How to Buff Up Your Resume This Summer

Written by Lauren Lind

College students may be at an advantage when it comes to diversifying their resume. As entry-level candidates, students have the opportunity to buff up their resume and add to it in order to set themselves apart from their competition. Summer is the perfect time to participate in a variety of things that can add value to your resume. Depending on the professional experiences you’ve had, you may need to shorten the length of your resume, where others may need to add to it.

If you need to add to your resume, take a look at the tips below:

Volunteer. This is a no brainer way to add value to your resume. Make it worth your while by volunteering for a cause that you genuinely care about. You’ll meet some great people and feel good about what you’re doing.

Start an independent project that is relevant and appropriate for the area you want to work in. For example, my roommate is interested in business development and is researching what it would take to open a small start-up this summer that delivers toiletries to people. She will be writing a paper and developing a presentation to detail her project.

Expand your skills. Sign up for a foreign language or a coding course. Get involved with things that interest you and that will help you develop as a professional.

Add important details as possible to your job descriptions and accomplishments. You want to turn what you might consider to be mundane tasks into prominent, important, tasks. It all about the wording. Hit on the keywords in the job description and take out any superfluous words or phrases. Stay away from clichés as well.

Start a blog or vlog that will be relevant to what you want to do. The world wide web
is a wonderful tool to build up your online presence. This is your chance to really make an impression and impact using your creativity.

Travel. Summer is a perfect time to explore. You might even be able to tie in your volunteer work with traveling around the world. Either way you will be learning how to work with different cultures and develop valuable skill sets.

These are just a few ways to help you buff up your resume. Hopefully you can fit some of these tips into your summer schedule and feel that you have given yourself an advantage when entering the workforce.

Hat tip: Cristina at the Execu|Search Group

5 Things You Can Do to Prepare for a Successful Summer

Written by Lauren Lind

Summer break is fast approaching and perhaps you don’t have an internship or job lined up yet. If this is true for you, don’t worry! Here are five things you can do to prepare to have a productive summer and further your professional development.

1.  Continue applying for jobs and internships. Don’t give up hope if you have not found your ideal position for the summer. Those who give up will be sure to not have anything lined up compared to those who are resilient.

2.  Consider volunteering locally or abroad. Volunteer work is not only good for community at large, but it can also help you grow and learn things that you might not learn in an office setting. Not to mention, volunteer work is a great booster for your resume and can help put your life in perspective when things seem bleak.

3.  List out places you want to travel. No better time to travel for sun than summer. Once you have graduated, you will not have the luxuries of summer breaks so take advantage and see the world and even try to squeeze in a few informational interviews in along the way. This is a great opportunity to meet people that you might normally never cross paths with.  

4.  Think about taking summer classes. Taking a class or two in the summer can lighten the load for future semesters and you can better focus on specific classes.

5.  Find your creative outlet. Whether that is painting, reading, writing, singing, building websites, etc. do activities that keep your brain sharp and make you happy.

If you are still looking for an internship or job be sure to check out Career Buffs. There are tons of companies looking for great summer applicants! It’s definitely not too late.

If you need additional support, Career Services will be open all summer long to help you. From May 12 through August 22, our summer hours will be 7:30am-4:30pm. Call us to make an appointment at 303.492.6541 or make one online if you are an undergraduate student or an alumnus who has graduated less than a year ago.