Resume 4/11/11

This year I drafted my resume for the first time. In high school we never really talked about what to put in them or what they should look like. I was really nervous when I heard that I had to make one for my internship. With the help of one of my professors and a mentor from back home, I ended up creating a better document than I thought. I didn’t think I would have enough information to fill an entire page because I have only had two jobs in my life and only one of them had anything to do with sports or athletic training.

As I began to create my resume I found that a lot of my experiences here at OU were worthy of the document as well as a lot of the volunteer work I did while living in Chicago. Luckily, with the help of my superiors and peers I was able to land an internship at Harvard University this fall. I strongly believe this would not have happened without the help I received to create a great resume to represent myself. I am very happy with the final document but I feel as though it needs to be spiced up a bit. Can’t wait for suggestions!

As the resume article stated, resumes are written to “explain intent” to different audiences. I was told when writing my cover letter that it needed to be addressed specifically to the head athletic trainer where I am applying or to whomever will be hiring me. I was also told to explain why I was so interested in the position for personal and professional reasons. I try to make a connection between the work I have already done and the work I hope to do at the job being offered.  This better explains my intent and hopefully persuades the reader to consider me for the position.

As for audiences, there are multiple audiences I could be writing to. Athletic trainers can work anywhere from profession sports such as the NFL, to high schools, to fire departments. This poses the opportunity to network and get my name out there. It is important to cater to the different audiences I may face. For example, I would go into detail about my work with high school athletes if I was applying to a collegiate setting. I would focus more on the work I did with OU teams and how they would qualify me to work in another collegiate setting.

As for my resume, I listed my CPR/First Aid certification and all of the clinical experiences I have had. I think this is extremely important because in my field if you don’t have experience, you don’t know anything. I could have aced all of my tests and had the highest GPA in my class but if I haven’t physically worked in an athletic training room and had contact with athletes I wouldn’t get hired by anyone.

I also feel that the right references matter. My references include one of my athletic training professors, the head athletic trainer for OU football, and two athletic trainers I worked under in high school. All of these people know me well and can give an employer an accurate account of my work.