How to make sure you leave college with a well-rounded resume

Do you remember the first time the mere idea of graduating from college really hit you? I do. I broke down and let the Kim Kardashian-level sobs ring through the streets of Toronto.

The sobs then turned into hysterical laughter. Why? IDK. I’m almost okay now.

Feelings, amirite? 😰

We all have to leave the nest one day - even if that nest is a fancy piece of paper that cost us a cool [bleep] thousand dollars. Hopefully, if you did it right, you’ll be leaving equipped with more skills and knowledge than when you arrived. But, how exactly do you leave that nest with a resume that will help take you to the next step?

Stick with us, kid!

Get involved

Do stuff. Even the unpaid stuff (with a caveat!). School is the best time to learn what you like to do and what you don’t like to do. “Try on” as much as you have the energy for. If your goal is to work for a non-profit, find one locally and volunteer to see if that’s the kind of structure you’d do well in. If you want to be an actor, be part of student films on campus. Extracurriculars and volunteer work will be a huge focal point on a new grad’s resume. What you do outside of your studies matters just as much as those pricey textbooks.

That caveat I mentioned earlier? Do not give away your time without pay if you do not have the actual bandwidth for it. Not to be all “elder millennial in therapy” - but the earlier you can practice professional boundaries, the better. At the end of the day, if you are paying money for an education then that should be your main focus. Everything else should compliment that focus!

If you did it, write it.

All of those classes you took? Keep a list of them. Think of all the things you did in those classes. Write them down. The volunteer work you did? The extracurriculars you took part in? Write all of that down, too. What you’re doing is making a list of transferrable skills that you’ll be able to show real-world examples of. You’ll be able to use them in your resume or during interviews. Let me show you some examples of what I mean →

In my data analytics class, I did a group capstone project where I

• Coordinated with teammates

• Divided up responsibilities

• Resolved disagreements or confusion (bound to happen, tbh)

• Delivered a final product together

Transferable skills based on that one class:

• Collaboration

• Communication

• Conflict resolution

• Accountability

I volunteered one day a month at a homeless coalition where I

• Checked people in

• Managed sign-ups

• Handled unexpected issues on the spot

• Represented the organization publicly

Transferable skills based on my volunteer work:

• Customer service

• Organization

• Adaptability

• Professional communication

Et voila! All of that is just from one class and one volunteer role. You’ve got much more to work with than you think!

The Gigantic Ginormic* Gargantuan Master Resume

*I know it’s not a word, let me live!

You don’t need to write the perfect resume right away. You need to write a complete one first. Create a “master resume” of every job you’ve ever had, every project you worked on, and anything you were responsible for. Don’t worry about how long it is. The goal is to get it all down. Write out what you actually did, the tools you used, and how things turned out.

You want metrics kid, metrics!

The best time to capture them is when they’re still fresh in your mind. Numbers, percentages, timelines! Anything that helps tell a story of your impact.

You can always clean it up later. Remembering details after the fact is way harder and we have paychecks to collect here, people! Those student loans aren’t going to pay themselves…even though they should…because school should be free…and anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

Ask for help

It’s never a bad move to ask for help. You likely have more resources available to you than you think - use them! A good first step is your college career center. That’s a wee bit of a hot-button topic. Opinions are all over the place on whether career centers are actually worth your time. But if you’re paying tuition, take advantage of it while you can.

Another wildly underutilized resource? Your older sister who works in marketing. Ask for her resume. Ask her to ask a coworker for theirs. Look at how they’re written. Notice what sounds particularly impressive and borrow the structure or phrasing. Be “inspired by” it. Or copy it. You can copy it. It’s fine. I give you permission.

In the end, your best is the best you’ve got

No one leaves college with a perfect resume. But everyone leaves with something. If you pay attention to what you’re already doing, write it down while it still counts, and use the resources around you, you’re fine. You’re more than fine.

College is the hard part. The resume is just the evidence folder. You showed up. You tried things. You learned things. You can explain what you did without lying (mostly). That’s enough to get you to the next step.

The rest? You’ll figure it out.

Eventually.

Probably.