On Jan. 31 students met with local industry professionals to receive feedback on the formatting, content and course translation of their resumes during the Grand Valley State University Career Center’s resume review workshop. The workshop is held each month. 

Although the companies being represented at the workshop vary from month to month, students were able to meet with a wide variety of businesses. 

The companies in attendance were Consolidated Electrical Distributors, Inc., JR Automation, Northwestern Mutual of West Michigan, Peace Corps, Samaritas and the YMCA of Grand Rapids. 

Students and the represented companies were both able to benefit from the workshop. Students who attended received constructive evaluations of their first impressions from future employers, while the companies that attended connected with prospective future employees. 

This also allowed businesses to promote their employment and training opportunities to students they connected with. 

A GVSU career advisor Kristie Scanlon said there are many benefits to attending these workshops. 

“Part of engaging prospective employers on this is to make them less scary (to students),” Scanlon said. “Naturally, there’s a sort of anxiety when you go to an interview, and practicing makes everyone feel better and makes the process feel less intimidating.” 

The Career Center built the event around students’ busy schedules. 

While the event spanned about four hours, it was broken into time slots in order to accommodate other responsibilities of students. 

Those who wished to attend could sign up for as many 10-minute slots with industry representatives as they chose. 

Scanlon said the speed at which students received feedback was one of the main affordances of the event. 

“Every time you practice interviewing or have someone review your resume, you’re getting immediate feedback,” Scanlon said. “But I think what students benefit from is the confidence boost, and being able to say ‘Hey, I just did this practice interview with an employer and they gave me really positive feedback.’”

The Career Center will be hosting another Resume Review Workshop on Feb. 18 from 12-2:00 p.m. 

At this workshop, there will be representatives from D.A. Blodgett, Deksia, Deloitte, FWF, Herman-Miller, Penske Truck Leasing, Sherwin-Williams and Specialty Tooling Systems. 

Some employers will be promoting full-time jobs and internships within the company. 

There will also be a workshop held on March 28, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for those who cannot attend February’s event. 

As this workshop is being held closer to spring graduation, it could be one of the last chances many students have to receive feedback before applying to jobs post-college. 

In addition to these workshops, the Career Center offers resume, cover letter and personal statement reviews with the career advisors by appointment year-round. 

Career advisors also offer mock interviewing services and application reviews for jobs and graduate schools. 

Students who are interested in feedback from peers can drop in for advising at the Career Lab. 

Students can visit the link for further information about the Career Center opportunities or on the Resume Review Workshops.