Are resumes important? How do I develop a resume correctly? This can be complicated! Watch this video to learn tips how to develop your resume and what you should include!

[TRANSCRIPT & DESC: A screen recorded online event of four women on Zoom. They are Renate Rose, Tyese Wright, Gisella Tomita, and Lori Taylor.

Renate: How do we develop a resume, and what do we do with it during the interview?

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Tyese: When you develop your resume, make sure it fits with the needs of that agency or company that you are applying for.

Gisella: One of the most important things when developing a resume is to find someone, like one of us here - Lori, Tyese and I. We're specialized in job-related, such as preparing for your job or job search. You, students, can reach somebody like us. We can help perfect your resume.

Tyese: You can ask somebody who feels comfortable to proofread and make changes to your resume and give you feedback, which will help too.

Gisella: I know that resumes can be very complicated. Sometimes specific companies, like their bosses, want very specific things in your resume - they want something modern. For example, some of them are not interested to look at three to five pages of resumes. They just want ONE page! How do we narrow it all down to get them interested in you? Sometimes they'll have your resume in their computer system and search by the keywords relating to the job description. They will pull up the keywords from your past jobs that are relevant to the current job that you're applying for, and then they can consider hiring you. 

Tyese: Make sure you don’t put your picture on the resume! Some people are filtered out by that.

Gisella: And your address is very important! Your contact information. You have to make sure it is all the right contact information. Sometimes we use inappropriate and unprofessional email. I suggest using an email that is appropriate and professional, like maybe your name or your last name. Did you know that with your email and name, sometimes the employer can use that to look you up online and in social media, and they could take that opportunity to learn more about who you are and what you're posting. You'll have to consider what you're posting publicly, or you set up a private social media accounts. If you want to post it public, you can create another profile and that might be something you want to consider what you're posting publicly.

Lori: The objective should be something related to the job. Not something that is completely unrelated. "To obtain a position..." That is how the objective should start. Make sure it includes the keywords like Gisella was saying. Keywords that relate to the position for which you are applying. Also, anything related to that job should pertain to the skills that you have related to that. If you have other relevant skills, that's great - they will want to know more.

Gisella: References are very important as well. Sometimes we don't add them to our resume, but I highly recommend it to include it. So that the employer can contact the people who know you best, like from your previous jobs, employers or even teachers. Just someone who knows you really well and will say positive things about you. Don't add somebody that had a negative interaction with you! Make sure you ask before you use them as a reference, including what kind of jobs you're applying for. So that they can expect that phone call and not ignore it, or they can be ready for the email and not ignore it, and they can vouch for you. 

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