Let me preface this with the fact that I am not the smartest person in the world, nor am I close.
However, when I was in high school and seeking after school/weekend employment, I certainly did not commit the following crimes:
*walk in wearing jeans that are tattered and torn
*have crazy hair
*wear flip flops
*chew gum
*say "
umm"
*look at the floor while speaking
*come in on the phone, ask for an application while I put the phone down, accept the application, pick the phone back up and continue talking while walking out of the establishment
When I turned in an application and resume:
*I used spellcheck
*I read over the documents to make sure everything was spelled correctly
*I did not cross out words using a pen and turn it in with the crossed out words
*I did not submit a resume on paper that had a "page 1 of 1" or
url at the bottom of the page
If I was seeking a donation from a business for a club that I was a member of:
*I handed the manager a letter from the sponsoring teacher that had a current date on it
*I explained what the club would be using the donation for
*I did not just waltz into the establishment and say "could you give us money for
xyz"
Perhaps I'm old fashioned and conservative but the future of America scares me.
I happen to work in an industry in which high school students ranging in ages 15-18 and college students ranging in ages 18-22 hope to seek employment. However, I have a hard time taking someone seriously when they submit resumes with multiple spelling errors, are unable to formulate a correct sentence, submit resumes and applications that look like they've been chewed by the dog and/or are not "properly" dressed.
Hoodies and frayed jeans, baseball hats,
tshirts and flip flops are just not proper "job seeking" items of clothing.
In high school I remember my Honors English teacher freshman year explaining to the class the proper way to make a first impression because after all, you only have one chance to make a first impression. I remember being instructed and guided through the resume building process freshman year so
that I could update my resume throughout high school. It was a tremendous help once college application/scholarship season came around to have that continually updated piece of paper. Kids these days text too much and speak in what I like to call "160 character limit" and frankly, that's not going to cut it in the workplace. At least I hope it won't. But I really hope parents and teachers alike start to teach students how to apply for jobs, how to compose their resume and how to conduct themselves when
they are seeking employment. Learning those skills young will certainly help them throughout high school, college and beyond...or at least I think so!
And completely not related to my kids these days rant but still humorous and worth sharing.....
I had a female customer tell me at the register that I was a very nice young lady and she liked the way I dress so I would make a great match for her son. REALLY?! Yea, definitely turned 1000 shades of red. Can we say AWKWARD! :)
