This week, I learned that I have been lied to. My whole life I’ve been taught that a resume means listing everything you have done during your academic career and putting it on a piece of paper. “Do it for the resume,” they say. Well guess what? Don’t listen to them. I have acquired the understanding that resumes are not just written profiles of your activities, but instead, a medium to plan, assess, and calibrate your academic and professional careers. These one page papers can actually allow to not only document what you have done, but also evaluate it in terms of what you’re capable of doing in the future. On top of this, when you take resumes to an online platform and add the affordances of new media, as well as the internet, you can turn into a versatile and powerful tool.

Resumes are essentially what you make of them, and there are a few ways to turn traditional resumes into a powerful tool. In the traditional one page resume, there is limited space to highlight and showcase your achievements – thus it’s essential to pick and choose what is most important. Instead of listing out where and when you interned at a place, you can emphasize your position and its tasks. Also, instead of wasting space – you can fit everything about a position into one or two powerful sentences. It’s critical to use the space provided essentially. A lot can be said in a little words and thus, focus on not getting carried away when it comes to experiences. Instead, highlight the skills obtained and how you can further utilize those skills in your profession.

Online resumes are limitless – but it’s crucial to keep it short, yet elaborate. Being a biology major with anthropology and writing as my minor, I did not know where to begin writing about my education! It also sounded too wordy once I started explaining everything, thus I came up with the trick of using hyperlinks. With the use of hyperlinks on online resumes, you are able to reference the reader to find out more about the program or job title without having to explain it yourself. Because you have so much freedom, it’s easy to get carried away, but the shorter you keep it – the more they will be able to read in a smaller amount of time. Therefore, use space wisely yet make use of the internet resources such as hyperlinks, videos, pictures, etc.

Showcasing that you have done work in and out of the field you are interested in is also really important. Your skillsets will be showing that you have stepped out of the comfort zone and your experiences will introduce you as a versatile person. The biggest challenge is convincing your reader that everything you have done had a purpose, so make sure you’re putting down the things you can really speak on in your resume.

Beyond using space wisely in both forms of resumes, and jotting down experiences that will build you up as a person, it is essential to organize everything and speak the truth. A resume should be easy to read – but interesting when read. It should be well put together, and full of truth. It is important to be genuine if you’re looking for a genuine career and life. It should not be contradicting because if one part of the resume, you write about a skill but nowhere in that resume is that skill applied/obtained then you will come off as dishonest. Work experiences and community service, as well as certifications, are also a great asset. Building your resume up is crucial because it’s not like “the more, the merrier” but “pick and choose” because you should make every experience or encounter a learning experience/make it count.

Resumes can make or break an opportunity, so it’s important to spend time on it. “Do it for the resume” is not good enough, “do it for life” is what your resume should be about. Your resume should never be of past experiences only, but of skillsets that you carry on to the day you go to an interview or job. Thus, this week, I have opened my eyes to the endless possibilities in the direction of where I can take my on or offline resumes, and I hope reading this blog has helped you as well. So tell me, what is the most important factor of a resume in your opinion?