2008 Woodie Awards
Resumes the most important part of a job search
By Jackie Nielsen / Iowa State Daily (Iowa State U.)
Issue date: 3/10/06 Section: Opinion
(U-WIRE) AMES, Iowa -- Remember back in the pre-college years when summer vacation meant laying out in the sun, boating on the lake, watching TV for hours on end and simply doing whatever you wanted?
Sorry to break it to the freshmen, but summer vacation for most college students doesn't include any of the above. Now we must work a full-time job to pay off our loans, do an internship to gain experience or, if one is a senior, begin (gasp!) a real job.
For those of us searching for internships or full-time jobs, the quest begins now. Deadlines are looming and the beginning of March (that means now) is the time for most applications to be filled. Personally, I find the whole process to be exhausting. So many resumes, applications and phone calls, all of which are necessary to secure our futures.
But what this process boils down to is a single piece of paper called a resume. This document decides it all in the business world - our future and our ability to succeed. It can also save our sanity by ensuring we don't have to work yet another summer earning minimum wage. Now although I've had several classes on the subject of resumes, I still can't help fretting that a little extra space between words or - heaven forbid - a missing period crept onto my resume. Insignificant as this mistake may seem, it really might prevent me from getting hired, said one professor I talked to.
Oh, how simple life without the resume would be.
For one thing the resume is simply too short. Most career counselors state that a resume should be one - and only one - page long. This means that you have one shot, one fleeting moment to make an impression. Personally I like to think that I can be described by something more that just one piece of paper, but in business hiring practices today, the resume is a big part of the decision process. It must be concise, accurate and it must stand out from everyone else's. This is your life, represented on a single page and all of the complexities have to be trimmed down to the basics.
Sorry to break it to the freshmen, but summer vacation for most college students doesn't include any of the above. Now we must work a full-time job to pay off our loans, do an internship to gain experience or, if one is a senior, begin (gasp!) a real job.
For those of us searching for internships or full-time jobs, the quest begins now. Deadlines are looming and the beginning of March (that means now) is the time for most applications to be filled. Personally, I find the whole process to be exhausting. So many resumes, applications and phone calls, all of which are necessary to secure our futures.
But what this process boils down to is a single piece of paper called a resume. This document decides it all in the business world - our future and our ability to succeed. It can also save our sanity by ensuring we don't have to work yet another summer earning minimum wage. Now although I've had several classes on the subject of resumes, I still can't help fretting that a little extra space between words or - heaven forbid - a missing period crept onto my resume. Insignificant as this mistake may seem, it really might prevent me from getting hired, said one professor I talked to.
Oh, how simple life without the resume would be.
For one thing the resume is simply too short. Most career counselors state that a resume should be one - and only one - page long. This means that you have one shot, one fleeting moment to make an impression. Personally I like to think that I can be described by something more that just one piece of paper, but in business hiring practices today, the resume is a big part of the decision process. It must be concise, accurate and it must stand out from everyone else's. This is your life, represented on a single page and all of the complexities have to be trimmed down to the basics.
