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When Plans Change Senior Year
Sydnei Kaplan
Move-in day is approaching, and you and your college student are getting ready. You've made a list of "must-have" items. Extra-long twin sheets? Check. Laptop? Check. Storage organizers? Check. Resume? Check. Wait — what?!
That's right. Although rarely found on anyone's Top Ten, a resume should be considered an essential item on your student's packing list. Certainly, there are more exciting ways to spend the last few weeks of summer, but creating a solid resume should be a priority, and here's why:
The start of college is exciting, but it can be stressful, too. Navigating a new campus, making friends, coursework, laundry…the list goes on. Why should your student put off this vital activity and add one more task to their already full load in the fall? By working on their resume now, they can take their time and complete it at their own pace before there is a need for it.
Working on their resume now allows your student to thoroughly review their past, looking for those experiences and activities that will make them stand out from their peers. By completing it at home, they'll have access to information they may not have when they get to campus: customer comment cards, performance reviews from past employers, and certificates and awards from their many extracurricular and volunteer experiences.
An early start also leaves room for multiple revisions. Creating a resume for the first time can be intimidating. Sometimes students need to walk away from the writing process and return later with a fresh perspective. The luxury of mulling things over can make the difference between an adequate resume and an amazing one.
If you have your own resume, you're familiar with the genre. And while you can certainly offer tips on formatting and content, you can really help by reminding your student of their accomplishments and successes.
Most students create cookie-cutter resumes, listing past jobs and student organizations they belong to. To make their resume stand out, your student should focus on what they accomplished in their positions that went above and beyond the basic job description and show how their contributions to groups and organizations were essential and unique. They may not remember all of this, but chances are you do. This is the type of help they need.
Help them make their resume look its best by choosing the right font >
Your student's life will change a lot over the next few years. Each semester brings new classes, experiences, skills, and — sometimes — new jobs. Each change is an opportunity to enhance their resume if they know how. Putting together a solid "base" resume now means they'll have the know-how to make changes later quickly. This will be especially important when they're juggling multiple commitments and deadlines and need an updated resume fast.
Applying for jobs, scholarships, and other programs usually involves a bit of paperwork. If your student has a resume ready, they can get application materials in more quickly. That time difference may affect who gets the job, scholarship, etc.
Most recruiters aren't looking to hire first-year students for internships, and many first-year students don't actively attend recruiting events. But those freshmen that do go and are prepared with an excellent resumé make an impression.
The recruiter may not hire them this time, but they will probably keep their resume and make a note to touch base with them the next hiring season. Recruiters want to grab the best students early and hold on to them. Making a positive impression early in their college career gives your student a definite advantage over peers when getting that first internship.
There you have it! While it may not be your — or your student's — ideal way to wrap up summer, carving out time to work on a resume now can lead to many potential rewards down the road. Best of luck!
