2.4 With a Job

A while ago, I was helping my cousin write a resume for a job she was applying for. Why I was chosen to help her still baffles me, because writing resumes is a chore no matter who you are. However, since I have taken a class on it, I guess, by default, I was the best option. Anyway, her goal was to get all the information about her on one page so that when turning it in, it was not a pamphlet for the employer to skim through. One thing I learned during my resume class, and knowledge I imparted on her, was that your GPA is not needed on a resume. This came as a shocker to the 4.0 genius cousin. She thought a resume was a list of accolades for a future employer to see so that they know how accomplished you are. Sadly, this is never the case. Employers don’t care how smart you are, they care how much experience you have. Things like prior customer service, time spent on a telephone explaining things to people, or even the ability to not puke if cleaning a bathroom. What is that old saying about “C’s get degrees.” In other words, even if you are a complete moron, can you get the job done without being babysat. Lest we forget that a barely C student has become president of the United States on more than one occasion. Needless to say, her resume was drastically shortened when her GPA, valedictorian-ship, and other grade-based information was removed. It was heartbreaking to have two pages worth of “study-time” relegated to a one page summary of all the volunteer work she had done. However, I encouraged her. She still was able to fill an entire page with summers and spring breaks spent running herself ragged to help people and organizations. This is what employers want. Go-getters with a mindset for proving yourself. In the end, I let her leave the fact that she was accepted into some pretty top-notch universities on her page. Hopefully she will look at this resume on her computer in the future and realize that a summer job was just a stepping stone to a very educated future full of financial security, even if her future employers don’t care about her extra credit GPA. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.