Guest Voice | Jesse Fisker, Office Manager
I screen resumes and applications for entry-level restaurant jobs– college jobs that many of you are trying to get. Nearly half of the resumes I see have some serious issues that have made me throw them away or put them last in line. Please don’t make the same mistakes.
If you are looking at postings, please actually read them and follow the directions. I posted on the University’s site (uidaho.edu/financialaid/studentjobs), on Craigslist.com, and put a sign in the restaurant, all stating the job basics and directing prospective employees to submit their résumé and schedule. Many didn’t. They did not didn’t even make the first round of my draft.
The biggest priority of employers in a college town is your schedule. Include it. You might have all the right experience, but if you can only take an evening shift and we need lunch people, that won’t work. Print out your class schedule, mark any other commitments like chapter or athletics on it and staple it to whatever else you submit. If you are not taking classes, write it on there in big, bold words: can work any time, any shift.
Everyone has been told lots of things about résumés and probably zoned most out. If you are not going to invest a half-hour in your future job by going to the Career Center, for free, and receive their enthusiastic and useful help, then read on. I will give you a good outline that should be used for college jobs, not professional careers.
Write your contact info at the top of the page: name, phone number and email address. If you are in school, note it. If not, list most recent school and year completed. Write the most recent job you had, position and organization. Give me three bullet points with power words. No complete sentences, nothing more than a line for each point. Handled money. Was responsible for opening/closing independently. Worked various job duties and shifts. Now, keep listing jobs in reverse chronological order until the page is filled. Stop there. If you go onto the next page, cut words and lines until it fits on the front page–the only page I’m going to read.
I want this first, to know you have worked, or can, and second, to see if you have any relevant experience. Don’t worry if you don’t, it’s just a bonus for the employer. After I look at your papers and you seem to be a capable enough person with free time in the right spots, I will call you to set up an interview. Show up dressed one grade above the employee uniform. Around my work, that means nice jeans and a shirt with a collar or nice, non-T-shirt. I just want to double-check your résumé and make sure you seem reasonably responsible, then clarify some points about starting work, nothing too challenging.
Good luck and happy job hunting, I look forward to hiring you.