Part of Mountain TOP’s goal for our summer staff is professional development. And part of that is being able to craft an effective resume. We want our staff to be successful beyond their time here at Mountain TOP.
A Resumé or resume is a summary of your experiences and skills. They help an employer see if you are qualified for a job. Resumes should be 1 page in length and commonly contain the following:
Contact information (Email, Phone, Mailing address)
Objective
Education history
Work experience/Volunteer experience
Commendations or awards
Hobbies/interests/Activities (Not as critical, but can be helpful to give a more robust picture of who you are)
A few things to be mindful of with resumes are design, grammar and spelling.
Design - It is important to design your resume in a way which is easy to read. People who read resumes want to be able to read yours quickly. If things are scattered or disorganized it may be hard to read. Resumes are like a sample of who you are and what you can do.
Because resumes are so word heavy, It’s easy to have grammatical or spelling errors. Good ways to avoid these kinds of mistakes are through the spell check function and to read through each line out loud. A good way to catch grammar mistakes is by hearing the mistake. If it doesn’t sound right, it may not be.
Most colleges or universities have a student career service center or a writing center. It may be a good idea to have someone in these centers read through your resume and offer any feedback or criticism.
Regardless of if you use these centers, it’s good to have someone else read through your resume.
It is tempting to try and put everything you’ve done under the sun in a resume. but an underlying theme of resumes is a test of communication skills. Remember communicating briefly and effectively is the whole point of the resume. A Resume is a summary.
Here are some links to check out about Resume templates
How to use Google Docs Resume templates.
Microsoft Office Resume Templates
If you have any questions email chad@mountain-top.org