips I learned from my trial and error of creating a resume*
*Note, I am no professional, if you want to talk to a real professional contact MU’s ELCM!! They are super nice and have a lot of helpful info (A lot of which really helped me writing mine!!) Click here for their website!
1. Figure Out What You’ve Done
The first step is to figure out what you’ve done and how is it relevant to your job search, I’d leave out things from high school (unless it’s relevant!) just because more than likely it’s been a hot minute since you’ve been in high school so it’s not important for your future employers to know about. If you were the president of a club, add that in! If you had a manager position at a job, definitely add that!
2. What Job are You Going For?
According to the MU’s ELCM’s website, know what your target position or job you are applying for, so it can be geared mostly to that position. For example, if you are applying for an event planning job (my dream job!) you would want to include experience in planning events. If you are applying for a government job, add all the experience you have in student government, internships, or leadership experience.
3. Get Those References!
References are the best! Getting someone who can speak on your work ethic, you as an employee, and who you are as a person is really important since the employer doesn’t know you! You need someone to show them how awesome and amazing you are before you go in for the interview! Make sure to ask the person beforehand to make sure it’s okay to use them as a reference, you don’t want to catch them off guard if the employer calls them.
4. Make It Pretty!
Or at least nice to look at, you don’t have to make it a work of art (unless you’re an art/graphic design major then, definitely do that!) You don’t want it to just be a plain Word doc with Times New Roman size 12 font, add some color!
5. Check Yo’ Spelling!!
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m the worst at spelling and will send in things without checking the spelling. This is more important than checking your spelling on your essay’s sent to your professors, this is the first impression that your employers will see of you and you don’t want to spell “interested” as “intrested” because that would be embarrassing. Have a friend or co-worker look over your resume BEFORE you send it in!
6. Cover Letters? What the Heck Is That????
Okay, to be honest, I’m still a little clueless when it comes to cover letters, but the general idea that I have of them is that it highlights things that you’ve done that relate to the job you are applying for but things that aren’t on your resume already. I may be wrong, (don’t yell at me ELCM!) but to me, this means things that you’ve done that aren’t worthy of being put on your resume. Things such as events you helped organize but weren’t the main planner or experience you have designing things for friends.
7. Now What I Do Know that I Have This??
I know what you’re thinking “okay, so I made this resume and sent it in but now what do I do with it?” Keep the file or paper copies in a safe place! Having a digital file will be useful if you need to update it or change it for a different job. Trust me on this, you’ll hate yourself if you keep deleting your resume file after sending it in somewhere.
8. Who Do I Contact with Questions?
If you have any questions, contact the ELCM on campus! They will review your resume for free and give you feedback! If you’re not from MU, look at your school’s website and see if there are any offices that help with career management!
Happy Resume Writing!!