Resume Building

Now that I'm taking 5 years in college, I can put off worrying about my resume for a little bit longer. It's a bit of a relief knowing I'm going into a field where summer internships aren't expected, if not demanded. That's not to say that you shouldn't do something with your summers though.

So I'm looking at my options. Summer study abroad programs are still available and I'm considering a couple of them. Or I could stay in Columbia and take summer courses and possibly work and help out with a couple of programs I know of. Or I could go back to Indiana and work at a tutoring place or volunteer with the high school while taking online summer courses. Or I can do what I was going to do last summer and do the Wilderness Leadership stuff. I have a couple of summers left, so I'm not terribly worried about how exactly I'll build my resume with those. I think any of those options offer solid resume building.

Next semester, I think I will be working at the place I currently volunteer at. A couple of the staff members have singled me out and told me that they want me to work there. I am constantly told how much my time is appreciated. The head of the organization knows my name and none of the names of other volunteers. I'm thinking it's a great opportunity to make a little money and a great place to get references.

I'm also getting a Service Learning certificate and possibly a Multicultural Certificate and a Japanese minor and a Journalism minor and an English minor. Sometimes I worry that all this will seem like I'm unfocused, but they all work so well together, especially with what I hope to do with my life. So that builds up the resume too. The GPA is decent, it's improving as we go on, especially now that I'm not taking Japanese language classes, and I think I have a good chance to make myself competitive in that manner.

So why, when I do all this, have all this planned, do people still tell me I need to build up my resume? It's solid. I'm good. I don't want a crap ton of fluff. I like what I have. I don't want to join your honors society and take 2 credit hour seminars on things that will be of no use to me just so I can say I was specially selected. I don't want to join your pre-teachers union just so I can act like I understand how they interact with school systems before I see it for myself. I'll tell you right now that 90% of kids who put that on their resume didn't do squat while they were in the society.

I just feel like I'm back in high school and everyone is worried about taking that prep course so they get above a 2100 on the SAT or joining this club and being an officer so they can get into a good college. Just stop it! Do what you want for a change. I can hear the protests - but I need to do this so I can do what I want later. No, you don't. You'll get there if you want it enough. Stop it. I know my audience well enough to know that we've been afforded plenty of opportunities to get there and no matter how much we mess it up, getting where we want is still within our reach. Even if I don't work with the school district in advance, I'll find a job. And I'll get where I want eventually. It'll happen. You'll get there. So just enjoy your life for a change. Stop worrying about your resume and do something that you might not even put on your resume. You'll thank me later.