Resume Workshops
THE CHALLENGE
Professionalization remains a primary, overarching institutional goal for City Tech, a public New York City technical institution primarily serving students of underrepresented populations (New York City College of Technology-2019-2023 STRATEGIC PLAN). However, after speaking with City Tech’s Professional Development Center (PDC), we learned that many of our students are unfamiliar with the materials required to enter the job market, or worse, hold fixed and often defeated mindsets after being told that their experiences are inadequate in terms of workforce marketability.
In the past, the Writing Center has been asked to host resume-writing workshops to address this professional gap. Unfortunately, traditional synchronous workshops held at a commuter campus often yield disappointing results: minimal attendance, limited follow-through, and barely any traction.
OUR SOLUTION
Our team of adjuncts, PTW graduates, tutors, and former business consultants experimented with creative usage of generative AI as well as with design concepts borrowed from product development and engineering frameworks to remix “traditional” workshop formats. Our goal was to increase student confidence around resume writing and expand students’ perspective on what constitutes “experience” when beginning to craft their resumes.
In the 1.5 hour interactive workshop we designed, students worked in groups to complete two “missions” for our characters:
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Reviewing and critiquing resumes to help Kelly, the HR recruiting manager of a company
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Helping a potential applicant, Alia, write resume bullet points and translate real-life experience into lines on a resume
We also incorporated tools developed and sourced from the PDC to increase student familiarity with other on-campus resources focused on professionalization.
THE OUTCOME
After conducting these workshops over the course of the Spring ‘24 semester, the results were clear: enthusiastic feedback from 65 students and sustained conversations about writing and professionalization with our Writing Center tutors. 100% of students polled indicated that the workshop was both relevant and useful for them, rating it either a 4/Good or a 5/Excellent overall. This modern approach, which incorporates unexpected elements of fun, grabbed our students’ attention, helped them step out of their fixed mindsets, and encouraged meaningful personal exploration.
Adopting these new workshop approaches also allowed us to surpass our resource limits and overdeliver to our student population. We have discovered that it is possible to transform the pressure-filled and anxiety-inducing task of resume writing into an activity filled with creativity, possibility, and hope. Given enough administrative and project resources, Mission: Resume has the potential to expand into a professionalization workshop series, including cover letter and interview skills for students in ALL disciplines.
"This workshop has helped me very much… I learned what I can do with some skills and ways I can gain more skills."
- Student feedback
"Now I can use this info that I learned to write my own resume and/or help other people I may know to figure out how to start or update their resume(s)."
- Student feedback
“I just wanted to let you know how much my students enjoyed and benefited from the workshop... The ‘game’ set-up and activities were notably engaging, fun, and very informative. Even I hadn’t thought of reviewing text messages for work-applicable life experiences. Pretty cool! More! (I’d love the WC to do a traveling mock interview show, too – so we could see Kelly and Alia in action!)”
- Professor feedback
"I found, seeing as a hiring manager, eye opening.”
- Student feedback