Elena Adkins

Résumés as Creative Non-Fiction  Crafting a Version of the Truth  Crafting a Visual Representation of Identity

Crafting a Version of Truth  A résumé is an advertisement, a persuasive document with a clear purpose and a specific audience  Start with your audience and purpose rather than a template  What does this process look like?

Tasks or Skills?  Volunteer assistant teacher for an ESL class  Assessed and solved problems on site and in a time-sensitive setting  Volunteered to teach ESL students, engaging on their level and remaining focused on individual needs and cultural backgrounds

Tasks or Skills?  Ran training sessions  Prepared and facilitated training sessions for new and current employees  Developed training activities focused on meeting company standards and expectations

Audience-Focused Organization  Do you need…  An Objective?  Your GPA?  Work Experience?  Activities?  A Skills List?  A Course List?  It depends on the story you want to tell.

Crafting a Visual Representation of Your Identity  Résumés and Design

Focusing a Résumé

Reading a Résumé  How will your audience read your résumé?  Fast  Skimming  Looking for Specific Information  So…make it easy for them to read  Craft groupings of information that are logically based on what an employer want s to see  Consider different grouping options to determine the most effective

Crafting a Visual Identity  When designing your résumé, consider:  Use of white space  Use of fonts (size, weight, readability)  Use of bullets  Use of font alterations (bold, italics, underline)  Use of lines and borders

What did you notice?

What does all this mean for you?  You are crafting a version of the truth about yourself—your resume is an advertisement  You have to consider who will be reading your resume and how they’ll be reading it.  Your resume needs to be a persuasive argument developed for one reader/one job.  You have a great deal of freedom within the form; don’t limit yourself to a template.  Just because you CAN do it doesn’t mean you should; resumes are elegant and subtle.