Getting through college

I recently took a very helpful youth professional development course and learned some great things I’d love to share with everyone. This post will be especially helpful for first time resume writers, but there might be something in it for everyone. 

1. What is a Resume? 

A resume is a brief summary of your abilities, experience, and skills. It’s essentially a personal advertisement for your professional career, an opportunity to convince the employer that you are worth interviewing. 

The average employer will only take about 15-20 seconds to read your resume.

It’s important that your resume is neat so the reader can find important information quickly. 

Limit the resume to one page. 

Standard font size is 11-12, but you can play with the font or margins to fit everything. 

2. Headings 

Start with your personal information at the top of the first page (name, address, phone number, and email address). 

Keep the header centered and your name on top in BIG LETTERS.

3. Education 

If you are still in school or have little professional experience, this will likely be the first section in your resume. 

Document your education and graduation year.

Include the location (city, state), but do not include the school address. 

If you attend a school with a College Preparatory Curriculum, you may list that as a bullet underneath. If you are taking Honors or AP classes (or an international equivalent), feel free to list that as well. 

4. Professional Experience 

List your work experience in reverse chronological order - start with your most recent experience, and work backwards. 

Include the employer name, city, state, and position title for each. Again, no addresses.

Record your dates of employment consistently, using a format like June 2016 - August 2015, or 6/15 - 8/15. Staying consistent will make your resume professional. 

Place current jobs in the present tense, past jobs in the past tense. 

Write short phrases, not full sentences (”performed experiments”, not “I performed experiments”). Start each description with an action word that describes your skills, responsibilities, or accomplishments. 

Make sure you are specific about your responsibilities and don’t undersell yourself!

5. Skills 

Most commonly listed skills are computer programs and softwares you are comfortable with, and languages you are fluent/proficient in. 

Be honest! If you say you’re fluent in Spanish and you’re not, but your employer hires you for your Spanish abilities…. someone isn’t going to be pleased. 

List skills that are relevant to your job - patience might be a good skill for working with children, while organized might be more suitable for an office setting. 

6. Honors & Awards/Extracurriculars

List any honors or awards you have earned, including a brief explanation if the nature of the award is unclear. 

List any activities that you have been involved in, making sure to include years of participation (again, be consistent with formatting). These can be in-school or outside-of-school activities.

7. General & Miscellaneous

Some safe fonts: Times New Roman, Garamond, Calibri, or Book Antiqua.

Make sure your email is professional! This has been repeated to death but it’s so, so, so important. 

Likewise, if you list your personal cellphone number, make sure your voicemail message is appropriate. When in doubt, just revert back to the standard voicemail greeting. 

I hope this was helpful for anyone just starting out with their resume. Please share this for those who need it. Best of luck! 

  On the ACT, you should guess, bc they only score the questions you answer correctly. A wrong answer does not subtract or add points. So, why not guess and have a chance at answering correctly! 

a bag of chips, a cup of milk and almost 10 hours later, I’ve finished my notes for my ancient exam and I’m feeling so brain dead 

Below are some tips to help you develop the attitudes and habits which lead to success:

1. Take responsibility for yourself, and your failure or success.

2. Understand that you’ll need to priorities the way you use your time and your energy. Make your own decisions, and don’t let your friends dictate what’s important, and how much you should work.

3. Figure out when your most productive work times are, and the types of environments where you work best.

4. Try to understand the material well – don’t just memorize what the textbook says. If possible, try to explain it to a friend.

5. Try something else if revision doesn’t help. Don’t just keep reading the same things again.

6. Then, if you still don’t understand then ask for some help. It’s not going to magically fall into place.

7. Study with a friend, and share ideas, and test each other on what you’re meant to know.