Andersen Library Hosts Resume Doctor

Brenda Echeverria, Staff Reporter

Andersen Library and Career & Leadership Development (CLD) hosted a “Resume Doctor” workshop for students Sept. 24 – 26.

The Resume Doctor program for students that offered one-on-one assistance from working professionals on how to improve their resumes. This year’s Resume Doctor was deliberately placed a week before the Fall Hawk Career Fair, which gave students the opportunity to clean up their resumes and feel better prepared for that event.

“It’s an opportunity for everyone,” said Sarell Martin, PR and Outreach Coordinator at Andersen Library.

For Martin, the program is all about resourcefulness, accessibility and timeliness. He believes Resume Doctor can be a great tool for juniors and seniors who can perhaps already envision the future and want to take advantage of the career fair. However, he also said it can be a great tool for freshman and sophomores who want to be proactive.

The way Resume Doctor works is on a first come, first served basis. On the days of Resume Doctor there was a table at the front of the library where a select number of faculty and campus leaders were ready to look over resumes.

Of course, all a student is required to bring is their resume and it doesn’t need to be perfect. The faculty and career leaders were there to find spelling mistakes, give feedback and useful tips on how to improve it.

Brian Bredeson, associate director at Career & Leadership Development, has helped with Resume Doctor in past years and was one of the faculty members to look over resumes at this year’s event. He said spelling and grammar are some of the most common errors students make on their resumes because they are so easy to read over.

“For each of us, we have an advantage because it’s the first time we are looking at a student’s resume that the student may have looked at 20, 40 or 50 times and then they kind of lose sight of what it’s like to look at it for the first time,” Bredeson said.

Resume Doctor started as a program that CLD used to provide as part of its general career services. It has always provided help with resumes and cover letters, but the office expanded its services to the library where it felt it could reach more students.

“We know that sometimes students don’t have the time to come into the Career Leadership office to make that appointment. It can be kind of hard to do that,” said CLD associate counselor Isabella Virrueta. “So we figured setting up at the library helps to have a more casual drop-in hours, and hopefully helps to have more students come through and get the services they need.”