• Some popular activities that I've seen students experiment with: tutoring younger students, learning to program, volunteering at a hospital, getting involved in other community based non-profits (food bank, senior centers, etc.), new sports, new instrument, school clubs (or starting one!).
• Really let interest and enjoyment lead the way in exploring the different activities.  While you don't want to quit after the first meeting, you also don't want to stay beyond your true interest's expiration so that you can dedicate more time to activities that you truly enjoy into the next few years.

10th grade:

• Start sifting out the activities that are not worth the time that's put into it; for example, many times sports fall into this category where the love or skill level of the sport won't outweigh the 12+ hour commitment per week a school sport requires
• Consider moving into entry level leadership for the activities that you're in.  This might look like taking on a treasurer or secretary role at a school club or taking on larger projects at a non-profit or coaching younger athletes of the same sport.  Leadership doesn't have to be traditional, there are lots of ways to have big impact without a title (just as there are individual contributors and many industries that are very important such as within the engineering world).  This might look like starting or vastly increasing success in a fundraising for a club at school or taking on full responsibility for a sensor project for a new robot in your robotics team.

11th grade:

• This is when you might narrow down even further and deepen interests and increase leadership in the activities in which you're involved.  This will look different for each person and each activity.  For a cellist that might mean taking on first chair, coaching younger students, teaching private lessons to younger musicians, and competing more frequently.  For a school club member, that might mean taking on VP or Presidency 11th or 12th grade, starting new projects/ideas for the club (new fundraiser, new ways for the group to be more productive in its goals), or train new members to take on a leadership role you might be leaving in order to take on a bigger role.

Summers:

• Don't waste them!  Do something with them.
• Consider deepening interests in one of the activity areas you most enjoy.  For example, if you love to volunteer at the hospital, consider looking into summer programs that help children that are hospital bound or look into shadowing a doctor.  Or, if you are a swimmer, consider taking a life guard course or exploring other water sports.
• If applicable, summers can be a time to explore possible future careers.  If you're interested in becoming a dentist (as I was growing up!), you can ask a local dentist how you can volunteer in their office and learn more about what their day looks like.
• Of course, there are incredible summer programs put together for various activities (science research, robotics, math, writing, music).  The general rule of thumb for these programs is, the less it costs, the more its worth on a resume (typically because the more competitive it is to be part of).  Typically, these programs will have applications open during the winter of the school year prior and are great practice for future college application essay writing.

Here at Lucent Education, we must take it for granted that there are some pretty straightforward principles around resume formatting.  It's a fairly easy and fun design task for us to work off of your current formatting (usually) and keep your stylistic flavor while modernizing - there are rare cases when we totally revamp the resume formatting.  Here are some tips that go a bit beyond the general template of a resume:

• Margins - don't make them too narrow since sometimes the resume is still printed out, so at least half an inch on each side
• Still need to be able to read it - so 10 pt font is the absolute smallest!
• Check alignment of the dates - easy to check for, but typically missed; important because it's easy to spot and looks sloppy if misaligned
• Need more space?  Try changing a line to 5 pt font instead of a full space when you're between sections
• If you have 2 pages, be sure to number them on a footer (and to put your name there, too, in case the pages get separated)
• Many people are still using Times New Roman - time to update that to a more modern font like the standard Calibri or Calibri Light
• Generally, up to about 10 years, you can fit your resume onto one page - unless you've had some amazing experience that merits 1.5 pages

Don't forget, read your resume as if you're a recruiter.  It only needs the information on there to get you that interview (and sometimes for a hiring manager to see your experience further back).  So, it sometimes hurts to cut out pieces of your work history because you lived it (and it was important!), but the resume isn't where you dictate your entire life's work; it's a personal marketing tool to help you get an interview.

Good luck!

With the new year, many are thinking about what they'd like to accomplish for the year.  Eating and living healthier.  Strengthening relationships with friends.  Spending more time with family.  And of course, what to do about a job that you're ready to move on from.

So, here are a few resume refreshing tips to get you started...

• Formatting - this still matters as we bring resumes to interviews and pdf the document to send to companies.  Try updating the font as a start.  Many of our clients are still stuck in Times New Roman.  Calibri gives a resume a quick and easy modernization.  Another check on formatting is to be sure each section and sub section is consistent including: dates are aligned with each other, titles are formatted in the same way, and bullet points are in alignment.
• Content - focus on accomplishments.  Most people have all the tasks that they're responsible for already on their resume.  What are the top 3 accomplishments you're most proud of in that position?  Articulate it and include numbers to help quantify the scope.
• Copy edits - typos are a big no no.  Your resume represents you as a professional.  Typos and grammar mistakes will signal to a recruiter that you are not serious about the position or as a professional.  A good way to check for typos and other grammatical mistakes is to read each line of your resume start with the last line - helps to mix up that revision fatigue.

The look and feel of a resume is sometimes just as important as the content itself.  There are circumstances in which large companies will convert the content to a generic format.  In those cases, the formatting is totally void.  However, you're likely applying to multiple positions at different companies, in which case, formatting is the first thing someone would notice about the resume.  Here are few key pieces to look at when re-formatting your resume:

• Does it feel crowded?  If so, put some spacing between sections of the resume.
• Does it have a uniform look?  If not, be sure to have titles consistent, bullet points in alignment, section headers in the same font and font sizes, etc. 
• Are the margins consistent?  What about areas where you indent bullet points or titles?  
• Be sure to check on font size consistency for each section; also check for font consistency, especially if you copy-pasted any content from other sources.
• Also, check the resume at a glance without look at the content - does it look clean, modern, organized?  Or does it feel cluttered and/or messy?  Continue to work on margins and spacing if it still feels crowded.

A lot of high school juniors (3rd year students) already have plans to visit colleges that are of interest to them and have perhaps even narrowed down the potential schools down to around 20.  However, what I hear a lot from both parents and students is what else is there even to do before the applications are out in the Fall?
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My answer: a lot!  This is the time to get all of the hard leg work out of the way so that essays are easier to write, information is easier to input, and stress levels are down for the Fall when you juggle school work, sports, extra-curriculars AND the application process.

The first big project that you can work on is the resume process – peruse some of the resumes you find online for both content and visual appeal.  Then take a hard look at your high school career AND your accomplishments throughout your life time.  A lot of your current involvements in school might have started from much earlier than high school.  For example, you may have been playing soccer since the age of 5, and now you’re the co-captain of your high school team.  This extra piece of information gives the resume reader a better picture of the type of dedication you have to the sport or activity.  Also, be sure to include activities that you intend on completing during your last year of high school.

The resume process is ongoing as it’s a working document.  So, have a few trusted friends and adults help you think about any holes you might be missing and how to best word your activities, leadership experience and awards.  But, do not finalize and leave it there untouched as you continue with the rest of your application.  Conversations with friends, family, and teachers might spark memories of an important project or competition you may want to showcase.  Continue to revisit it periodically until you are ready to submit it to the colleges.

The resume is a great place to start for the application process as it has obvious practical purposes as well as a good reason to start thinking about your own history and accomplishments.  This will segue into the next few projects that you can work on as a junior in high school to help prep for the application process: brainstorming pieces of your life that you’d like to make sure are highlighted in your final application, mock interviews, and approaching teachers about recommendations.
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Look out for more blog updates on preparation for the college applications!