Help me out on writing a resume.

[Erick]

Hey guys,

I am looking for a summer job now and a good friend of mine said he could help me out by giving me a job at the cybercafe he works at. He said all I need is a resume. I did some researching online on how to write a resume, but either they charge you to answer your questions ( or write your resume ) or the advice they give you is for someone who's a lot farther down the road than I am.

I am still in high school.... going into my senior year, I never had an official job ( I could get someone to say they employed me but I would still have to double check on that ). So I really dont know exatcly what to use in the resume....

I'm looking for any examples of a resume to see how it's written, so hopefully I can get an idea, but any help is appreciated. I'm sure a lot of you in college etc have your own resume.

Thanks in advance,
Erick

[LikeCDoos]

Microsoft Word has Resume templates...check those out. It will be kinda tough to make a resume if you've never had a job.

[Erick]

Yeah that's what I'm thinking..... this year is the first year I can legally get a job, due to the legal issues of the student visa I have (no, I am not a US citizen/resident).

It's a bitch and a half but whatever, I'm sure I'll come up with something.

[LikeCDoos]

are you an exchange student of some kind? What is the age limit on getting a job with a student visa?

[Erick]

I'm just a foreign student... not really an exchange student.

The student visa requires a certain amount of time in the country before you can start applying for jobs, it's not an age limit.

[LikeCDoos]

got it, good luck on the job. What country are you from?

[Erick]

Brazil

[LikeCDoos]

Brazil

I wish American girls wore brazillian bikinis...at least the hot ones.

[decay]

i wish american girls looked like brazilian girls.

[mspiegle]

In the IT industry, a very clear and concise 1-page resume is highly desired. If they find anything of interest in the resume, they'll ask you at the interview.

[Z3Jonathan]

Keep it to one page. Don't use the words I, Me, myself, etc. Just be very clear and concise. On a resume, you don't write in sentances, per se, but rather statements. Always end them with a period however.

For your objective, keep it short and to the point, along the lines of, "To obtain a seasonal position as a <insert job here> at a Cyber Cafe." or something along those lines.

Then have a short Education section, listing your high school, maybe your GPA if you think that's important.

Next have a Work Experience section. If its volunteer work, that's fine as well.

Word has some templates which will work fine for this job. However, once you get into college, you're better off making your own template. Recruiters can spot a Word template a mile away. But again, for this job, a Word template is OK. Your local library should have some resume books as well. VWVortex also has a good Employment board, and there are several people on that board who regularly recieve/review resumes.

[Numbersix]

Recruiters can spot a Word template a mile away. But again, for this job, a Word template is OK.

Yes. We can. :)

Z3Jonathan gives great advice.

Best thing I can add to it: try to get a job description for the position you are applying, if you possibly can. Then match up the job duties and required/preferred skills, experience, education, certs, whatever to what you have to offer.

Kinda like this:

They want | I offer


(sorry, I failed ASCII 101)

This is a good 'reality check' to see if you have the skills to pay the bills. It also gives you a good starting point for being able to speak to why you're a great candidate for the job.

I usually reccomend to people to start with things like education (and any special projects, internships, class projects, relevant student activities, etc), then (paid or unpaid) work experience, then talk about your relevant qualifications at the top.

Make sure whatever you list under work experience isn't just a listing of duties. Just because someone was assigned certain duties in a job doesn't necessarily mean they did them well.

MS Word templates are fine for a simple resume. There are also other resume templates out on the web that aren't quite as recognizable.

I think the University of Minnesota's site has a great resume tutor that is especially well-suited to first-time resume writers

http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/ecep/resume/

Rebecca Smith's eResumes site has a good template I reccomend to certain job seekers. It's a bit in-depth for an entry-level position, but is good to check out:

http://eresumes.com/eresumes_practice.html

[Erick]

Thanks, I wrote up my own resume and the guys were impressed... now I'm hoping to get the phone call to say I got the job. ( 3 more guys disputing this job )

We'll see though, thanks a lot everyone for helping out.