If we are teaching our students how to write literary analysis essays about the symbolism of the green light in The Great Gatsby, we should also be teaching our students how to write effective resumes that will get them jobs. In fact, I think the latter is more important, and I say that as a teacher obsessed with Gatsby. (Just follow my Instagram.) But I’m not trying to slam you or shame you for not teaching resume writing in your English classes. I never taught resumes until this year when I was given the responsibility of teaching a new high school English option, Technical Communications. Having taken over and taught this class again, I firmly believe that every single student should be required to complete a resume before graduation.
Teaching resume writing was not an easy task for me or my students, but we learned a lot in the process. Writing a resume is about more than practicing writing in “real life” or becoming a employable candidate. It’s about growing as a person. Writing a resume requires introspection, self-awareness, and reflection. Throughout the process, students wrestle with the questions “Who am I?”. and “How can I present what I have to offer on a mere piece of paper?” This unit was challenging but rewarding for me and my students.
Reading: How to teach students to create a resume
I was initially intimidated by resumes because of the contrast to the Gatsby essay that was handed in and graded by me, these resumes were printed out and one day sent out into the “real world”. The thought of teaching students how to write and design a document that could end up on a hiring manager’s desk…or in a shredder…was a little daunting. Although nervous, I looked forward to empowering my students and teaching what I knew would be one of the most relevant and valuable units I have ever taught.
Fortunately, I was right. By the end of our resume writing unit, I was so proud of how much my students had grown as writers, future job candidates, and most importantly, as people. If you’re hoping to implement the same type of learning experience for your students, check out my resume writing unit, which includes editable versions of all of my mini-lessons and resources. Here’s everything I learned about how to structure a helpful resume writing unit for your students:
1. Expose students to many resumes: the good, the bad, and the ugly
At first I didn’t know how to start our resume writing unit. Get into the writing process and revise later? Start with a mini lesson? To be honest, I was stressed and questioning my ability to teach resumes. I hadn’t touched an interview for a job or my resume in 5 years. I felt like I was going over my head. What did I know?
In an effort to begin my unit and lesson planning, I began researching resumes. I looked for examples and made mental notes of what I noticed. Then it hit me: This is what my students have to do! Like me, they would be overwhelmed with the daunting task of creating an attractive, modern resume. Suddenly, my lesson plan for the next day was simple: find countless examples: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Have students review them and record their observations of what makes an effective resume – student-centred, inquiry-based learning!
I quickly pulled up sample resumes from Google, pulled up my old (and ugly) resume, and asked friends on Facebook to share their resumes. Within 20 minutes I had a nice collection of 20+ resumes to share with my students. I printed out a few copies of each and placed them on the counter in the back of my classroom.
Then I created a worksheet where the students simply wrote down what they noticed about each resume. I gave them a few categories to focus on and asked them to critique each resume. I told the students to pretend they were hiring managers going through stacks of resumes and deciding which candidates deserve an interview. After reviewing several resumes, students had to summarize what they noticed about the most effective resumes. Finally, they reflected on what they already knew about resumes and what they wanted to learn and focus on during our mini-unit.
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This lesson was so simple, but so valuable.Some of them were harsh critics, which was great! After that I told them: “Gotcha! Now I have higher expectations because now you KNOW what to do! The only excuse is laziness!” If they criticized the ugly fonts in the sample resumes…I could criticize their choice of fonts when I grade their final resumes with my rubrics. Mission accomplished!
2. Model the process with your own CV
After the results of the CV critique activity, I knew I needed to model the process of writing and designing the CV by updating my own CV . My students were right. My CV was 2 pages long, filled with way too much text and just plain ugly and uninspiring.
So before I started my mini-lessons on resume writing, I sat down to “teach myself” before teaching my students. I redesigned my entire resume, deleted irrelevant jobs, removed the fuzz, and improved my word choice. This process gave me some confidence in teaching resumes for the first time and helped me identify what to focus on during the writing workshop with my students. During the mini-lessons I used my resume as an example. My students appreciated my transparency and learned a lot from my “before and after”.
While you may not need to update your resume, it’s a great exercise to help you better understand the process and yours Resume to enable students to see a “professional” model revision.
3. Fix the writing process with mini-lessons and a resume draft
As I revised and redesigned my own resume, I reminded myself of the tedium of creating an effective, visually appealing one to create a resume. To make resume writing less daunting for my students, I have broken down the different sections of the resume into different mini-lessons. I also created a resume outline in Google Docs, and I asked students to draft everything in the outline before they even touched a template. The students designed and revised several times until I “approved” their working sketch and allowed them to begin their final design. This outline document provided a framework for the structure and formatting of the resume and also helped me break down my mini-lessons. Here’s how I design my mini-lessons during the writing workshop:
- Writing a professional profile (If you’re new to the resume writing game, this takes the place of the “Goal” section).
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- Outline employment and use powerful action verbs
- List skills and use strong adjectives
I have also integrated peer feedback and teacher feedback activities in addition to the mini-lessons above.
4. Providing resources and support throughout the process
With all of my students creating resumes for different types of jobs, I knew I needed to provide even more scaffolding and support. A resume for an aspiring beautician looks very different than a resume for an automotive technician! To support students and give them access to even more resources and examples, I created a hyperdoc with resources and links. Some of these resources were my own, others were links from helpful websites that had sample resumes for different careers! If you would like more information on creating your own hyperdocs for your students, check out this blog post.
Another way I supported during the writing process was to check in with each student every day . Most days I was able to walk around the room and check in with each student personally, but on days I helped a handful of students for a while I couldn’t make it to all of them. To ensure I could screen every student no matter what happened, I had the students submit an exit ticket at the end of each day. Every exit ticket was the same: “What did you do today? What questions do you have and how can I help you?” I did this using Google Classroom’s “Questions” feature so I could respond to students’ questions and see what everyone needed the next day of the writing workshop.
5. Incorporate multiple opportunities for peer feedback
This is how I see peer feedback: The more you can train your students to provide feedback, the more efficiently you can work with your teacher- bypass feedback. During our resume writing unit, I incorporated peer feedback in a number of ways. First, I had the students “turn around and talk to each other” for a “personal sales pitch,” which then became their professional profile at the top of their resume. After they created their profile and posted it on Google Classroom, I asked them to give feedback to three of their colleagues.That way, by the time I was looking at their draft professional profiles, their colleagues had already addressed a lot of things I would have commented on anyway! This has allowed me to provide more specific, targeted feedback to my students (and saved me time, too).
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The writing process can feel time-consuming, tedious, and boring for students. Combining it with opportunities for them to talk about their writing also helps with engagement.
6. Highlight the Revision Process
It’s important to highlight the revision process and how it differs from proofreading and editing. Some of them wanted to open up their resumes, click Submit, and then happily yell, “I’m done!” when they hadn’t taken the time to really revise it. Other students argued that their resumes were “good enough” because they had successfully used them when applying for their current job. It was difficult to convince some students to invest time in revising and editing.
But I’ll let you in on a little secret: some of the students who struggled or complained the most were the same ones later thanked me in their learning reflections. As one student said: “The resume unit was the most helpful because I was too lazy to write one myself. Miss G, you’re killing it.” At least they’re being honest.
By structuring the resume writing process with step-by-step lessons, modeling my own revision, and lots of feedback from peers and teachers and subsequent involved revision, I forced my students to revise. I have demonstrated the value of repetition and intentionally built-in repetition in my mini-lessons. I even included a category in my last rubric entitled “Evidence of Revision” and asked students to tell me specifically (through comments in Google Docs) what they revised and why. The final result? Better resumes, but more importantly, better writers who finally appreciate the editing process.
7. Provide templates to help your students create a visually appealing, modern resume
It’s easy to have your students create the standard text-on-one-page resume, but it’s 2019 and these resumes are getting old! There are tons of options and templates available online, but my favorite resource for a visually appealing resume is Canva, an online graphic design tool with lots of free templates. You can also search Pinterest for more inspiration!
I’ve designed two of my own templates and made them available to the students, but I’ve also linked a few templates I found online. Most of my students used my templates or Canva’s, but I had a few students who used other sources. I would recommend assessing how much structure your students need and then recommending different templates and/or websites. For example, my pre-designed template was particularly helpful for my ELL students. I didn’t want them to be overwhelmed by the process of creatively designing a resume because the process of writing it was already challenging enough. Meet your students where they are, but use templates to help them create a visually appealing resume!
8. Make it meaningful and “publish” students’ final resumes!
English teachers know that one of the most important but often neglected parts of the writing process is the final stage: publishing! When your students are done, print out their resumes and celebrate their hard work in an authentic way. Here are a few ideas:
- Have a ‘gallery walk’ or ‘exhibit hall’ where students ‘network’ with their peers, sharing resumes and discussing their experiences and skills.
- Enable mock interviews that require students to discuss their resume and answer other common interview questions. (We did, and it was a hit with students!)
- Send resumes to administration or a hiring manager (if you can find one) and ask for realistic feedback.
- Encourage students to apply for jobs with their new CVs, then celebrate when they are successful!
I was so proud of my students’ final CVs and how much they’ve grown during the writing process. The unit wasn’t without its challenges, but ending it with physical evidence was so rewarding that the students were one step closer to being college and career ready. If you’re interested in preparing your students for life after graduation, check out my Career Readiness Growing Bundle, which currently includes a career research project and this resume writing unit. (Cover letters and mock interviews coming soon.)
Are you teaching your students how to write resumes? If so, which grade level and class? What other ideas or tips do you have? I’d love to hear more in the comments!
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