God has already given us many valuable gifts to us
personally.
We need seek them out, organize them and praise Him for His
provisions to us. Secondly, we need to be good stewards of them.
I call this the 6 W’s of “Resumes
with an Attitude.”
Why – Organized, find Gappy resumes,
When -
way before you start job searches.
Where – keep optimizing your resume
on the computer.
What -
Contact info, Objective, Experience, and Training
Which -
Which comes first, getting experience or getting a job.
Who -
Who do I do a resume for? – Myself, Others – to understand them
better, and especially Jesus Christ.
<<Introduction>> -
When should I start a resume? How do I get experience if I can’t
get a job? What is a “gappy” resume? Is it goofy to have more
than one resume?
<<Why>> -
Resumes are valuable for a great deal more than job searches. They
teach us to organize in simple ways. They help build our
self-esteem. They push us to focus our talents etc. They help us to
understand the actions and needs of others.
<<When>> -
The why of resumes lead us to see job searches are just a small part
of resume purposes. Even pre-teens will learn great lessons from
creating resumes.
<<Where>> - On the computer.
You’ll need to change your resume often. Computers like that.
List changes on paper first. Before you touch the keyboard, ask God
to help. He’s very good with computer projects. Computers are
dumber than hoe handles. You have to be patient with them.
Concentrate on what you do know about them and not on what you don’t
know about computers. Ask a friend to help. Libraries have
computers, printers, training videos, and helpful people that will
guide you along.
<<What>> - What should go in
a resume? Libraries and the Internet have a great deal of detailed
resume instructions. They simply are these:
Start with just one sentence that
simply states what your goal, your objective, for employment is.
You’ll want to reword it differently for the different companies
you go to.
Second, list all your Qualities. See
yourself as having value that an employer would want. Be generous.
God has blessed you in some ways that you need to search for. Add to
the list over the weeks to come.
Next should come a list of your
experience. Put it in chronological order. Look for gaps or missing
information. Gappy resumes might suggest to the reader that you are
not good at keeping busy, between jobs and between tasks.
Lastly, list all your training.
Include not only the training you have RECEIVED, but also what you
have GIVEN. Add to the list any awards, certifications, and
newspaper articles that credit you. This is not bragging, so long as
you give God the credit and praise as you talk to others.
Periodically compare your lists of
talents and experience with your objective. You will want to look
for gaps or training you are missing out on to get to your objective.
<<Which>> -
Which comes first, getting a job or getting experience to get a job?
The answer is clear and simple. Remember that it is important that
you not have a gappy resume. You must show the reader you are
“always” busy either working or training.
Volunteer at church, civic
organizations, schools, parks, libraries, clubs, and businesses.
Tell them your purpose is to gain experience and show on your resume
you can make good use of all your time. If your volunteer help
really was beneficial to them, they will happily respond with a small
note of your actions for your records.
<<Who>> -
Who should I make a resume about? Obviously ourselves, But Resumes
with an Attitude are powerfully used as we create resumes of those we
want to understand or impress. Though they won’t be entirely
accurate, we will be able to better interact with someone when we
have considered their goals, experience, training etc. Create a
simple resume of your boss, your teacher, your parent, or even your
pastor. What do you suppose the resume of Jesus Christ would say?
