Learn All Year Long
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Writing a First Resume
|Grades||9 – 12|
|Activity Time||Two to three hours (can be done over several days)|
Both over the summer and during the school year, many teens are interested in getting a part-time job or taking part in volunteer activities that will help build their work experience. This activity will help teens create a professional resume that effectively presents their skills and talents to future employers. Through this activity, teens will develop their own resume so that they'll be ready when that perfect summer or after school job comes their way.
Because of the range of writing teens do-from very informal communication with peers to more formal writing in school and other settings-they need to be aware of the special requirements for resume writing. After all, the potential financial rewards of resume writing are different from most writing teens engage in, and the real consequences of an effective resume can be motivating to teen writers. Teens will learn why resumes are an important part of the job application process and by working through the process of creating their own resumes, they will learn how to read a job ad carefully, format a resume, and tailor their resume to a job ad by using professional language.
This activity was modified from the ReadWriteThink lesson plan "Help Wanted: Writing Professional Resumes."