Is your resume ready for that summer job?
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EmailWith the holidays and winter breaks, now is the time to review and update your resume when looking for summer jobs.
With the upcoming holidays and winter break approaching, youth should start thinking about summer jobs and getting ready to join the workforce. Is your resume ready? Now is the time to start preparing your resume and make sure it is updated with all the correct information needed. Michigan State University Extension’s 4-H Youth Development programs offers many tips and suggestions on what needs to go in a resume and how to write them. Don’t forget to insert life skills learned as you write down your experiences or activities you are involved in.
Michigan 4-H has many resources to help youth prepare their resume and get that job. An important piece in the resume is to include additional information when listing you were in a 4-H club, but make sure you add what you learned by being involved in that specific project area. You should be more intentional when telling your story. Sharing the type of life skills learned can add so much more to your resume and your interview. By experiencing and understanding these life skills, youth will become successful adults. Visit MSU Extension’s Life Skills page for more information.
For example, if you listed you were in a 4-H livestock club for the past five years, you could add, “By being in this 4-H livestock club and raising animals, the following life skills were learned.”
- Responsibility. When no one needs to remind you to feed that animal, and to take care of that animals’ needs such as shelter and food. You are the one responsible for that animal and to make sure it is taken care of.
- Decision-making. Did you pick out that breed of rabbit? How did you know what it takes to take care of rabbits? How did you come to that decision?
- Marketable skills. If you are raising a market animal, do you know how to approach a buyer, what to say or what to write? After they purchase the animal, do you thank them and follow up with a thank-you letter, gift or picture?
- Keeping records. How do you know how much to feed your animals? How much water should they have and what if the animals get sick? Keeping records is an important part of raising animals, and youth will not only learn record keeping now, but these skills will help them in future record keeping.
By being more intentional in stating what was learned by being involved in a 4-H club project, youth will show the interviewer and resume reviewer that they have responsibility and will do a good job for them. Also, this young person applying for a job will know how to make good decisions and keep records, which can help in any job.
For more information on resume writing, interview skills and information on life skills, please contact your local MSU Extension office or visit the Michigan 4-H website.
