Reflection on Workshop
One of the great things about peer review is that in the process of reviewing someone else’s work, you can start to pick apart your own which is definitely helpful when I’m making revisions. It was also really helpful to see the different formats that my group members used because it gave me a few ideas as to how I could format my own. After peer review, I’m a little torn on what I should do when I’m revising my résumé. My group suggested that I might want to add a section for my relevant skills, which I definitely see the value in, but since the job is directly related to the field I’m studying, I have a lot of relevant coursework. I’ve managed to fit all of my information on one page without very much white space, and I’m afraid that if I add my skills, I won’t be able to achieve another full page. I think what I’m going to focus on when I’m revising is readjusting my layout so maybe I can add a relevant skills section. I also need to address some minor formatting issues because now that I’ve taken a closer look at my draft, there are a few lines that are really irritating to look at.
Reflection on Process
I’ve learned a lot in the process of writing my résumé. For instance, formatting that is well thought out can make just as much of an impression as any text you could possibly include. In the past, I’ve written résumés that are essentially a list that runs down one side of the page, and I realize now that not only did it look awful, but it gave the impression that I either didn’t care enough or didn’t know how to create a good looking document. One of the most important things to think about when formatting a résumé is how to balance the information so there aren’t any massive white spaces on the page, but also so the reader can easily distinguish one section from another. I had to step outside of my comfort zone for this project because I’m not one to play around with formatting that much. However, I realized very quickly that you can’t just list everything on the page and expect it to look good.
The overall process of writing my résumé went okay. One thing that I struggled with for this project was making major edits while I was writing my workshop draft, which is really weird at this point in my writing experience. When I took English Comp., my goal was to be able to write a rough draft of something without scrutinizing over every word, and by the end of that semester, I’d achieved that goal and I’ve been maintaining it as I continue writing. Something about a résumé though made me so worried about wording that I got inside my own head and forgot that I’d be able to revise. I put a lot of pressure on myself to be specific and concise while also accurately talking myself up, and it kind of screwed me over in the end. This is by no means my group’s fault, but I didn’t get a lot of critical feedback during peer review because I’d treated my first draft as a final draft. That being said, I had a hard time revising my work because, at that point, I thought I was left with minor changes. It took some time, but I was able to make some significant revisions, and at the end of the day, I’m proud of the résumé I created.
