By Brittney Payette
Managing Editor
At 3 p.m. on Feb. 20, in room 103 of the Cameron Library, the Office of Student Development hosted a CU Succeed: Aggie Professionals Event called Resume Rev Up.
Career Services Coordinator Becky Woolever presented at the event and provided students with information about how to create a professional resume. This presentation kicked off the first workshop for CU Succeed: Aggie Professionals series this semester.
“We do this every year a little bit before spring break, so everyone can kind of get ready for the summer,” Woolever said. “That’s kind of our job here in career services- to help you along your career exploration path.”
One attendee was Senior sports and exercise science major Levi Caddo said he came to the Aggie Professional event because he needed two personal development credits, and going to one of these workshops would earn him one credit.
“I learned about the different types of resumes, such as, like, the functional one, and how it needs to be in chronological order,” Caddo said. “It was very informative. I learned about cover letters as well today. I didn’t know about that. I liked it all. It was pretty interesting.”
Caddo said Woolever taught him that putting your GPA on your resume is only recommended if it is above 3.5.
Director of student development Jennifer Pruchnicki also helped with the workshop and explained what hard skills are versus what soft skills are for your resume.
“So, hard skills are going to be what you learned in class, typically that knowledge,” Pruchnicki said. “Your soft skills are going to be more like your social skills. You need both.”
Woolever outlined some basic information that should be included in a resume, including your contact information (email and phone number), education, training and certifications, work experience, and soft skills and hard skills. She said people should use a twelve-point font in either Times New Roman or Arial, neutral colors, and preferably use printer paper if someone is printing their resume.
“Employers glance at these quickly,” Woolever said. “So, just make sure that it’s short and neat and not kind of all over the page.”
The office of student development held other workshops to help students, How to Navigate a Career Fair, at 3 p.m. on Feb. 21 in the Buddy Green Room in the McMahon Centennial Complex (MCC).
Woolever said there are three stages of career fair success: to prepare, to perform, and to persist.
“Research the organizations and their background information read about their missions, their strategic plans, find out who the key people are within the organizations,” she said.
Woolever said preparing in advance is crucial and that people should work on their resumes before the career fair. She also said that performance also plays a key role.
“Make sure that you’re mapping out a strategy of, you know, what employers that you would like to see,” Woolever said. “These will be listed on our website, so you can see beforehand who we’re going to be having… Make sure that you’re checking in on that because it updates every day.”
Woolever said people need to have a firm handshake when meeting with an employer, ask the employer questions about their organization and get contact information from the employers they are interested in. Getting contact information, such as obtaining their business card, can help students get into contact with that employer.
Other CU Succeed: Aggie Professionals Series events that took place included a Career Skills workshop at 3 p.m. on Feb. 22 in the Buddy Green Room in the MCC, a second Resume Rev Up workshop at 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, an Acing Your Interview workshop at 3 p.m. in the Buddy Green Room, and a Donuts and Resumes event at 9 a.m. in North Shepler Room 312.
The Red River Career Expo is from 3-6 p.m. on March 9 in the Aggie REC Center. For a list of employers attending the event, go to https://www.cameron.edu/student-development/career_services/red-river-career-expo.
For more information about future events, contact the office of student development at student_development@cameron.edu or call (580) 581-2209.