5 Ways to Start Building Your Child’s Resume
It’s true that most children don’t get real work experience until high school. However, they should learn how to create a resume long before that. In fact, many adolescents seeking their first real job struggle to find one because they don’t have a resume and don’t know how to build one.
Instead of waiting until the need arises, parents can help children boost their future careers by fostering activities that look good to future employers – and teaching them how to include them in resumes from an early age.
Below, we’ve put together a list of 5 ways parents can help children get interested in employment and create their first resume:
1. Teach them the purpose of a resume
The first step is to explain to children why a resume is so important. Start by explaining that the ultimate goal of a resume is to show a potential employer why you’re a good fit for a job. However, parents should then explain other uses for resumes that children can more easily relate to. For example, a resume can be used to apply for high school jobs to earn extra spending money. They can also be used for college scholarship applications. These reasons often make more sense to children, and can help show them the importance of starting a resume early.
2. Help them understand what to include
The next step is teaching children what work experience, education, and skills to include on their resume. While most children don’t have much in the way of traditional work experience, they do have plenty of other experience. Include things like volunteer work, babysitting, helping a neighbor rake leaves or mow the lawn, or starting a lemonade stand.
Next, teach children that the skills they develop are just as important as the experience they have. As they list each experience, have them assign skills that they applied, like responsibility, decision-making, leadership, and communication. This helps children learn how to sell work experiences as marketable skills, rather than just as a list of tasks.
Finally, don’t forget to include a section about education. Did your child take advanced courses or any specialized tests? They should also include awards and any academic organizations they participated in.
3. Incentivize them to build up their experience
Start teaching children the importance of building up their resume at an early age paying them a small amount for chores around the house. Teach your child to develop a pattern of taking on more responsibility and increasing their willingness to learn new things – and then include these things in a “mock” resume, even if it’s just helping you with the dishes or making their bed.
4. Use kid-friendly resume builders
Starting a project without proper preparation isn’t fun – for kids or adults. That’s where an online resume builder designed specifically for children can help. Sites like CareerKids and Teaching Kids Business can help children build out their resume by asking them questions and having them fill out pre-set resume formats.
5. Keep it updated
Finally, remind your child that work experience is most important for the skills developed and lessons learned. A resume is simply a way to formally display your experience and skills to others. That said, an out of date resume is of little help. Set a time period, like the beginning of every school year, to review your child’s resume with them. In addition to updating their resume, identify skills or activities that children can participate in during the school year which can be added to their resume next time.
Do you help your children with their resumes? At what age do you start?
Abby Perkins is Editor in Chief at Talent Tribune, a Software Providers blog dedicated to jobs, workplace culture and HR solutions.