Ross Hailey/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/MCT
by Ashley Wood/south news editor
Writing resumes can be difficult because the order and content can be overwhelming to figure out. Luckily for TCC students, help is available on every campus.
TCC’s career services offices can help students get ready to transfer to a four-year school or find an employer by hosting many job and university fairs throughout the semester.
One of the key ingredients to getting a job is getting the employer to first look at the resume.
NW career services coordinator Tracey Williams said resumes have no absolute format since each individual is different. The resume should showcase a person’s strengths to the employer.
“If you can’t get the employer’s attention in the first few seconds, they won’t keep reading,” she said.
Williams said one should make sure the information being put on the resume is pertinent to the job desired.
“You wouldn’t put that you were nurse of the year on a resume going for a secretarial job,” she said. “You don’t want the employer to say, ‘Why did they put that on there?’”
Williams said if students have been actively doing volunteer work, they should list it. It can only help the student stand out among the many applications the employers receive.
“If you have been volunteering with the Cancer Society for two years, list it because that may be the way they remember you,” she said.
When providing references, students need three to five professional references, Williams said. References should know they have been put down onto paper to be called.
“Supervisors and longtime friends who own businesses work great,” she said. “Coworkers, though, are not a big plus on references.”
Terminology is a big key to making the resume successful, Williams said.
“If you are using the wrong words, it could be why companies aren’t biting,” she said. “Use active verbs when explaining your duties or personal attributes.”
Williams said that career services likes to have one-on-one interaction with the student when helping with the resume process. The office can not only help staffers in understanding the student but help the student to have a better resume.
NW career services administrator LuAnn Krey said the student has to feel confident about the resume. It is that student’s product to an employer on a single page.
“The employer will only spend 20-30 seconds reading through a resume,” she said.
When formatting a resume, a person can choose from three different ways. It is the one that tailors to the student best, Krey said.
“Make sure to use one font throughout the resume,” she said. “Times works great since it is professional-looking. Don’t use something creative.”
Krey said that little things to a student, like including hobbies, can be big things to a company. Students should only include them if they pertain to the job position.
“If the person is sending out resumes to employers and getting no feedback, something needs to be fixed or tweaked,” she said.
It could just be one thing, but that one thing could keep a person from the job, Krey said.
“If you have been out of high school for more than a year, leave it off,” she said.
No one should ever lie or put any false information on the resume, Krey said.
Trudy Steinfeld, head of career services at New York University, has said companies like to see recent graduates’ accomplishments along with their GPA.
“Students should always be honest on their resumes,” she said in an interview with Forbes.com. “Employers will check to make sure your resume is accurate.”
Steinfeld said even if the students’ grades were a little lower, they could make up for it with internships or volunteer work.
Writing a resume might seem stressful, but it doesn’t have to be. Career services staffers are willing to help students, and the service is free.
For more information on career services at any campus, go to the TCC homepage under student services for phone numbers, office locations and email addresses.
