Action Tips: Help Others Create a Job Resume

If people you know are still in search of a summer job and feel completely out of options, offer to help them improve their job resumes. Here are some tips make employers see how awesome your friends and neighbors really are.

Heading

This should appear at the top and include your name, address, and contact phone number and email address.

Objective

What you hope to get out of the experience. Gauge the personality of the company your hoping to woo. If they have a sense of humor, so should you. If they're uber-professional, so are you.

• Example: I’m convinced that the future of society depends on the kickass kids of my generation. I hope to utilize my organizational skills and goal-pursuing relentlessness to empower my peers for social good by working as a high school intern at DoSomething.org.

Education

This information should be at the top and lists your most recent or current school. Include relevant information like GPA or class rank if you have access to these. Don’t forget graduation dates or expected date of graduation. If you are/were an honors student, say so.

Experience / Employment history

List where you worked and a sentence or two about what you did there. Don’t worry if you don’t have any experience at other non-profits or offices. Include experiences like babysitting and volunteering and a sentence about what you learned from these experiences.

Activities

Here you can list your extra-curricular activities. Include how long you have been doing this and how often you do it. For example:

• NYC Schools Project   (2007-Present)

• Bi-weekly tutoring of immigrant students in elementary school.

Other

List awards, honors, summer experiences that add to your skills

Extras

If the internship calls for references (teachers, coaches, etc. that can vouch for your work ethic), don’t list them on the resume. Just write “References available upon request” at the bottom of the resume.

If you have computer skills, like familiarity with Microsoft Office, advanced computer programs, knowledge of HTML code, etc. list these here.

If you speak a foreign language, list it here.

Things to Remember

This is your time to brag! Don’t stretch the truth but if you are proud of your work, make sure to mention everything you did to contribute to your success!

Short and sweet: While this is your time to shine (on paper that is), say what you’d like to say as simply and directly as possible.

Keep your font simple, and not too small – Font sizes of 10 or 12 are the norm.

Avoid using charts, pictures, tables or graphs in your resume - that's just too much!

For more, check out Do Something's 11 Resume Writing Tips!