How to Write Your First Resume

Sofie Dooley

While nearing adulthood, many students may encounter the exciting, daunting and seemingly unattainable task of trying to get a job. It doesn't sound too difficult when you put it plainly- working at an awesome place and getting paid sounds awesome until you realize you have to write a resume. Where to begin? There is a first time for everything, and sometimes entering unknown territories is hard and many teens (including myself) find it especially difficult to make a resume when you have zero job experience and no clue where to start. Luckily for those who are new in the job field, we have on the roster today two employed seniors who have advice to give on how to write a resume, or at least how to start. 

When asking Lauren Lackey (PM ‘24) and Hazel Ciufo (CAH ‘24) about how they felt when having to write their first resumes, the two had similar experiences. For Lackey, her first job was a receptionist at an aerospace engineering company– how fancy! Lackey said that in the process of writing her resume she was, “overwhelmed at first, but I found resources like templates that helped me along the way.” Ciufo was on the laid-back side, exclaiming that she “felt fine” knowing that her mom would help her. However, similar to Lackey, Ciufo states that, “resources like templates helped me along the way.” What has been gathered from the wise words of these employed students is that step one in the creation of a resume is finding a template. Some sites that have available templates for making resumes include Canva, Google Docs, Career Perfect and Careerbuilder.com

After completing task one, a first-time resume builder may wonder, “What is next?” Ciufo and Lackey filled us in on the absolute necessities when writing a resume. Start off with the basic information like your name, address and email. For the rest, Lackey said to include, “a short description about yourself, past job experience, volunteer experience, education, awards and a list of skills.” Ciufo stated her list and said to include, “volunteer experience, extracurriculars, good grades, and honesty.”  Many of these things are inferred but many don't realize the importance of including your volunteer experience. Since many teens have had no previous job experience, showing dedication and compassion through volunteer work displays many positive qualities for possible employers. To bring back our interviewee’s advice, describe yourself and do so with honesty in your resume. With that, I send you off into the world to write your resume, good luck.