Location: Open Door Shelter
Date: Monday, May 13, 2013; 6:45-8:30 pm
I was delayed at work and had to
hustle to get to the ODS on time.
Eventually the cab dropped me off with a few minutes to spare and I went
inside to see that Claire was there along with another volunteer, Chris, who
would be leading the project alternately with her. Two other volunteers showed up besides Wendy,
who is a Director at Chicago Cares. I
had previously exchanged emails with her regarding other things, but today was
the first time that I was meeting her.
She told the other volunteers that I was famous in Chicago Cares, having
done most of the projects on the calendar.
I said that while I have enjoyed almost all of them, some like 'Garfield Conservatory’, I may not return
to since I did not enjoy the environmental projects. I prefaced by this by saying that ‘Garfield Conservatory’ did have one of
the best Chicago Cares leaders. At this
Claire said, “Hey” and I quickly
added, “Present company excluded”, at
which we all laughed.
Claire said that today we would
be helping the residents develop Resume building skills. We went upstairs and I immediately spotted
Kallie from my last visit and asked her where her ice bowl was. We sat down for the introductions and I asked
Kallie if she remembered what I did. She
said she almost had it and when I said that I worked in the field of energy,
she said replied, “I knew it had
something to do with atoms.” To this
Claire said, “Everything has something to
do with atoms!” I always look
forward to Claire’s ice breakers and today she gave us each a question. We had to go around the room and had 30
seconds to talk with the other person, during which we had to ask them that
question and also answer theirs. Everyone
was ready to begin and I looked at my question, which was “Which is the best book you have ever read”.
The first girl I asked this
question to replied that it was some thriller which she had not finished. She then asked me, “What do you like doing on your day off?” I said that I would probably sleep in and
then would love to spend it with friends.
The next girl had also not read their most recent book completely and
her question to me was, “What event would
you like to visit in the past?” I
said that I was more excited for the future than the past and so couldn't
really think of any at that moment. Next
I got asked what my favorite food was and I said that it was a sandwich since I
could change whatever was in it. The
girl who asked me this said it wasn’t fair and so when in doubt, always go with
chocolate. To this she replied that if I
only ate that, I would be fat. The next
person asked, “What is the one thing that
you are most proud of?” My answer to
this has not changed since December and I promptly replied, “Being Santa’s elf”, referring to my
time doing the ‘Believe’ campaign for
Make-A-Wish. The young man that I met
next said that his favorite book was ‘The
Client’, which is also a movie. I
asked what did he do first, read the book or watch the movie and said, “Good call”, when he responded that he
had read the book first. His question
was, “How do you like spending your free
time?” and while I replied, “Relaxing
on the couch”, I really do not think I would be happy doing just that.
 |
| My favorite book |
The ice breaker was over and it
was time to start the session. I paired
up with a girl, Sylvia and she was completely engaged in the coaching and
conversation; displaying a lot of interest, listening and asking a lot of
questions. She said that she wanted to
do journalism and when I asked in what area, she said either Sports or Healthcare. Next we went through the handout that Claire
had provided and I discussed with her the importance of having a good resume as
the first step in the pyramid of job search.
We went through the various components that constitute a resume and she
was asking me questions such as if it was acceptable to put the line, “References available upon request” in
the resume. I said absolutely not since
it added to no value. If you wanted to
include a reference, do so. Else it’s
just a wasted line and space on a resume is a precious commodity. I repeated my usual spiel on how numbers and
quantification is very important and she understood that. I also said that she should tailor her resume
for the job that she was applying for, specifically including the key words
from the job description.
The fact that Sylvia was
committed could be gauged from the questions that she asked. She inquired about including extra-curricular
activities and I said that it is fine as long as it is relevant to the job or
towards establishing her character. She
asked about Computer skills and I said that she should definitely include those
since all jobs nowadays require the candidate to have those. She said what if she was applying for the job
of a server in a restaurant, why would the computer skills be relevant. I posed a counter-question asking what if the
restaurant has another opening or something comes up soon that requires someone
to have those skills. Now I know this
may seem contradictory since I had told her to only include things relevant to
the posted job, but computer skills is almost a mandatory inclusion. She asked if she should also include a cover
letter in her applications and I said absolutely yes. Cover letter is what gets employers
interested in the resume and a good cover letter can help a lot. One of the mistakes people make is repeating everything
that is on the resume in their cover letter. This should not be the case and
the cover letter should be more specific to the job that they are applying for
rather than recounting the background of the candidate.
.JPG) |
| Now that's a 'Super' resume |
Sylvia was taking notes while we
were discussing and it once again, demonstrated her commitment and willingness
to learn. Claire had given us three resumes
and asked to find mistakes in each. She
could spot those easily, one being poorly formatted, other having an
unprofessional email address of ‘supercutie’
and the third stating that reason for changing previous job was a better
offer! Then we saw examples of good
resumes, one of them being for ‘Clark
Kent’. All of us had a hilarious
time reading it and amongst other things, for his references, ‘Mr.
Kent’ had listed Christopher Reeve, Dean Cain and Henry Cavil! Using these resumes and our discussions as
examples, I asked Sylvia to write down her skills and other activities. I saw that she had a lot of volunteering
experience and while that is great and something that may impress the
employers, I asked her to tone it down if the job she is applying for is not in
a non-profit.
Our time was up and I gave Sylvia my email address in case she had any further questions or wanted me to review
her resume. I have done this in the past
but no one has followed-up. Oh well, at
least I have offered. I chatted with one
other resident who said that his dream job was to be a bartender. Considering he was underage, I thought it was
a stretch and told him that it was not what it seemed and that once he was of
age, he should go and see how much of a hard work bartending really is. My buddy Kallie was nearby and I told her
that since we already had a Resume for ‘Clark
Kent’, she should make one for ‘Bruce
Wayne’ or ‘Peter Parker’. Never at a loss for words, she immediately
responded saying she wanted to do so for ‘Tinker
Bell’. I laughed and said she should
definitely look to Disney for employment.
We left after another great evening and the more I come here, the more I
like this project. Not only do we have a
great leader in Claire, but now I am beginning to meet some fantastic people
at ODS as well. I would have never
imagined this to be true, but Monday’s at ODS has become something for me to look forward to.
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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