After completing my resume and working through the project process, I feel that I have a solid, working document and the knowledge to continue improving it. A significant point to me throughout was the one-page minimum; previously, I used references from resumes of people who have been in the professional sphere for a while, and therefore they were longer than a page. Being able to practice that concise, specific, and attention-grabbing language, I found I had a powerful ability to make that one page the best it could be. The peer review workshop was helpful for me in regards to formatting, there are so many options, and I know that I will most likely change mine as I get more experience and want a different look, but seeing two or three different resume styles was a great chance to experiment with mine. I also learned the importance of the reference section of a resume. In the future, as I near my Junior year, I will prioritize getting a set list of references and explicitly asking them. The work overall for this project was well-paced for me, and like with the cover letter project, spending time in class looking at samples and discussing strengths and weaknesses was an excellent tool for me as I was drafting. Our discussions in class, in general, offered many essential ideas for resumes, such as verb tenses, format, white space, detailed descriptions, and making sure to be specific and professional.
After completing the resume workshop portion of this course, I can confidently say that I have a better understanding of the workings of a resume as well as a new found comfort in knowing that I have a solid start to my future resume. Before coming into this course, I really had no idea how to even go about writing a resume (which was part of my reason for taking the course in the first place). I can now relax by knowing that I at the very least have a start to this forever changing document. After the peer workshop, I had some serious work to do in terms of format as well as the addition of some pretty important aspects that were missing. I find that this work was very insightful and taught me a lot about professional writing as well as being able to be knowledgeable enough to help edit the workings of others as well.
I really appreciated the time we spent in class discussing the functionality of the resume, and how important word choice/verb tense is. It stuck with me how we treat the resume as a living document, and knowing that it is flexible and customizable for different career opportunities has helped me become less stressed to the process of creating it. The resume is something that will grow with me. I felt nervous in the beginning of our workshop process because although it feels like I have accomplished a lot in my lifetime, a lot of these accomplishments were in high school and feel irrelevant to my potential career. The workshop opened my eyes to the skills I have already obtained, but also made me realize I need to put in more time for school, and spend less time working at CVS. Although the money is important, I need to focus on gaining relevant work experience while I am here, in school, and not waste this precious time of learning.
Now that I have learned how to make my resume look more professional and how to add specific things to it I feel more educated about it. Learning that this piece of writing is a “living object” was unusual but helpful. When I normally write a piece of writing, after I submit it, it’s gone and I don’t touch it but with the resume, I am always gaining experience and learning new skills. I am also working new jobs, so I can add those new things to the resume. I think that the workshop helped the most with learning about resumes. I learned how to properly format it and what and what not to add in terms of staying professional. Seeing my peers resumes, it really opened my eye on how I saw what professional and unprofessional are supposed to look like. Through both workshops about the Cover Letter and the resume and I gained how to properly listen and take in information that my peers have about making my writing flow better when reading.
This project was very eye opening for me and has changed the way that I think about resumes in general. First of all I really enjoyed the conversations we had in class regarding the resume particularly when we compared the resume to a garden. Thinking about the resume in this way has really helped me to open up my mindset and expand my previous understanding of the resume. Before this I always knew that the resume was important but I never really understood why. After doing this project I understand the importance of having a clear and concise resume and the importance of keeping it updated. This project would have been a lot more work for me if I hadn’t previously updated my resume so I am very grateful for that. This experience also taught me a lot about the formatting of a resume, something I knew little about before this. My old resume had huge blank wastes of space and now I have consolidated it down to one page of only the most important information with little to no blank space. Overall I’m really happy with the final result of my resume and I’m going to feel a lot better handing this version into future employers although there is always room for improvement.
The resume process was definitely eye opening for me. At first my resume started out at close to nothing. I had something done for the class but it was nowhere close to where it needed to be. Thankfully we had that peer review class, it was very helpful to get some new eyes on my work and also look at other peoples. Seeing that there were some students in the same boat as me, still with a lot of work to do was reassuring. Then on the flip side seeing students have very professional complete resumes was nice because I look at theres and kind of pick and choose what I think I needed to add to mine. Not in a copying way but it was just eye opening to see what I could add to mine. I made a lot of changes as I revised. I was missing a lot of sections and had a lot of things going on with the fonts. It was nice to go through and make real changes because I knew they were definitely necessary. Even as the project is done I know my resume is not perfect but I like the fact that I least have a start.
This resume process was extremely helpful for me. Before we began our work on our resumes, I hadn’t made one since maybe my sophomore year of high school using a Google template. It is fair to say that resume would not be fit for an employer’s eyes today. I learned throughout this process what a professional resume should look like, generally, and how I can create my own in a way to make it unique. Some of the general formatting guidelines were most helpful to me, for example, the functional resume format. Knowing that I can format my resume this way until I have more work experience is very helpful and stress-relieving. Since I have very limited work experience and no work experience in my desired field post-college, I was uneasy about how my resume would turn out. Overall, I am proud of the resume I have at this point and feel confident in my future ability to update and refresh it.
I think overall, the resume writing process was fun. I’ve had a resume before for the other jobs that I have worked but it was sorta all over the place up until now. This really gave me the motivation I needed to finish, polish, and hopefully improve the document. As we mentioned before, it’s a living document, it is never truly finished. And yes I would have to agree, however, I don’t think I will ever be satisfied with it at this time but one day I hope I will be. Furthermore, during the process of writing the resume, I enjoyed looking over other people’s resumes and what they had to offer. As well as their formatting of the resume. I know I’ve said it a dozen times in the past, but viewing other people’s styles is very interesting. Something new that I learned during the process was the idea of the AIDA model and how we can structure our resumes to be appealing or grabbing for the reader. I will sure try to use this method when I look back on trying to fix my resume, cover letter, etc.
After going through the whole process, I definitely feel that my confidence in the application process has gone up. I am now better able to organize my resume and now have an idea as to what to expect. Before this, the only guidance I’d ever received as to a cover letter/resume was from my mom, so I was completely out of my element when it came to putting everything together. Now, I’m much more organized. I think it also helped to peer review others work to compare and help better my own piece. If I’d only had the book to go off of, I don’t think my work would be anywhere near where it is now.
After completing the resume assignment, I feel more confident in my abilities to produce such a professional and important document in a way that will appeal to an employer in the future. Beginning this assignment, I was worried about the overall appearance of my resume, but after receiving great feedback during the workshop and finalizing the document, I feel confident enough that I could hand this document in to a prospective employer. The biggest takeaway I learned was that there isn’t just one way to format a resume. Yes, they all need to follow certain guidelines and have the same professional characteristics, but when creating a resume, there is no need to be concerned if it looks different from the examples you see online. This project helped me realize that.
I appreciated the resume and cover letter workshop in this class. As a graduating senior, I took this class to reinforce my writing skills before entering the workforce, especially since it has been a while since I last took a course focused on just the writing rather than the content. I appreciated getting an extra set of eyes on a resume I was already pretty confident in. I also appreciated looking at others’ resumes, as it is something I enjoy, but also it allows their resume to be better, and I can take some insights on how to make mine better as well.
It has been interesting working on a resume in such a different format. Most of the other resumes that I have submitted have been in a combination style or a reverse-chronological style. By following the rubric, this resume let me format and edit a resume differently. The most important factor from the rubric was the one-page limit. All of my other resumes had been two pages that could fit into one double-sided sheet. So, this limit required me to evaluate which information I was presenting. I ensured that all of my accomplishments/skills aligned with previous job experiences. Some of the skills I had were for jobs I didn’t list, making them not have something to back them up by the reviewer of the rubric. I also tried to cut out superfluous information, such as volunteer positions and awards, that could be expanded upon in interviews or found through a Google search by the employer. My work as a Library Trustee or on the Youth Council could be shown through news articles and city websites just as much as through my resume. I also cut additional information such as educational opportunities and superfluous information, such as being on the dean’s list. These could be seen as fluff that could be expanded upon later in an interview.
12 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 15”
After completing my resume and working through the project process, I feel that I have a solid, working document and the knowledge to continue improving it. A significant point to me throughout was the one-page minimum; previously, I used references from resumes of people who have been in the professional sphere for a while, and therefore they were longer than a page. Being able to practice that concise, specific, and attention-grabbing language, I found I had a powerful ability to make that one page the best it could be. The peer review workshop was helpful for me in regards to formatting, there are so many options, and I know that I will most likely change mine as I get more experience and want a different look, but seeing two or three different resume styles was a great chance to experiment with mine. I also learned the importance of the reference section of a resume. In the future, as I near my Junior year, I will prioritize getting a set list of references and explicitly asking them. The work overall for this project was well-paced for me, and like with the cover letter project, spending time in class looking at samples and discussing strengths and weaknesses was an excellent tool for me as I was drafting. Our discussions in class, in general, offered many essential ideas for resumes, such as verb tenses, format, white space, detailed descriptions, and making sure to be specific and professional.
After completing the resume workshop portion of this course, I can confidently say that I have a better understanding of the workings of a resume as well as a new found comfort in knowing that I have a solid start to my future resume. Before coming into this course, I really had no idea how to even go about writing a resume (which was part of my reason for taking the course in the first place). I can now relax by knowing that I at the very least have a start to this forever changing document. After the peer workshop, I had some serious work to do in terms of format as well as the addition of some pretty important aspects that were missing. I find that this work was very insightful and taught me a lot about professional writing as well as being able to be knowledgeable enough to help edit the workings of others as well.
I really appreciated the time we spent in class discussing the functionality of the resume, and how important word choice/verb tense is. It stuck with me how we treat the resume as a living document, and knowing that it is flexible and customizable for different career opportunities has helped me become less stressed to the process of creating it. The resume is something that will grow with me. I felt nervous in the beginning of our workshop process because although it feels like I have accomplished a lot in my lifetime, a lot of these accomplishments were in high school and feel irrelevant to my potential career. The workshop opened my eyes to the skills I have already obtained, but also made me realize I need to put in more time for school, and spend less time working at CVS. Although the money is important, I need to focus on gaining relevant work experience while I am here, in school, and not waste this precious time of learning.
Now that I have learned how to make my resume look more professional and how to add specific things to it I feel more educated about it. Learning that this piece of writing is a “living object” was unusual but helpful. When I normally write a piece of writing, after I submit it, it’s gone and I don’t touch it but with the resume, I am always gaining experience and learning new skills. I am also working new jobs, so I can add those new things to the resume. I think that the workshop helped the most with learning about resumes. I learned how to properly format it and what and what not to add in terms of staying professional. Seeing my peers resumes, it really opened my eye on how I saw what professional and unprofessional are supposed to look like. Through both workshops about the Cover Letter and the resume and I gained how to properly listen and take in information that my peers have about making my writing flow better when reading.
This project was very eye opening for me and has changed the way that I think about resumes in general. First of all I really enjoyed the conversations we had in class regarding the resume particularly when we compared the resume to a garden. Thinking about the resume in this way has really helped me to open up my mindset and expand my previous understanding of the resume. Before this I always knew that the resume was important but I never really understood why. After doing this project I understand the importance of having a clear and concise resume and the importance of keeping it updated. This project would have been a lot more work for me if I hadn’t previously updated my resume so I am very grateful for that. This experience also taught me a lot about the formatting of a resume, something I knew little about before this. My old resume had huge blank wastes of space and now I have consolidated it down to one page of only the most important information with little to no blank space. Overall I’m really happy with the final result of my resume and I’m going to feel a lot better handing this version into future employers although there is always room for improvement.
The resume process was definitely eye opening for me. At first my resume started out at close to nothing. I had something done for the class but it was nowhere close to where it needed to be. Thankfully we had that peer review class, it was very helpful to get some new eyes on my work and also look at other peoples. Seeing that there were some students in the same boat as me, still with a lot of work to do was reassuring. Then on the flip side seeing students have very professional complete resumes was nice because I look at theres and kind of pick and choose what I think I needed to add to mine. Not in a copying way but it was just eye opening to see what I could add to mine. I made a lot of changes as I revised. I was missing a lot of sections and had a lot of things going on with the fonts. It was nice to go through and make real changes because I knew they were definitely necessary. Even as the project is done I know my resume is not perfect but I like the fact that I least have a start.
This resume process was extremely helpful for me. Before we began our work on our resumes, I hadn’t made one since maybe my sophomore year of high school using a Google template. It is fair to say that resume would not be fit for an employer’s eyes today. I learned throughout this process what a professional resume should look like, generally, and how I can create my own in a way to make it unique. Some of the general formatting guidelines were most helpful to me, for example, the functional resume format. Knowing that I can format my resume this way until I have more work experience is very helpful and stress-relieving. Since I have very limited work experience and no work experience in my desired field post-college, I was uneasy about how my resume would turn out. Overall, I am proud of the resume I have at this point and feel confident in my future ability to update and refresh it.
I think overall, the resume writing process was fun. I’ve had a resume before for the other jobs that I have worked but it was sorta all over the place up until now. This really gave me the motivation I needed to finish, polish, and hopefully improve the document. As we mentioned before, it’s a living document, it is never truly finished. And yes I would have to agree, however, I don’t think I will ever be satisfied with it at this time but one day I hope I will be. Furthermore, during the process of writing the resume, I enjoyed looking over other people’s resumes and what they had to offer. As well as their formatting of the resume. I know I’ve said it a dozen times in the past, but viewing other people’s styles is very interesting. Something new that I learned during the process was the idea of the AIDA model and how we can structure our resumes to be appealing or grabbing for the reader. I will sure try to use this method when I look back on trying to fix my resume, cover letter, etc.
After going through the whole process, I definitely feel that my confidence in the application process has gone up. I am now better able to organize my resume and now have an idea as to what to expect. Before this, the only guidance I’d ever received as to a cover letter/resume was from my mom, so I was completely out of my element when it came to putting everything together. Now, I’m much more organized. I think it also helped to peer review others work to compare and help better my own piece. If I’d only had the book to go off of, I don’t think my work would be anywhere near where it is now.
After completing the resume assignment, I feel more confident in my abilities to produce such a professional and important document in a way that will appeal to an employer in the future. Beginning this assignment, I was worried about the overall appearance of my resume, but after receiving great feedback during the workshop and finalizing the document, I feel confident enough that I could hand this document in to a prospective employer. The biggest takeaway I learned was that there isn’t just one way to format a resume. Yes, they all need to follow certain guidelines and have the same professional characteristics, but when creating a resume, there is no need to be concerned if it looks different from the examples you see online. This project helped me realize that.
I appreciated the resume and cover letter workshop in this class. As a graduating senior, I took this class to reinforce my writing skills before entering the workforce, especially since it has been a while since I last took a course focused on just the writing rather than the content. I appreciated getting an extra set of eyes on a resume I was already pretty confident in. I also appreciated looking at others’ resumes, as it is something I enjoy, but also it allows their resume to be better, and I can take some insights on how to make mine better as well.
It has been interesting working on a resume in such a different format. Most of the other resumes that I have submitted have been in a combination style or a reverse-chronological style. By following the rubric, this resume let me format and edit a resume differently. The most important factor from the rubric was the one-page limit. All of my other resumes had been two pages that could fit into one double-sided sheet. So, this limit required me to evaluate which information I was presenting. I ensured that all of my accomplishments/skills aligned with previous job experiences. Some of the skills I had were for jobs I didn’t list, making them not have something to back them up by the reviewer of the rubric. I also tried to cut out superfluous information, such as volunteer positions and awards, that could be expanded upon in interviews or found through a Google search by the employer. My work as a Library Trustee or on the Youth Council could be shown through news articles and city websites just as much as through my resume. I also cut additional information such as educational opportunities and superfluous information, such as being on the dean’s list. These could be seen as fluff that could be expanded upon later in an interview.