Yesterday I volunteered at my Alma mater, Southern Polytechnic State University, to critique resumes of students preparing for their job searches.  It’s fantastically rewarding to assist with this effort.  I’ve been doing this here and there across 4 or 5 years, and I hope to keep going back.

Even so, every time I go, I have a bone to pick.  Why, with 8 years to work with across high school and college, do we allow students to graduate with not only no idea how to write a resume, but who also have no idea where to look for guidance?  Okay, so not everyone’s a writer.  But do you know how few people with college educations realize you can at least make a resume look like a resume is supposed to just by using a template in MS Word?

There’s no magic to the resume business, just as there is no magic to any kind of success.  There’s advice from so many sources, that you’re bound to run up against conflicting ideas and techniques.  That’s fine.  Take in as much advice as you can, and make a judgment call.  But there isn’t an excuse for not having a resume that looks like a real resume.  Read the books.  Read online.  And then, use a template.  Run spell check.  Have someone in your industry read it.  You just have to do the work.

The whole point of this website is that formal education does little to impart life skills applicable at the individual level.  I’m not surprised that the system is failing in teaching folks to communicate and sell what they know, even after spending years filling them with “knowledge” that at least theoretically is for the purpose of finding an occupation.  However, I am surprised by the number of people who don’t take the time to reach one step further to better themselves.  You would expect more than a couple dozen of a few thousand people to show up for free help in crafting their resumes.  And of those showing up, you might expect they would avail themselves of the myriad of resources available.

Just everyone think of that before the next time you need help.  What are you doing to help yourself today?  You’re still in charge of you.  No one can give you a magic bullet or system if you won’t take ownership and initiative.  That’s the way you live on your own terms.

Jared A. Chambers

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 6:43 am and is filed under Career. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.