It’s almost September, which means you're wrapping up summer. Whether you’ve spent the last few months at an internship or working at your neighborhood pool, it's time to think about how to use your experience to your advantage.
It’s easy to know how to talk about your summer in a job or college interview if you’re majoring in biology and you spent the summer with fruit flies in a lab. But if you think your experience as a barista or a floor-sweeper doesn’t count, think again.
"Pulled shots of espresso for four drinks at a time" could be "Multitasked to stick to a tight schedule."
"Covered my coworker’s shift when she got her wisdom teeth out" could be "Took the lead as a team player."
"Paid the tab for a family going through a rough time" could be "Integrated philanthropy and goodwill into the workplace."
As the bloggers at Peterson’s (a great college search resource!) say, you learn skills and can explore different facets of careers in a summer job.
Those skills and experiences translate into stepping stones to your next job or internship and help you discover more about what you love (working with people) or found to be a chore (running a cash register). All of which contributes to a solid, thoughtful resume.
So as you're getting ready for school to start, make sure to add that summer experience to your resume.
