Two weeks ago, I went to a resume writing Career workshop. The presenter used a power point to explain key points on writing a resume and gave us assessments to see if we understood the material. She also prepared a packet with tips on how to write resumes as well as sample resumes and gave one to each attendant. By the time her presentation ended and it was time to leave, I was filled with mixed feelings as I looked at my high school resume.
First off, I would probably have to trash about 90% of my high school resume such as the educational objective (I was told that employers don’t really want to see that), my past extra curricular activities, interest and hobbies section and my travel section. After getting rid of all that, the only thing I had left was my contact information on top of the page as well as a skills and volunteer service section. Luckily, I went to a resume writing now (in my freshman year) and not later on (in my sophomore or junior year) because if I went later, I wouldn’t have enough time to fix my resume. Besides knowing about what kind of material employers want to see, I was also surprised in how much work one had to think about when making the format of the resume. It was recommended to have one page or less for your resume and in order to fit that requirement, one had to think about the font size as well as the margins. By knowing what kind of resumes employers want, I can work towards fulfilling those requirements over time and make fewer mistakes when formatting my resume. With a new goal in mind and a nearly blank resume, I was glad I went to this workshop because a workshop like this will lower the chances of walking on a wrong path.
Over the past weeks, I went to two GIM’s (general interest meeting); one for CPP (conversational partners program) and one for Baruch Accounting Society. Despite going to both club’s GIMs, I’ll only talk about CPP’s GIM. The GIM started off with refreshments and icebreakers, and then 20 minutes in, the president of CPP proceeded to explain their club values and events. During this time, we went over things we should or should not say to our partners and listed out things that we did not want to happen during our meetings with our partners (with being punched in the face as one of the things we did not want to happen). We were told there was a handbook on their site where we could use as a guide for our first meeting with our partners and were given a time stamp sheet. However, even with food, icebreakers and fun comments being thrown around, this GIM had a very “empty” feeling due to the fact that less than 20 people showed up for this GIM. Despite the lackluster GIM, this GIM gave an accurate impression of how the rest of my time at the club would be. Due to the nature of this club, where you have to meet up with your partner on your own time, there are no “club hours” and “club rooms”, so to speak of. It is normal to feel empty during the meetings because the whole goal of this club to is pair up with a non-native or native speaker and spend time together, whether there are club hours that day or not. I plan on getting involved in this club by taking the initiative in contacting my partner and going to some of the events set up by this club. I also plan on getting involved by joining one of their committees.