Aiming to help students who are applying for service-learning opportunities this semester, the Service-Learning Institute hosted two resume-building workshops last week.
For new Cal State Monterey Bay students, many service-learning organizations require the first professional resume they will ever make. However, students of every stripe attended to beef up their resumes or learn a little more about the career process.
“I wanted to know how [to] phrase the skills I have to get jobs on campus,” said George Martisius, a transfer student majoring in human development and family services.
Looking beyond the start of the semester, the Service-Learning Institute also wants to help translate service learning hours into experience on their resumes.
The hour-long presentation led by Marc Garcia from the Career Development Office went through many tips including what the real purpose of a resume is (to get an interview), what to put in the skills section (basic is best) and how long recruiters look at any given resume on average (6-10 seconds).
At the end of the workshop, students were able to brainstorm ways of phrasing their experience using what Garcia calls “power verbs,” which are action words like “produced” that stand out in bullet points on a resume.
But if Garcia had one piece of advice for students working on their resumes, it was simply, “Apply! There’s no such thing as no experience! Apply, apply, apply!”
The event occurred in the west lobby of the Student Center across from the Basic Needs hub. Building 12 is a new space for the Service-Learning Institute, this being their first time away from the University Center and closer to the heart of campus.
“It’s been really nice to be next to these collaborators, these other centers,” said Tritia Moneypenny, coordinator of community partnerships for the SLI. “We hosted a little mixer with the transfer student success center.”
The move to Building 12 does not come without drawbacks. Like many other institutions across campus, the Service Learning Institute has been hit hard by recent losses in university staff. Despite this, they are also excited to make use of the resources still available to them.
“We took a significant size hit coming here, but I think the benefit of being near like-minded social justice and center of campus spaces is awesome,” said Moneypenny.
The Service-Learning Institute is not stopping at resume workshops. The Service-Learning Fair last Wednesday was treated to a larger turnout than usual thanks to sharing a location with Otter Showcase. They also encourage students to attend the job fair in October as another way of getting involved with the community.
“I hope if you don’t have any previous community involvement, you’ll leave a spot at the end to do service learning,” said Moneypenny.
Students can find out more about their career advisor or the Service Learning Institute at the links below: