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AGCAREERS.COM
AG & FOOD CAREER GUIDE
Putting
YOU
in Your Resume
How to showcase your professional experience and your personality on your resume.
Y
our resume is your future
employer’s first impression of
you. Sure, you want to show you are
professional, but you also want your
personality to shine through.
“Your resume is you on paper,” said
Lexie Lee, lead counselor at the Texas
Tech University Career Center.
If your resume is a representation
of yourself, how can you show your
personality in such a professional
document?
We spoke to three career
professionals in the US and Canada to
answer just that. Here are their tips on
how to feature both your professional
experience and personality on your
resume.
Choose a Structure
that Fits Your
Interests
All of these career professionals agreed
that the structure of your document is
a great opportunity to personalize your
resume to reflect your experiences.
Think about how you spend your
time outside of school and work.
Activities like volunteer work, hobbies,
certifications, and accomplishments are
all section titles that can be added to a
resume.
Another way to find a structure that
fits your resume needs is to look at the
types of professional experiences you
want to list.
“If a student is applying to law school,”
Lee said, “she might only list her sales
experience and then expand upon her
time working at a law firm, because
that’s more relevant for her.”
Traditionally, entry-level jobs
teach job candidates about customer
service, sales, and teamwork, and are
worth mentioning, but those positions
should not overshadow more relevant
experiences.
Take Advantage of
Being a Student
The classes and projects you have
completed are unique to you and are
worth sharing to employers, especially
if you gained skills that an employer is
looking for.
“Let’s take knowing Excel for
example,” Lee said. “If you learned
Excel in school and haven’t used it
professionally yet, maybe we add
relevant projects and classes under
education, because you might not
have the chance to add that under
experience.”
Additionally, many college and
university campuses have career
services available to students free of
cost. These campus staff are specifically
trained to help you with all parts of the
job search and have seen an abundance
of resumes. Take advantage of these
experts – especially while it’s free!
Supplementing your resume
with a cover letter is
another opportunity to add
more of your personality
to your first impression.
Supplement Your
Resume with Other
Sources
The impact of your resume does not
have to end with your single page of
experiences.
Margaret Heard, career advisor
at Conestoga College recommends
adding the URL of your LinkedIn profile
or digital portfolio to the header of your
resume. This gives an employer the
chance to match your name to your face
and browse an in-depth listing of your
work and achievements.
“Both types of tools give you the
opportunity to be more narrative and
creative in the presentation of yourself,
your experiences and what drives
you,” Heard explained. “Uploading files,
videos and pictures can further support
the story you are presenting.”
Fikrija Skarep, a Canada-based
career professional, adds that
supplementing your resume with a
cover letter is another opportunity to
add more of your personality to your
first impression.
“I once submitted a poem as a cover
letter when I applied to company with a
very creative and relaxed environment,”
Skarep said. “While that is an extreme
example, it shows that you do get to
be more creative in how you present
yourself in the cover letter.”
Since a cover letter is more
conversational, you can give an
employer their first glance into how you
will interact in the interview and as their
employee.
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by Kylie Farmer, AgCareers.com Marketing Intern
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash