How to articulate skills gained through summer experiences
Whatever your student has been up to this summer, whether it be a part-time job, summer course, internship, research experience or shadowing opportunity, they have gained valuable skills that belong on a resume. Encourage your student to update their resume and LinkedIn profile to reflect these new experiences before returning to campus in the fall.
Each experience provides students with both transferable and industry-specific skills. Transferable skills are relevant to a wide range of positions across different industries. Examples include leadership, communication, time management and organization. Industry-specific skills are technical skills that relate to job functions of certain careers, such as programming languages, lab skills and data analysis. Hard and soft skills are equally important on a resume and both should be highlighted when discussing experiences. The Fleishman Career Center’s Job Market Insights tool is a helpful resource for students to learn which skills are most important for certain industries and careers that they are interested in, which can help them determine what skills they should focus on developing.
When articulating an experience, students should be as specific as possible and communicate using strong language. Advise your student to make note of details of their summer experiences that will help them write a strong resume section. For example, a summer camp counselor should be recording how many campers they are responsible for, any specific programs or events they created and other ways they demonstrated leadership.
The Fleishman Career Center offers a variety of resources to assist students in communicating skills to employers. The Career Guide contains sections on resume writing and features examples of strong action words to use when describing experiences. Big Interview is a platform that contains video lessons that will show students how to speak about their experiences in a meaningful way during an interview. Students can also book a virtual summer appointment with a career consultant for personalized assistance.