If there is one thing that gets hammered into the heads of students nowadays, it would have to be the importance of a good resume. Resumes are one of the first things an employer will see, and it could be the deciding factor if you will be moving forward with that organization. With resumes being so important, people clammer to throw everything onto that one sheet of paper, but sometimes that can be a detriment.

Events being advertised as “good for your resume” really hurt their worth. It puts too much emphasis on doing things that sound impressive rather than doing things that you enjoy. People do not  realize that anything you do can sound impressive on a resume with the right wording and anything can be relevant to you. For example, when it comes to communication/journalism majors, a lot of people overlook opportunities outside their field because they are overly pressured to find stereotypical things that are “good resume materials” rather than capitalizing on what is offered.

It is important to be doing things for the opportunity, to grow and learn, or to help your community, not to add a line on a piece of paper. It is like volunteering; if you are doing it to brag that you volunteer, that is pretty distasteful. The number of people who join an organization like SGA for the “resume padding” is pretty disgusting. It should be an opportunity to represent and help your fellow students, but so many people who run (unopposed most of the time) just treat it as a checkbox for their resume. They just do it to say “I was in student government.”

 The honest experience should be worth more than the title itself on a resume. What it comes down to is, it is not just the “do it for the resume” mindset, but the how do you go about doing it for your resume. Are you taking it seriously and doing your duties to the best of your ability, despite not truly wanting to do it? Or are you doing it just as a checkbox for your resume?

Let’s be honest, you will not love every facet of every job you ever work. 

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