Time to Update the Resume AND file the FAFSA!
A professional resume is absolutely necessary for both the career and college search process. Resumes provide a focused summary of a person and act as an introduction, so it should be very professional in appearance and intent.
The 2024-2025 FAFSA is expected to launch before December 31, 2023.
Why It Matters
- It’s relevant to both career and college.
Listing work experience, job responsibilities and skills showcases a person’s strengths when applying for a job. However, when it comes to college scholarship applications, the resume should primarily feature academic and personal accomplishments. - It’s a necessity.
A resume is needed if your student plans to work part-time during college to supplement any financial aid being received.
What Your Student Can Do Now
- File the FAFSA!
Federal Student Aid has indicated the 2024-2025 FAFSA form will launch before December 31, 2023. Learn how to prepare for and stay informed about the launch. And if you haven’t yet done so, create your FSA accounts NOW. - Review a previous resume.
If your student previously developed a resume, now is the time to review it and update it with any new work experience, accomplishments and community activities. Use this as a guide when developing the professional resume. - Use a template as a guide.
The resume template your student uses is dependent upon your student’s intended pathway — career or college. There are a variety of resume templates available online, but choose carefully and use it only as a guide. Find out if the career center’s website for one of the colleges on your student’s top five list has a suggested template that is editable, which allows for future updating. Your student’s resume should include components such as work experience, activities, skills, achievements and honors, and online presence. - Focus on transferable skills.
Use bullet points to highlight the accomplished tasks and skills that were developed from various work experiences and activities, rather than describe the tasks themselves. The skills and results are what employers and scholarship reviewers want to see. - Demonstrate search savvy.
Your student should highlight skills and abilities by using industry-specific keywords related to the industry, company or organization being applied to. This effort will set your student’s resume apart from others, especially if an applicant tracking system is being used to sift through and rank a large number of applicants. Applicant tracking systems are widely used by companies to help hiring managers and recruiters organize applicants. The most often used filters are skills, job positions, location and education with the average initial review of a resume lasting only six seconds! Your student should review multiple times for spelling and punctuation errors, and then pass it on to at least two others to review. - Compare it to the requirements.
With resume in hand, match up the job or scholarship requirements to the resume. The more closely the resume matches the requirements, the more likely your student may earn the position or award. The resume’s goal during a job search is to garner an interview invitation; for scholarship purposes, it should be written to gain the reviewer’s attention.
What Your Student Can Do Later
- Start a list.
Make a list of career options and colleges under consideration. Research the company where your student wants to apply — this will provide a nice arsenal of information if chosen to interview. Research all scholarship options for each college being considered. Merit scholarships have certain GPA or test standards that must be met. Other scholarships may have other standards like ethnicity or legacy information in addition to a merit-based component. Have your student make a list of all scholarships that might be an option. - Draft a cover letter.
Even if a job posting doesn’t ask for a cover letter, it’s usually a good idea to include one. Employers want your student to tell them how previous experience and education translates to helping them. Additionally, knowledge about the company or organization can be dropped into the cover letter to impress a hiring manager and should be customized to address the specific position or award requirements. A cover letter is also where your student can highlight the successful outcomes from various work experiences, projects and community activities. - Gather letters of recommendation.
Most college admissions and scholarship applications will request letters of recommendation. These letters should be requested of people whom your student respects and trusts. Your student should supply them with a copy of the completed resume to help them draft their letter.
What You Can Do
- Share your insights.
If you have a professional resume, share it with your student and explain why you chose the particular template you used, since it can vary by work experience and career. Point out how your path was shaped by high school and/or college experiences. - Review your and your student’s online presence.
Take a critical look at your student’s and your own social media accounts to see if some cleanup might be necessary. Help your student create a LinkedIn profile and update your own profile if there are gaps. LinkedIn is a valuable resource for learning about your field, networking, following different organizations and associations, and keeping updated on industry news.
Next Steps
Be sure to complete the survey questions at the end of this article to be entered into the 529 deposit giveaway!
Additional references, handouts and talking points are available in the right sidebar to use at your leisure. They may prove beneficial to reference now or after receiving future emails – we’ll leave it completely up to you. Use our emails like a recipe for a successful outcome — assemble the recommended ingredients and then follow accompanying directions to add flavor and depth.