I have virtually nothing to list on a resume
January 5, 2011 7:48 PM

I have virtually nothing to list on a resume. Please help!

I am a sophomore in college and I want to start applying for part-time jobs and internships, but I have almost nothing to list on my resume. I haven't worked or volunteered or done anything outside of school for the past 2 years because my disabled grandmother came to live with my parents, and I help take care of her.

I had a part-time job in high school (2007), which lasted for 6 months. I quit in an unprofessional manner (I sent an email to my supervisor telling her I wouldn't be coming back - FWIW it was for a medical reason). That was the only job I have had and my only reference other than teachers. I am not entirely sure I can use her as a reference giving my manner of quitting, but she thought I was a very good employee while I worked there. I volunteered at an animal shelter from grades 9-12.

So basically, I can list high school, college, one job and one volunteer activity. I have no useful skills like knowing a computer language or having in-depth knowledge of Office or customer service experience. I am a skilled photographer but I have no official experience or classes to back it up.

I would love to work on campus, but there are currently about 20 part-time job openings on a campus with 16,000 undergrads. Some of the most basic jobs require a resume with a cover letter and 3 references. I feel ridiculous listing a 6 month job from 3 years ago and volunteering done during high school for an internship or job in college.

1. Are there any other things I can include in my resume that I am overlooking?

2. What are some activities I can participate in that don't require prior experience/knowledge and I can include on my resume? I am already looking in to volunteering again (and no, it's not just to build my resume - I enjoy it)

Thank you for any insight or help!
posted by shoreline to Work & Money (12 answers total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
I asked a somewhat similar question that may have helpful advice. Good luck!
posted by danb at 7:51 PM on January 5, 2011


I think the Internet has polarized things a bit in today's age - you are exactly like 90% of the rest of the student population. I wouldn't fret too much.

Things that I would do:

1) Don't fear failure. Apply for those 20 jobs. Yes, there may be 16,000 undergrads on your campus, but only 500 may apply for them. Those will lessen your odds considerably.

2) What do you want to do? Take your resume and apply in person. Do you want an office job? Look around in your area for small businesses - think lawyers offices, small consulting shops, engineering firms, etc - a lot of these places have "scut" work that you can easily do - they're just not the type of firms that are going to place an ad in the campus newspaper. Can you answer the phone? Do you have a nice voice? Are you presentable? Can you order lunch? Congratulations, you're qualified for a lot of jobs! (I'm being totally serious!)

3) The job hunt is definitely a numbers game. Leverage your parents and any connections they might have. Do they know someone in need of some part time help?

4) Follow-up. Follow ups are a key skill in life. Learn it now. People get busy and lose sight of things. If you drop off your resume, see if you can get a card of someone there, and follow up with them via email/phone.

5) Make sure to personalize everything. Don't spam job opportunities. Take the time to learn about jobs and write a decent cover letter. If you find yourself filling in blanks, you're losing this game.

6) Again, don't fear failure. This is the biggest thing I see in people applying today - not just you. Focus on what you do have, not on what you don't. Honestly, 80% of most jobs aren't that difficult - if you're nice, willing to be trained, can show up on time, and be organized, you'll be a step ahead of everyone else.
posted by unexpected at 8:12 PM on January 5, 2011


I strongly doubt that there are only 20 available part-time jobs on your campus of 16,000. My first suggestion is to find out more about the jobs available on and near your campus. Does your school have a career counseling center? Almost all do. The one at my school allowed on-campus employers to post ads, and there was a steady rotating selection of jobs.

Second: there are usually paid undergraduate assistants everywhere. They work at the circulation desk at the campus library. They are late-night monitors at reading lounges and study rooms. They staff the student union help desk. Find a place that hires paid assistants and ask where they post job announcements or how you can apply.

Third: part-time campus jobs are often a lot less selective than you think. The fact that you are a responsible, reasonable, capable college student (which you are, right?) qualifies you for the majority of them. Your references (your academic instructor, residential advisor, whoever) should be able to confirm that you are not a psychopath. If the position requires some sort of skills (which is rare), your supervisors will often be happy to train you.

My own part-time college jobs included filing away slides at the art history slide archive, working as a cataloging assistant at the campus library, and helping out at an off-campus community organization.

Looking for internships is a different and bigger topic, but the approach is similar. Earn good grades. Commit yourself to relevant student organizations. For example, write articles for the campus paper or student magazine. If you're not selected to write, offer to edit or proofread. Often, someone will offer to teach you the basics of Quark or InDesign, so you can start helping with layout. Etc., etc.
posted by Nomyte at 8:14 PM on January 5, 2011


My approach at that time: Get creative with resumé formatting. In many of my early resumés, I de-emphasized my experience and instead had a prominent "Skills" section which listed all the things I thought I would be able to do for the specific position. Also find a way to list your current course work.
I am sure that any place used to hiring college students is used to looking at resumés like yours.
posted by raygan at 8:15 PM on January 5, 2011


You almost certainly have marketable skills. Photography skills? List them - it doesn't matter if you have formal qualifications. You are probably reasonably computer literate. YOu may not have 'in-depth' knowledge of Office, but can you use it? That's a skill too.

Thank about what skills you actually have, not what skills you have acquired through attaining a qualification.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 8:15 PM on January 5, 2011


You can also spin the fact that you've helped taken care of your grandmother as a positive, not something that's taken away your free time--you've been directly responsible for another person's well-being, etc. Frankly, seeing a young person in this day and age caring for another member of their family (preferably without grumbling and such) would be a huge selling point to me, but I'm also exceptionally cynical. (This would be done in the cover letter/interview, not the resume.)

Also, if you go more into the CV route, academics can be positioned as selling points, though I've never constructed a CV myself and don't know the particulars as opposed to classic resumes.
posted by Ky at 8:31 PM on January 5, 2011


Start volunteering as a photographer for your campus newspaper. Just take pictures at campus events and bring them to them. Volunteer work at newspapers often turns into real paid work.
posted by davey_darling at 8:32 PM on January 5, 2011


You have:

- experience in elder care
- experience in animal care
- photography experience/skills

If you are a humanities student, you have:

- critical thinking skills
- computer skills (you might think they are basic, but seriously, there are people out there who don't know how to use a mouse or where the "on" button is)
- advanced writing ability
- typing speed?
- ability to rapidly synthesise data
- proofreading/editing skills
- ability to work independently and use initiative

If you are a sciences or social sciences student you probably also have:

- basic quantitative skills
- experience with statistics software
- ability to follow instructions
- ability to work well in groups

You stick all of this on your resume, maybe in some sort of skills section. And add a list of every piece of software you are comfortable using (and "comfortable" means can create a basic document and edit it, or whatever the equivalence is for that program).
posted by lollusc at 8:47 PM on January 5, 2011


I love what some of the people have done to get jobs with 37signals -- don't build a resume, build a resume Web site. Here, you're free to talk about yourself without being limited to "cover letter, job, job, reference, please hire me."

This one is particularly great, because she actually doesn't have much experience, but ends up getting the job. Without the site, it's certain her resume would have been canned.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:52 PM on January 5, 2011


As someone who used to hire student workers for workstudy and other positions in a college library (up until last year, so this isn't ancient history here), I'll say that while a skimpy resume isn't going to win you any points, it's not going to put you out of the running either. You're a sophomore in college; I don't expect you to have a 10-year uninterrupted work history. I chose who to interview based on whether they were available during the hours I needed covered, and I chose who to hire based on how they interviewed (basically to weed out the immature and those with bad attitudes). The application and resume were there mostly to make sure they could follow instructions.

That said, if your school is like the school where I worked, applying at the obvious places for student workers may not be your best bet - I received literally dozens of applications for every position I had open. It was a numbers game who got hired. So don't assume you're doing anything wrong if you're not getting the positions you apply for. At the school where I worked, there were workstudy positions that went begging every year. Things like tutoring at an elementary school near campus - no one wanted to do it. If you have workstudy funds, talk to your school's financial aid office. If not, consider volunteering if you're mostly looking for experience, or getting an off-campus job if you're mostly looking for money.

If someone applied for one of my workstudy positions and directed me to their resume web site, I probably wouldn't have looked at that web site. This is not to say that you shouldn't make one, just that if you're applying for customer-service type positions (student union, library, etc. kind of jobs) it's probably not going to help. If I were a professor looking to hire a research assistant or something, that would be different, probably.

Oh, and I would put caring for your disabled grandmother on the resume. It's work you did, it shows responsibility; that's the kind of thing I was looking for.
posted by mskyle at 6:28 AM on January 6, 2011


I'm going to let you in on a secret that we hiring managers have: we're hiring you for fit, and then training you for skill. Sure, you probably need some basic competency in a given skill for me to consider you, but fit is way, way more important.

So step 1 to getting hired is ditching this nervous and unqualified feeling and being excited about the positions you're applying to. These are entry level, part time positions. You don't need to be a subject matter expert for these.

Step 2 is to stop thinking about what your responsibilities were at these previous jobs and start thinking about your accomplishments, both in school and in jobs. What has made you a better student and employee than just another warm body?

Have you led a team in your classes? That's leadership.
Have you resolved a team conflict? That's interpersonal skills.
Have you performed well in a course you found difficult? That shows a capacity to learn.

Look at your history through the lens of accomplishments rather than tasks. Accomplishments will make you better than 95% of all the other resumes.

Finally, get a job now. Anything. McDonalds. My biggest concern with you would be your capacity for showing up at an entry level job consistently. Having a current job mitigates a lot of those concerns.
posted by bfranklin at 8:29 AM on January 6, 2011


Nomyte: "I strongly doubt that there are only 20 available part-time jobs on your campus of 16,000. "

No, they're about right. Public Unis are under budget crunch right now, and a lot of students are opting to work / study part time since the economy is bad and not yet looking to be great. So demand for labor is low and supply is very high. The bigger problem, really, is that January is the wrong time of year to get hired in a student position. Anyone who habitually employs students plans around the fall influx to replace leaving staff. Put it on your todo list to check listings around then. Maybe find some feeds or email subscriptions for local postings as well. Or just watch the student newspaper for ads. Spring semester starts soon, so there may be a small rise in postings mid January you should watch out for.

I'd suggest you apply for at least half of them; it's good practice! Since student workers are impossible to retain, there's usually not a significant risk of not finding The Best Person. The principle here is that you don't have to be perfect, just better than the other applicants. You know, the ones that drink and smoke pot all day. The student worker next to me tends to snore, if you get my drift.

Your cover letter at this age doesn't have to be backed by your amazing accomplishments at the age of 19, it just needs to not disqualify you, and demonstrate that you can write. That means no spelling or grammar errors. You managed to write this post without a problem so I know you can do it. The contents of the cover letter should mention your education thus far, and particular classes if any are relevant. Even if the major theme of a course doesn't relate, there are many skills you are exercising in class: prompt attendance, time management and scheduling, written communication, collaboration, and following written and verbal directions. Make sure you provide them with multiple ways to contact you (email, phone, postal mail) and a preference.

The resume will be short. Focus on education and coursework. If you took a mandatory to graduate Computer Applications course that was just browsers and Microsoft word, by golly, you've got MS Word skills! You've got 4 years experience as a shelter volunteer, so mention the roles and responsibilities. As far as references go, most people just have professors and academic advisors.

Once you've got a job, you can parlay that into a slightly better internship application. Keep in mind that many internship programs hire a small army, so even a slight bump into the 51st percentile will do a world of good. And many don't expect you to really help the bottom line in any way; if you show up every day, learn how to use the office equipment and offer a good idea at That One Meeting then great. The fact that you don't know how to help the company much yet is one of the purposes of an internship: you're supposed to skills from their workplace setting. Just adopt the eager-to-learn mentality and you're halfway there.
posted by pwnguin at 3:46 PM on January 6, 2011


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