6 jobs to build your resume before you graduate
Worried your resume will seem a bit skimpy when you graduate? The right student and part-time positions can help you beef up your resume, and more importantly, develop key transferable skills.
We’ve rounded up a list of six student and part-time jobs to build a well-rounded resume.
While it might seem unrelated to many academic fields, working in a restaurant, and especially in a serving position, can provide experience with many of the skills and qualities employees are looking for.
Wait staff at a busy restaurant, after all, often have to juggle multiple demands at once, which requires a high degree of organization and time management. They’ll also need excellent communication and conflict resolution skills, and be able to build rapport with a diverse group of people. What’s the lesson here? Working as a waiter or front of house in a restaurant offers several transferable skills and experiences (including multitasking, teamwork, and communication), which can go a long way towards building a dynamic, attention grabbing resume.
Landing a gig as a research assistant on your college or university campus is a great way to network with professionals who can potentially provide an industry-specific letter of recommendation. Aside from that, though, this kind of work can also develop specific expertise (including working with data and mastering new equipment or software), and important transferable soft skills, including adaptability, communication, and attention to detail.
The job may also involve providing support with funding applications and report writing, both of which are experiences valued by employers.
A retail sales associate is another example of a position that may seem unrelated to your future career, yet will refine key qualities that contribute to a well-developed resume. For example, many retail positions require employees to work cohesively as part of a team, and also complete tasks and responsibilities independently. If you have retail experience, this can then be used to demonstrate that you work well with others and are a self-starter.
Retail positions also require good communication and customer service skills, both of which can be transferred over to several positions and industries, including service, sales, marketing, and management.
Interested in picking up a side gig in retail? Here are some tips on how to answer retail job interview questions.
Working as a tutor can be a nice addition to your resume, as it involves many appealing and transferable skills and qualities: patience, flexibility, communication skills, and the ability to connect with others. Most importantly, it shows off that you are knowledgeable enough in a subject to be able to teach others (always a good look for a candidate).
A tutor must be also able to assess the comfort and comprehension of their students, and then be flexible enough to adapt if necessary. Almost all careers require some element of collaboration with colleagues or clients, which makes these kinds of skills very appealing to future employers.
Camp counsellor
Working as a camp counsellor can pave the way for many career paths. After all, the job requires you to be outgoing, resourceful, responsible, and ideally, to demonstrate integrity and leadership.
In addition, camp counsellors must plan and organize activities and maintain a schedule – but still be flexible for when things go awry (and they almost always do). These are all important qualities to develop for your career, and if used wisely, can also help your resume stand out from the crowd.
Here are some more tips on how to write a resume when you just graduated.
Take home:
The key to developing a well-rounded resume is to note which skills are transferable to future career paths and maximize them. These six jobs do just that, cultivating specific skills that can be applied to many diverse fields and industries.
