While students are busy in and out of the classroom trying to gain experience, properly putting it into words on a résumé can be downright grueling.
On top of the stress of preparing a near-perfect résumé, research done by Capital Community College shows that most employers only spend around 15 seconds on each résumé they receive and that 85 to 95 percent of all résumés that are given to employers are thrown away.
"Whether or not your résumé is chosen upon others is really depending on the content that you have in it," Eric Bailey, a career advisor at the University of Memphis, said. "Your résumé is a statement of who you are and what you have done, so format is the key."
According to Clay Woemmel, U of M's assistant director in Career Services, everyone seeking any type of career position as well as college students seeking internships and leadership roles need a résumé.
"In all, I have had over three different résumés since high school," John Ingram, a junior marketing major, said. "I did not always have my mind set on my major, so each time I changed my mind I made a new résumé."
Not every résumé will have the same components or sections as the next one. Each résumé is different than the next depending on the department and field. Because of this fact, it is important to not just depend solely on one résumé for your future.
According to Bailey, each résumé will be different depending on the desired position. Any attributes pertaining to the job should be listed on the résumé.
"A résumé is an example of a person's writing skills, so it is imperative to make sure that it is correctly formatted," Woemmel said. "Use of borders, colors and pictures all have a tendency to make a person's résumé look amateur."
Falsification on a résumé can immediately result in the loss of a great opportunity.
Not being truthful about a degree, a previous job or a degree will hinder a person from receiving a job or internship. The format and grammar matter just as much as the content.
"After making your résumé, proofread it yourself then have someone else proofread it for you to check for any errors," Woemmel said. "It is very important to send out your résumé error-free especially since it is kind of human nature to get used to your own writing whether it has errors or not."
However, according to Bailey, students who are not 100 percent comfortable with writing a résumé on their own should not be afraid to seek help.
For help on writing a quality résumé, U of M students can visit memphis.edu/careerservices.
"There are two types of interns-the ones that employers are glad when their internship is over and the ones where employers hope to hire them one day," Woemmel said. "You want to be in that second category when you go out for an opportunity."
According to Bailey and Woemmel, there is always something to add to a résumé and it should be a constantly changing document that grows with experience.
"Your career really starts now while you are at school," Woemmel said. " I am always making a list to myself of things I have done for future references because there is always more to add."
