Question:
I was an honors student in my junior year of college when
fibromyalgia symptoms became severe enough to interfere with my
studies. I spent a year trying to continue in spite of physical and
cognitive difficulties, but finally acknowledged that I could no longer
do the schoolwork I had once found so enjoyable. After illness forced
me to drop my classes, I spent a decade praying, looking for treatments,
searching for something which would enable me to work or return to
school.
Earlier this year, I finally had a combination of medication and
supplements which enabled me to go to class part-time to get some
training in Microsoft Office programs. Though my attempts to apply for
needed medical benefits, food stamps, and other benefits took much of my
time and energy away from my classes, I have done very well--well enough
that students and sometimes instructors come to me for help with MS
Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, Powerpoint, or FrontPage. Though
fibromyalgia symptoms continue to prevent me from working full-time, I
do believe that I am ready for a part-time job.
Aside from a month spent as an unpaid intern at school, I have no work
experience. I am a 32-year-old woman who has never before applied for a
real job, much less gotten one. So here's the question: What the heck
do I put on my resume?
Oh, I did some babysitting in high school (which I couldn't do now for
health reasons), once was paid to stay with an older man for a few hours
each week to ensure that someone would be there to call 911 if he had a
stroke or heart attack (a lovely job requiring no skills whatsoever),
and volunteered for a while at a food co-op (more work I can no longer
do because I cannot lift so much or stand so long anymore). That's my
work history.
I do have skills not earned in my recent training: I can type 80 words
per minute; I can spell better than 99% of the population on all but my
worst days; I have spent hours upon hours playing with computer graphics
and know I could learn most of the relevant programs quickly simply
because I *enjoy* playing with graphics; and the years I spent looking
for effective treatments have given me some excellent troubleshooting
skills. But in that part of your resume where you're supposed to detail
your work experience, what should I say?
Answer:
You put in your resume about what you put in this post. Helping out in
school and knowing the programs well enough that instructors querred your
knowledge should also be included. Get some of the instructors to write you
a letter of recomendation (submit photocopies). Also include your enjoyment
of working with graphics and if possible show them some of your more complex
work that is not common or taught in class. In a interview be very positive
about learning new software packages easily. Also be willing to take a
typing test to show you can type at a good clip.
Main thing is to modify the resume to each type of job, not hand the same
resume to everyone.
