Tuesday
May102011
College Student Experience Overview
New and soon to be college graduates are often challenged by their lack of traditional work backgrounds for developing strong resumes and acing interviews. They need help leveraging the value of their experiences to communicate their strengths. In this article, we focus on how college students and new graduates can try to overcome work experience limitations by leveraging other experiences.
You Are What You’ve Done
Unless you’ve been living in a cave or a library for the last decade or so, you have been participating in a range of activities beyond going to classes and going out with friends. Now, it’s fairly easy to translate experiences you may have had during internships. Treat them like you would any job, just consider that they were abbreviated by time.
As you work up your resume and practice your interactions with Hiring Managers, remember that the most important things you can stress are not the years you have worked, but instead your accomplishments, as well as your ability to add value and solve the problems of a prospective employer.
Sharing something about your personal accomplishments provides an employer with a little bit more information about you. As you relate details about yourself, be sure to provide some context – tell a story (even a single sentence can give us the what, where and why). Also, be judicious and pick out just a few of the strongest items. The Hiring Manager doesn’t want to know about every single thing you have done – just the meaningful highlights.
Below are some topics to consider. As you review them, think about “metrics,” those aspects of your accomplishments that may be tied to quantifiable results. Also, with each of the topics, consider those qualities that make you successful at that pursuit – those same qualities can be applied in the work world. For example, you may not have a year of formal project management experience that is required for a position, but if you have been coordinating activities at a summer camp for the past 6 years, mention it. Would this experience be given equal weight? Perhaps not. But it may keep you in the game when competing against another candidate and give you an opportunity to win an interview and wow them in person. Here, I hope you will take some time to rethink your pursuits and acknowledge how that work can translate to the traditional employment world.
Sports
Play any sports? If you have been involved in sports as a team member, you have something valuable to offer an employer. Were you a quarterback or a team captain? Those positions embody certain qualities and by holding them, you probably learned something about leadership that is worth noting. Did you ever coach another player or a kid’s team? Share that. Marathon runner or competitive tennis player? If your sporting pursuit was individual, you understood the importance of setting and reaching goals, being disciplined and competing. If you were a cheerleader, consider how your support, enthusiasm and team spirit added value to your college’s sporting events.
Clubs and Charities
If you have been a member of a club or organization, whether it was affiliated with school, your neighborhood, or your church, it likely reflects well on you to share accomplishments associated with that group. Clubs demonstrate your social skills, as well as your interests. Any leadership role as an officer or committee head shows responsibility and initiative, as well as organizational skills. If you have been involved in fundraising activities, you show commitment and your ability to raise money for an important cause. If you volunteer to help others in any capacity, it is worth mentioning. Consider how these activities leverage your talents – working with others, communicating ideas, teaching, etc. This is respectable and admirable work. Just because you didn’t get paid to do it that does not mean it doesn’t have value. Employers are looking for well-rounded employees who give back to their communities, so don’t hide your light under a bushel here. Remember – do your best to quantify your accomplishment – money raised, goals met, increased accomplishment over previous years’ activities, number of meals served at the soup kitchen, etc. Be honest and don’t embellish.
Travel
If travel is your passion and has resulted in some accomplishment, mention it. While it may not be of great interest that you visited the Hoover Dam last summer, if you visited the Hoover Dam as part of an energy research project that was published in your school paper and you are pursuing the energy field for your career, do bring that up. If you recently achieved a life-long goal to trek up Kilimanjaro, by all means share. If you did an exchange program, consider how that experience broadened your educational experience, encouraged independence and cultural awareness.
Hobbies
Do you perform in plays? Do you write stories? Fix old cars? Do crafts? Cook? If you don’t have typical work accomplishments to include in your resume, look to your hobbies for more accomplishments in your life. Consider this…you never know what interest you have might pique the curiosity of a Hiring Manager. Bosses can be quirky. If you end up with the same affection for cats or you play the banjo and he’s a bluegrass fan, you might have an edge over other candidates. In any case, learning new skills and challenging your self is an important quality you can offer a prospective employer.
Home Life
Maybe you haven’t had a lot of time for extracurricular activities or summer internships. If you have been at home taking care of younger siblings or assisting your parents, don’t dismiss that experience as irrelevant. You have had responsibilities and met them. This has value worth mentioning as part of the story of who you are.
Implementation on Your Resume
Now for some specific suggestions. You are probably saying, “Great, I did all this stuff. Now how to I make use of it in my resume?” There are a number of ways. Consider your resume style first. If you don’t have a lot of formal job experience, an accomplishments-based resume is probably a better choice for you than a chronological resume. Now, compose some strong bullet points about your accomplishments. Share them with a professional, a teacher, or a counselor and see if they agree that they are well written and sound worthy of inclusion. In your Accomplishments section, mix those accomplishments in with any traditional work ones you have. In the Work Experience section, if you have volunteer experience, by all means include it there with specifics (Group name, dates, etc.) and note clearly within or next to your title – Volunteer. In a Personal section at the end, include those pursuits that dovetail with the kind of work you would like to pursue, or information that is just plain interesting. Also add any notable awards or achievements, such as being published or being a Merit Scholar, etc.
Wrap Up
We are brought up to have good manners and have a tendency to be humble or self-deprecating. Taking stock of your experiences and acknowledging your own worth is crucial to the job search and nailing the interview. As you consider what you have done in your life, you will begin to realize how large your network may be. As you assess your experiences, you may discover some trending that defines strengths you didn’t know you had. Knowing what those strengths are will help you make better career choices throughout your life. Acknowledge your talents and accomplishments and make them a part of your pitch, your story about yourself. This will help make you memorable and stand out against other candidates during the interview process. There is another byproduct for this exercise….confidence. The job search process is challenging and there will be peaks and valleys throughout your life. Remembering your accomplishments and talents – focusing on the positive within you -- will help you stay positive and focuses during the process.
Good luck with your job search!
You Are What You’ve Done
Unless you’ve been living in a cave or a library for the last decade or so, you have been participating in a range of activities beyond going to classes and going out with friends. Now, it’s fairly easy to translate experiences you may have had during internships. Treat them like you would any job, just consider that they were abbreviated by time.
As you work up your resume and practice your interactions with Hiring Managers, remember that the most important things you can stress are not the years you have worked, but instead your accomplishments, as well as your ability to add value and solve the problems of a prospective employer.
Sharing something about your personal accomplishments provides an employer with a little bit more information about you. As you relate details about yourself, be sure to provide some context – tell a story (even a single sentence can give us the what, where and why). Also, be judicious and pick out just a few of the strongest items. The Hiring Manager doesn’t want to know about every single thing you have done – just the meaningful highlights.
Below are some topics to consider. As you review them, think about “metrics,” those aspects of your accomplishments that may be tied to quantifiable results. Also, with each of the topics, consider those qualities that make you successful at that pursuit – those same qualities can be applied in the work world. For example, you may not have a year of formal project management experience that is required for a position, but if you have been coordinating activities at a summer camp for the past 6 years, mention it. Would this experience be given equal weight? Perhaps not. But it may keep you in the game when competing against another candidate and give you an opportunity to win an interview and wow them in person. Here, I hope you will take some time to rethink your pursuits and acknowledge how that work can translate to the traditional employment world.
Sports
Play any sports? If you have been involved in sports as a team member, you have something valuable to offer an employer. Were you a quarterback or a team captain? Those positions embody certain qualities and by holding them, you probably learned something about leadership that is worth noting. Did you ever coach another player or a kid’s team? Share that. Marathon runner or competitive tennis player? If your sporting pursuit was individual, you understood the importance of setting and reaching goals, being disciplined and competing. If you were a cheerleader, consider how your support, enthusiasm and team spirit added value to your college’s sporting events.
Clubs and Charities
If you have been a member of a club or organization, whether it was affiliated with school, your neighborhood, or your church, it likely reflects well on you to share accomplishments associated with that group. Clubs demonstrate your social skills, as well as your interests. Any leadership role as an officer or committee head shows responsibility and initiative, as well as organizational skills. If you have been involved in fundraising activities, you show commitment and your ability to raise money for an important cause. If you volunteer to help others in any capacity, it is worth mentioning. Consider how these activities leverage your talents – working with others, communicating ideas, teaching, etc. This is respectable and admirable work. Just because you didn’t get paid to do it that does not mean it doesn’t have value. Employers are looking for well-rounded employees who give back to their communities, so don’t hide your light under a bushel here. Remember – do your best to quantify your accomplishment – money raised, goals met, increased accomplishment over previous years’ activities, number of meals served at the soup kitchen, etc. Be honest and don’t embellish.
Travel
If travel is your passion and has resulted in some accomplishment, mention it. While it may not be of great interest that you visited the Hoover Dam last summer, if you visited the Hoover Dam as part of an energy research project that was published in your school paper and you are pursuing the energy field for your career, do bring that up. If you recently achieved a life-long goal to trek up Kilimanjaro, by all means share. If you did an exchange program, consider how that experience broadened your educational experience, encouraged independence and cultural awareness.
Hobbies
Do you perform in plays? Do you write stories? Fix old cars? Do crafts? Cook? If you don’t have typical work accomplishments to include in your resume, look to your hobbies for more accomplishments in your life. Consider this…you never know what interest you have might pique the curiosity of a Hiring Manager. Bosses can be quirky. If you end up with the same affection for cats or you play the banjo and he’s a bluegrass fan, you might have an edge over other candidates. In any case, learning new skills and challenging your self is an important quality you can offer a prospective employer.
Home Life
Maybe you haven’t had a lot of time for extracurricular activities or summer internships. If you have been at home taking care of younger siblings or assisting your parents, don’t dismiss that experience as irrelevant. You have had responsibilities and met them. This has value worth mentioning as part of the story of who you are.
Implementation on Your Resume
Now for some specific suggestions. You are probably saying, “Great, I did all this stuff. Now how to I make use of it in my resume?” There are a number of ways. Consider your resume style first. If you don’t have a lot of formal job experience, an accomplishments-based resume is probably a better choice for you than a chronological resume. Now, compose some strong bullet points about your accomplishments. Share them with a professional, a teacher, or a counselor and see if they agree that they are well written and sound worthy of inclusion. In your Accomplishments section, mix those accomplishments in with any traditional work ones you have. In the Work Experience section, if you have volunteer experience, by all means include it there with specifics (Group name, dates, etc.) and note clearly within or next to your title – Volunteer. In a Personal section at the end, include those pursuits that dovetail with the kind of work you would like to pursue, or information that is just plain interesting. Also add any notable awards or achievements, such as being published or being a Merit Scholar, etc.
Wrap Up
We are brought up to have good manners and have a tendency to be humble or self-deprecating. Taking stock of your experiences and acknowledging your own worth is crucial to the job search and nailing the interview. As you consider what you have done in your life, you will begin to realize how large your network may be. As you assess your experiences, you may discover some trending that defines strengths you didn’t know you had. Knowing what those strengths are will help you make better career choices throughout your life. Acknowledge your talents and accomplishments and make them a part of your pitch, your story about yourself. This will help make you memorable and stand out against other candidates during the interview process. There is another byproduct for this exercise….confidence. The job search process is challenging and there will be peaks and valleys throughout your life. Remembering your accomplishments and talents – focusing on the positive within you -- will help you stay positive and focuses during the process.
Good luck with your job search!
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