Resumes and Reflection: An Adventure into Vulnerability
Since our founding in 1982, CWEE has been fostering personal and professional transformation for low-income families through confidence building, customized skills training, and career advancement. Over the last 42 years, the workplace has changed dramatically, but one requirement has remained the same: a high-quality resume and cover letter. Today, CWEE is equipping career seekers with the skills and confidence needed to succeed in their job search through Career Kickstart, our cohort-based job-readiness program.
About one out of three participants do not have a resume when they begin the program. Of those participants who have a resume, half are resumes auto-generated by online job search engines and often do not meet the requirements of most applications.
Nick Pettet, one of CWEE’s two career development facilitators, teaches Career Kickstart and is addressing this essential need by working with participants to help them understand their employment histories and expand upon their experiences in order to write high-quality resumes and cover letters.
For many people seeking employment, writing a resume that is tailored to a specific job opportunity is simply an additional step in the job search process, making sure they’ve highlighted experiences that fit the job description. For many CWEE participants, however, writing a resume is an adventure into vulnerability. While candidates with a long employment history may find it exciting to reflect on their history and professional growth, for others writing a resume can be a difficult and vulnerable experience. Gaps in employment or underemployment may exist due to lack of access to educational opportunities, insecure housing, involvement with the justice system, experiencing domestic violence, or other traumatic life events that can be difficult for personal reflection, let alone sharing with a prospective employer.
Resumes are a venture into vulnerability because they require us to put pen to paper, sharing our life stories as they relate to our ability to be employed.
Self-reflection is key in unlocking the ability to share life stories in an impactful and professional way through a resume or cover letter. That’s why Career Kickstart is infused with self-reflection exercises throughout the program. In his time teaching the program, Nick has learned this is often one of the first opportunities participants have had to self-reflect in a meaningful, intentional way.
A major opportunity for reflection comes when participants write their personal mission statements. These are an essential component of the Career Kickstart class “…to identify the ‘why’ behind their job search,” Nick says. “Identifying the inspiration for gaining employment is important for participants to maintain motivation during the job search. For one participant, their ‘why’ might be to use particular skills they excel in to grow within a specific industry. For another, it could be finding stable employment that allows them to secure housing of their own for themselves and their children. Participants need to lean into their ‘why’ to maintain motivation and persistence during their job search.”
This reflective work also allows participants to better understand their employment histories and the factors that shaped them, hold space for those experiences, and learn how to confidently speak with employers about it. Additionally, Nick teaches participants how to address gaps in employment or a lack of experience in their desired industry by creating a functional resume. This type of resume allows an applicant to highlight transferrable skillsets that may be outside of the industry but are still relevant to the role. This model also works well for parents who have been staying home to raise a family. Through a functional resume, parents can include a household manager role and highlight valuable skills like time management, organization, flexibility, and more.
When participants have the space to reflect and move beyond traditional, rigid resume structures, they often realize they have far greater experience than they first thought. Some participants in Career Kickstart did not know an internship is excellent experience to include in a resume, or that a single educational course will stand out to employers, even if they don’t yet have a completed degree. Participants are often under the impression that only paid experience can be listed on a resume, discounting volunteerism, education or household management skills. Nick often finds himself enthusiastically telling participants, “Yes, add that to your resume!”
When a participant completes Career Kickstart, they are equipped with a job search strategy that includes the essential tools designed to build professional competence and personal confidence throughout the job search process. Alongside the tangible takeaways of a resume, cover letter and strong interviewing skills, participants are completing Career Kickstart with a deeper understanding of themselves, their lives and their motivations.