Students at the high school or college levels sometimes need jobs. These days, teenagers often want part-time work so they can have some extra spending money. Older teens or those in their early twenties typically have jobs, even while attending undergraduate classes.
Getting those jobs isn’t always easy, though. You must create a resume that will impress someone doing the hiring. You will find an online library of easy-to-use resume templates, and these can help you craft a resume that highlights your skill set and background.
However, what about those job candidates who don’t have very impressive resumes? How can they make themselves seem more hirable? We’ll discuss a few options in the following article.
Highlight Extracurricular Activities
If you’re putting in some applications as a high school or college student with little prior work experience, you must demonstrate you’re responsible. How can you do that, though, if you haven’t worked before?
Extracurricular activities can help pad your resume. If you have some club involvement, like if you are in school-related clubs, that can help show a possible employer you are civic-minded or that you value social networking.
You can mention the model UN, debate team, chess club, science club, or any similar clubs or teams. You can also put down a teacher or professor’s contact information if they agreed. A possible employer might use these references. If a teacher or professor who ran a club or team gives you a glowing recommendation, that can strengthen your cause.
Mention Volunteer Work
If you volunteer, that’s not paid work, but it’s like a former job you held. Just like paying jobs, if you do volunteer work, it shows you’re responsible, and you have the proper values a company wants.
Like with any clubs or teams you joined in high school or college, you can mention the teacher or professor who ran that entity and put down their contact information. A hiring manager or company owner will likely reach out, and then your teacher or professor can talk about your dedication and personality.
Mention Internships
Internships can also show a possible boss you’re upwardly mobile and motivated. If you intern, that often means you’re getting real-world experience, even if the entity with which you interned didn’t pay you.
Maybe you helped answer phones or did computer-related work while interning. You can also mention soft skills you learned while interning, like working with other team members, communication, taking the initiative with projects, and so forth.
This will likely impress a possible employer. You can talk more about what you did while interning when they interview you.
Many times, high school or college students feel like they don’t have any skills they can mention. If they get creative, though, they can often pad their resumes and make them look and feel more impressive.
Sometimes, potential employers like hiring young people without very much experience. They’re like lumps of clay the hiring manager or company owner can mold.
