Defending students who haven't had paying jobs - the hard truth is that in many places, there aren't any jobs for high school and college students. Many of us earned money in the summer by working retail, food service, paper routes, mowing lawns, and other minimum wage jobs. Those jobs are now going to adults who work them year round because they don't have any other job choices. High school kids are also pressured to do "enrichment programs" so many kids are going to academic camps or programs instead of working jobs. Granted, some kids get "jobs" as "counselors in training" but even those positions are limited. Many students have internship requirements that don't pay so they get all the fun and experience of a job without any of the income. During the school year, students often don't have time for jobs or think that minimum wage type jobs will hurt their future employment chances or it's not worth their time to make no money. It really sucks for kids these days because they are damned if they do and damned if they don't. I don't know any student who would pass up a paying job at a reasonable wage if they were offered it. But I also don't blame them for not wanting to slave away flipping burgers for $7/hour because that doesn't even pay for groceries these days, let alone rent and other living expenses. 

Also again, I ask HR people and anyone with hiring authority who looks at resumes to look at what job seeks are told about what goes into a resume and cover letter. There are MILLIONS of sites out there and just as many opinions. One site will insist that you HAVE to put your education first. Others will say put it last. I will vary depending on the job because outside of the museum field, my museum studies degree counts against me. Older people will tend not to put years with their degrees because they don't want to be passed over because of ageism. (You know this happens.) Museum people tend to have non-traditional career paths so listing jobs in chronological order doesn't always give a clear picture of our experience, especially if we've had a bunch of seasonal positions. People will use skills-based resumes or other formats to highlight their skills and experience the best way. Don't toss those resumes out because they don't fit what you think a resume should be. 

I've seen articles that advocate for a plain text resume so that it can be easily read and scanned by HR systems. Other articles will talk about how you need a visually appealing resume so that you can catch the eye of the HR manager. Use gerunds or not? Write in present or past-tense? Then look at the resume templates in Word and no wonder people don't seem to know how to write a resume. Too many formats!! UGH!! 

Remember museum job seekers are applying to HUNDREDS of positions. No joke. We also aren't mind-readers and don't know what your preferred resume format is. Please keep an open mind. Other than deal-breakers like not spellchecking, including pictures, and informal language, resumes should be about conveying the skills, abilities, and experience of a candidate, not about figuring out what format the hiring manager wants. 

Deb Fuller