1 or 2 Things about Writing your Resume

I will always...

Good early J-term guys! 

It's Bryan here. I hope all of you had a wonder holiday and are staying healthy and safe during this strange pandemic period. 

During this holiday, I spent a lot of time writing and rewriting my resume to prepare for job application. This is a rather new experience for me, as resume in the U.S. are different from that in China. I faced quite some obstacles during this process, so I want to share about my experience with you to help you navigate around this easier. 

Resources for resume templets

The first thing I did when I started writing my resume was looking for a resume template online. 

Different websites have different template designs, at the end, I used resume genius. It's free, and it has templates for different majors; the templates design was bright and eye-catching too (#NotSponsored). I did not use their online resume builder tool, because I wanted to make some twist on the templates. I think it adds some personality to the resume and allows you to fit more information onto the resume

If you like simple designs and easier access, you can also use the resume templates in google docs. There are not much options, but the templates have all the necessary information. 

PLU is also providing resources on resume building. You can access their resume guide on this website. Worth mentioning, you can schedule an resume review section with the career service office and get a second opinion from the professionals. Information can be found here. 

Differences in American resume

...have funny memes...

I have wrote one resume before in China. When I started writing the new resume in U.S., I found my
old resume template unusable because of the different requirements. Here are some of the differences I encountered: 

1. Resume in U.S. are concise and straight forward. Basically, all you do in your resume is listing all your achievements and adding in your contact information. For the rest of the information, you can share it in the cover letter or your portfolio.
2. Most resume templates will have different sections already set up for your to fill in information. Important information may include: contact information, education, professional experience, awards and achievements, skills, (community service), (license), (summary paragraph).
3. In general, you do not include photo, age, or gender in the resume. Some majors (like theater), though, does include photo in their resume. 
4. Resume should be concise, so one page is preferred for undergraduate students. The most important information should be listed in the front. If you have a lot to talk about, most important information should be on the first page. Prioritization depends on your major; for me, my priority was contact information> nursing license > education > professional experience > skills >  awards & achievements > community service
5. For the education part, do include the time period as well as the school location. For example, mine looks like: Pacific Lutheran University - Tacoma WA, 2017 - 2021. I did not list high school education in my resume.
6. Summary paragraph are three to four sentences long (this part is not required). Incomplete sentences can be used to help deliver concise information. For example: "Bryan Yuan is a senior nursing student enrolled in Pacific Lutheran University Bachelor of Science in Nursing program" can be turned into "senior nursing student, currently enrolled in BSN program at Pacific Lutheran University, ...". I had a personal habit of writing PLU instead of the full name. Be careful to not do that! 

What I did for my nursing resume

... for you! : )

I also want to share about some of the tips I used for my nursing resume. These tips may also apply to other majors. 

1. Focus on the professional experience and expend on more important experience. As a new graduate, there is really not much work experience you can talk about. However, you can use your school activities, interns, or volunteer experience to fill in this part. As a nursing student, you can use your clinical experience in this section; list your clinical hours, skills you have performed, and potentially positive comments from your preceptor. If you can't find any related experience, school project can work too. 
2. Use your portfolio to talk more about your personalities. Resume focuses on your achievements, but you can provide a link of your portfolio in your resume. In the portfolio, you can talk about your goals, personalities, strong sides and all other stuffs that you might not have proofs of but are actually yours. 
3. skills or strong sides that you can mention in your resume (for nursing student): cross-culture awareness (taking care of minority groups),  time management & prioritization, therapeutic communication, efficient, professionalism, team work & leadership. 
4. If you have enough space, have a community service section that talk about your volunteer experience and how you have advocated for others.

Opportunities are coming

It's never too early to start building your resume!  --- someone important(2021)

If you see yourself encountering the problem of not having enough things to talk about, you can start doing those activities now. Volunteer works are one of the opportunities you can easily find. You may also find on-campus employments such as Resident assistant (RA) and International Peer Advisor (IPA) hiring soon. The Commons and gym will also be hiring from time to time. More job opportunities and information can be found on the Student Employment website. 

Thank you for reading! 

Bryan Yuan

1/21/2021