Many students choose to pursue a career during their studies or during the summer. These are usually small jobs in catering, entertainment, private lessons, etc. Jobs in various fields are often completely unrelated to the student's specialty. Such experiences can generate income for the young person and allow them to immerse themselves in the reality of the job market, but how can they be highlighted on their CV and turned into real assets for the application?
Student jobs, a step towards working life
These small jobs are a first step in facilitating immersion in the world of employment. Young people can learn a lot, particularly regarding organization, relationship management, punctuality, a sense of responsibility, etc. These are all qualities to present judiciously on a CV! Such professional experiences develop young people's non-cognitive skills and teach them better time management and more perseverance. In addition, they boost their confidence and self-esteem. Jobs that promote multitasking and also develop stress resistance. These are all important elements for integrating into the world of work. Recruiters will appreciate a hardworking, motivated, and resourceful student. They prefer profiles that demonstrate adaptability and responsiveness.
Tips for promoting student jobs on a CV
To highlight the experiences accumulated in student jobs, it is important to highlight the skills acquired in each of them and which constitute real added value for the targeted position. This involves highlighting interpersonal skills, customer contact, stress management , responsibility, etc. Qualities that are highly sought after by recruiters.
It would be more judicious to draw up a small table with one column presenting the job and a second column for the skills acquired in this job. Then, simply cross-reference the skills with those required for the position to be filled to emphasize them.
It is also important to present the concrete results achieved for each type of work. Whether it is the contribution to increased sales, the reduction in complaints, the increase in customer traffic, etc. It is important to be able to highlight your contribution to achieving the objectives set by the company or structure.
It is important to never devalue any experience. By choosing to list a job on their CV, the student believes they can contribute something to the application. It is important to keep in mind that recruiters do not expect a young student to have significant experience. Therefore, you should not feel embarrassed by a job or devalue the experience. Therefore, you should avoid negative terms when describing the student job , whether on your CV or during the interview.
It is also important to particularly value experiences requiring specific training to be followed in parallel with studies. This could be a certificate of aptitude for the functions of animator, first aid training or other. This attests to the student's motivation and commitment.
Young people should highlight longer-term experiences on their CV. When sorting through them, they should keep the most significant ones. These will show the recruiter that they have had enough time to integrate the skills they have acquired.
Finally, a young student should always anticipate the type of job likely to provide them with an additional skill. This will be useful in an internship or job search, and they can easily highlight it to strengthen their CV.
