How to Build your Resume

Sherrin Smith

Contributing Writer

Career readiness is what professors and advisors emphasize to students. It’s the sole purpose of college, to graduate and enter your career. However, getting ready for future jobs may be a struggle for some students. Fortunately, there are resources on campus to help students prepare for all things career -oriented.

The Career Development Center, located in Bernardine Hall, is a resourceful yet underused source of help here on campus. This is a place where students can receive help with resume building, mock interviews, and job searching.

Sophomore student, Olivia Noel, is a Peer Career Specialist in the Career Development Center. She assists students with resume help and conducts mock interviews. When asked about what makes a good resume, Noel said, “I think a good resume is being honest. To achieve a the good resume, you really need to look at everything that you’ve done.”

Noel advised to discard everything from high school and “to focus in on the most important aspects of your resume.” Those important aspects include leadership skills, communication skills, or problem solving.

Once your resume is complete, the next step is to prepare for job interviews. To do so, Noel said, “ComeComing to mock interviews. It’s the best advice I can give you.” She added the importance of them is to help students not imitate Porky Pig from Looney Toons. In other words, to not stutter over themselves or have trouble answering questions. body part afterwards, until you are fully relaxed. same time and for the same duration will help you with brain clarity, a healthy mind and heart, and will help with your concentration in class. Caffeine will not be a good substitute for multiple days without good enough sleep, so make sure you can find a good balance for you! Getting sleep can be hard, but a few tips would be to stay consistent with the schedule you set yourself up for, and make sure to stay off your phone for at least 30 minutes before bed. Another great tip for sleeping is a fun sleep science technique where you start with your toes, and flex every part of your body and then make sure to relax those

“The more you practice, the more confident you’ll feel within yourself and within what you’re saying to whatever employer that you’re trying to get a job from,” Noel said. Career Development offers mock trials, but if you are unable to have one, Noel added that you can practice with parents or friends.

Do not be afraid to get out of your comfort zone! While it can feel comfortable to just hang out with the people you already know, or stay inside for a weekend, you should try and put yourself out there! Take a field trip with the school, walk around campus, or talk to someone in class! Making friends can be intimidating and hard, but it is a crucial step in making sure your year is as fun as it can be!

While there are so many more tips and important healthy choices you can make while going to college, these five can get you off to a good start! Making healthy choices and decisions can be hard, and challenging, and don’t be afraid to fail or not be able to keep up with everything at once.”Getting help when I needed it, and going day by day instead of constantly worrying about homework, and class workload is what I would recommend people doing” Said Nick Schuch a Junior at Alvernia. Failing and trying is a crucial step to being able to complete and stay on track with your goals next time!

Outside of Career Development, there are a few classes on campus that can assist students. One of them is Speech for Professionals (COM 223) with Dr. Fitzpatrick. When asked about the perspective her class gives in job preparation, Fitzpatrick said, “I think it makes it more real because I think everybody talks about it but not a lot of people actually do it. Because we have assignments that are attached to job preparation, it makes people think far more deeply about it and it makes them really work more to set goals, to achieve what they want to achieve, to get that dream job.”

To add on to Noel’s advice about resume building, Fitzpatrick said that “a lot of students think that they can approach a resume and have it finished very quickly because they’re writing about themselves. What they don’t realize is that…a resume is supposed to be an accurate reflection of your best skill sets and your best professional experiences and that kind of work takes time.”

Fitzpatrick also stated that it is best to receive feedback on your resume from your faculty advisor or a faculty member that you look up to, or even someone in Career Development.

Resume building can be hard, but there are external resources students have access to if they need assistance in creating one. Microsoft Word has templates to help create your resume and organize your skills and experiences. If you would like something more eye catching, Canva is an online and free graphic design website that users can use to create resumes as well. There are numerous templates available, however a subscription is needed if you would like more options. Lastly, there are a plethora of YouTube videos on resume building and interview preparation. All it takes is the drive to resume working on your career readiness to secure your future career.