Friday, October 29, 2010

Résumé Reconstruction

Whether you’re seeking full-time employment or an internship, most employers require you to provide them with a résumé. While incorporating previous jobs and internships relative to the position you’re applying for seems effortless, what about those jobs that don’t as easily relate? For example if you’re applying for an accounting internship position at Harley Davidson and you currently work at Applebee’s as a waiter, the correlated skills aren’t so obvious. Well, there’s actually a pretty simple solution to this problem.

In the “Work Experience section of your résumé, use different headers to divide your experiences into those in which are career related (Career Related Experience) and those which could be categorized as other experience (Other Work Experience). Doing this creates a more coherent Work Experience Section.

So, how do you list your responsibilities for that “unrelated job?” What if I said there was no possible way to get around that problem? I’d be fibbing!!

Every activity in which you partake provides you with a skill or skills that employers’ value; they’re called Transferable Skills. Reflect on your position at Applebee’s; it’s not simply what you did, but how you did it. Here’s a scenario, a group of five friends come in to eat, their orders are really specific, they continuously complain about the food, and to top it off, they leave you a lousy tip. By keeping your temperament and treating them with the same respect you exhibit to all the tables you’re serving that night, you’ve displayed tolerance in a stressful situation which is a personal transferable skill. Or, let’s say you’re the employee who gets along with everyone, most of the time, you’re displaying the ability to interact and work effectively with co-workers and superiors, which is a human relations and interpersonal transferable skill. Allow yourself some time to think on these and if you’re still having trouble, feel free to stop by the Career Services Center (Holthusen Hall, First Floor). We’re here to help J

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