I come away from the two readings on resumes with very mixed emotions, having been encouraged by a decent amount of what I had read, but also nervous, as I assume most other people are when they have to compile a list of their life's achievements on a piece of paper only to find that it wasn't quite as impressive as they might have expected.
Confirming that a resume need only be a page long for undergraduates and recent graduates was a bit of a confidence boost, knowing that I only have about 10 inches of space I need to fill. Also reassuring was that any work experience, even if not field-relative is still experience and can be a benefit as it can show the types of tasks you can accomplish successfully. But at the same time there's the dueling emotion that in a job market such as this, achievements, however numerous or relative can always be exceeded by another candidate.
And that's when that same piece of paper that you thought it would be so easy to fill starts to look exceedingly long. It sprouts a few inches taller in your mind and all of a sudden the things you have accomplished, the skills you have, it suddenly seems like the years you've spent doing what's on the paper can't measure up. I'm nervous to give a resume to a potential employer. Everybody always is but I'm exceptionally nervous because despite my skills, my experience, my education, my drive, in the end the first impression these people get of me is a piece of paper. I'm not sure I like that my ability to meet them in person all relies on how I come across in tiny little 12 point font that might not even stretch the length of a
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