• How to Create a Resume

    WHAT IS A RESUME? A resume is a document that highlights your accomplishments. Typically resumes are one page in length. A resume is a living document. You want to add to and delete from it as you achieve different milestones.  For example, your current resume will include the year of your graduation from high school because you have not yet graduated. However, upon graduation, you will update your resume to include your graduation date.

    WHY SHOULD I HAVE A RESUME? It is an easy way for a person, organization, or company to view your credentials on paper. As you will see, many of your college admissions applications and most scholarship applications require information on grades, activities, organizations, etc. If you have already created a resume, you don’t have to fill out this information each time you apply to a college or complete a scholarship application. Often writing, “see attached” will suffice for the application and the process will be a lot easier on you. However, make sure you read the instructions. If the application requires you to fill out the information on their application- do that! You can at least reference your resume to assist you in completing the application, which is still an easier process than starting from scratch each time. Taking the time to complete a resume will make your senior year that much easier.

    HOW DO I GO ABOUT COMPLETING A RESUME?

    • Look at the sample:  It is your job to create the resume that will highlight your activities and accomplishments. Resumes are flexible. Therefore, the order of the sections you include will vary based upon your involvement. The education section should always come first. After that, sections should come in order of importance. As a Rachel Toor, former Duke admissions counselor said in her book, Admissions Confidential: We also look at what you do and how you spend your time. We look for well-rounded kids, but we also look for “well-lopsided” kids. If all you do is music-you don’t do sports, you don’t do community service, you don’t do student government, you just do music-that’s fine.Scholarship committees, like admissions committees, often want to know that you are using your time wisely and not spending 30+ hours a week in front of the gray box in the family room.
    • Brainstorm first.  Develop headings such as the ones on the sample resume and list everything  you can beginning with your freshman year. Anything prior to that would have to be unbelievably outstanding for you to include it - such as developing the cure for the common cold while in Mr. Petrie’s 5th grade science class J
    • After you have brainstormed, begin to prioritize your accomplishments by putting the best and most important items first. For scholarship and admissions applications, academics always come first. After that, it is your choice. Under each category you prioritize as well. As you can see from the sample resume, this fictional student earned National Merit recognition and was a recipient of the Lamp of Learning award- obviously the National Merit comes first. Make sure you explain activities that are not common to all schools. One example might be Link Crew.  We know the club at Kirkwood, but colleges will not.
    • Take the resume to the English lab, a teacher, coach, music instructor, or your college counselor to review it. Have your resume proofed by at least one other quality source!  In business, if there is a spelling error on a resume it often gets tossed out regardless of the information. Details are important. Take your time with it and make it good. If you can’t give a good first impression in person, do it on paper with your resume!!!