Building Better Student Resumes with a Simple and Effective Class Assignment

Abstract

College and university faculty provide years of instruction to future engineers. Students are strenuously challenged in a variety of new and complex and topics. However, many of these knowledgeable and highly skilled students have never been educated in the most basic of job search skills – producing a resume. When asked to write and submit a resume to potential employers, students often submit a poor presentation (both in visual and verbal content) of their true experiences and abilities. For most students, the presentation does not cover experiences of interest to potential employers. Others have a tendency to “exaggerate” their experiences, believing the feigned content will help them secure a more rewarding job. To address the need for better resumes, a multi-stage assignment was given to a small group of engineering students at Lone Star College Montgomery. Students were first asked to submit a resume with minimal direction to be evaluated by their instructor. During the course of the assignment, students were also required to attend resume workshops and meet with the college’s career center staff for further direction. After each meeting, a new resume was submitted, and students received feedback specific to each resume and group discussions covered general trends within the class. In the final stage of the assignment, resumes were collected and submitted to an engineering manager and human resources manager at a large engineering service company where the instructor had developed a close working relationship. These two professionals provided the final stage of feedback to students. Over the span of this assignment, student resumes improved dramatically in content and presentation. The information offered was much more thorough and pertinent to the student objectives. In addition to developing better job search skills for the students, this project also connected students with a potential employer and provided the service company a pool of internship candidates.