Despite the emphasis on having a resume, many students still do not know how to build a professional one that accurately reflects their skills, experiences and potential.

Although they always look to Internet to seek help, many still face technical issues leaving them in jeopardy.

“Colleges should have a mandatory section once in a year for resumes,” SCC student Arooba Kamal said. “I made my resume many times and looked at the Internet for help but it was not worthy. I get technical issues in it, I don’t know how a professional resume should look.”

She said she has completed her associate’s degree and is now studying further for bachelor’s degree, but not a single time in academic life has she has learned how to build a professional resume.

Miley Kela, another student, said that once she went for an interview, where the interviewer pointed out some mistakes in her resume, which was embarrassing to her.

“After the interview, I downloaded a resume from Internet, but that was also not good,” she said. “In internet resumes, usually we find a lot of details, which I do not have to put in my resume.”

Fonda Christopher, a career counselor at SCC, said that while the Internet can be a good place to find a template, students neglect to check with their counselors.

“Usually students download resumes from Internet and just replace context with their own information,” she said. “But the problem is they do not visit career counselors to seek help. At least they should ask any person who has good English skills to look into their resume to find out grammar mistakes.”

“People don’t know the difference between a resume and curriculum vitae,” she continued. “CV is much longer than a resume and has many more details. As per my experience, the majority of employers prefer a resume, which shouldn’t be more than one or two pages.”

The counselor said many students do not include a summary of their abilities, which is necessary because employers like to read it. Students should also include volunteer work or unpaid experience because it gives shine to the resume.

Fonda said all the material in the resume should be relevant and for this, students have to read job posting very carefully. Years ago, including a hobby section in the resume was appropriate, but now it is inappropriate unless it is relevant to job.

She said years ago it was appropriate to put the reference line in the bottom of the resume, but now it is considered a waste of the line. You should have references on a separate paper instead of on the resume when you go to interview.

“Most times, people don’t update their resume to be sure their skills are meeting the requirements of the job,” LDT NWM executive director Kristin Romaine said. “So sometimes people send us resumes for positions, but they do not have the skillsets for the job. Then they get upset when we reject them and they say their more updated information is on LinkedIn, and we go there to find out more.”

Romaine said they usually avoid a resume if it short to where it doesn’t fit the skillsets of the job or if there are spelling or grammar errors.

“We expect a resume in which the candidate should represent themselves in the best way with experience and desired skillsets for a future employer,” she said.