How to Write a Great Resume!
Scoring a summer internship in New York City is just the beginning. From the outset, your internship can be more than just a line on your resume. It can also be away to start crafting a branding document to introduce an excellent candidate–you! The specific job duties you perform at your internship can become bullet points on your resume and focusing on them can help get the most out of your summer working in New York City. Are you in need of marketing experience for your future career? If you ask for those specific duties while interning you’ll not only gain valuable experience, you’ll have notable bullets for your resume arsenal, as well!
Use a Skills-Based Resume
As a college student, you might not have applicable career experience to post on your resume, but that doesn’t mean you don’t possess the abilities that employers are seeking. A skills-based resume will focus on what you CAN bring to the table instead of your lack of job experience. Even “unrelated” jobs such as working at a restaurant, volunteer activities like coaching a grade-school soccer team, and teenage money-making ventures like pet-sitting for your neighbors can be worded to highlight sought-after skills. Reliability, initiative, and communication are a few of the traits that can be pulled from these experiences and highlighted for employers.
Name and Quantify Your Experience
If you specifically name and quantify the skills and experience you possess, your resume will eclipse the competition. Running a lemonade stand doesn’t make you an entrepreneur, but if you identified a market (the backed-up traffic at a road construction site) and employed technology (used Yelp to drive people to your stand) while turning a profit (over $300 in a single morning)…that’s another story! While working at your internship, jot down specific phrases as you are performing your duties—“I’m coordinating a tri-state regional meeting of 12 department heads and will be responsible for the follow-up communication to over 50 team members”—so when it’s time to put it on your resume, you’ll have a wealth of descriptive, impressive experience to present to future employers.
Research Your Dream Job and Use the “Rule of Seven”
Take a look at ads for the kind of job you dream of after college on Uncubed.com, Indeed.com or Glassdoor.com. Even better, take a look at this list of job websites to target your particular career. Once you find a job posting that makes you weak in the knees, compile a list of buzz words that appear in it. Go to company websites of the places you’d like most to work, and mine those buzz words as well. Once you have your list of words compiled, see if you can drop a few into your resume! Business Insider says people need to see an ad seven times before they act! Isn’t your resume the ultimate advertisement—of you?
Resume as Calling-Card
As much time as you spend on getting your resume right, you may be surprised to hear that very little attention is actually paid to them! But if you think of your resume as a “foot in the door”, you can find creative ways to make it work harder for you. Experts recommend using your resume as a conversation-starter with someone on the inside—but don’t ask them to pass it on. Instead, ask for feedback. This takes away the notion of an awkward expectation that you want their help to find you a job. You’re just asking for advice, right? While working at your internship, why not ask that already-employed guy in the next cubicle if he’d mind giving your resume a once-over and get his reactions?
Be Original—Even Quirky!
Did you know that recruitment officers spend an average of six seconds scanning a resume before deciding if it goes into the “No” or “Maybe” pile? Use that area at the bottom of the page, says the Resume Coach, to add hobbies or interests. Consider things like team sports, individual sports, tech interests or social hobbies like mentoring or volunteering. Putting something unique about your real self on the page just might grab that weary recruiter’s attention and make you memorable!
Be a Smart Intern
Using your summer internship in NYC to build your resume is only one of the smart choices you can make. Another is finding the ultimate student accommodations, like the turn-key digs at one of our three locations in New York City. Check out these amazing apartments and amenities and to reserve your space now, through intrnz!
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