After an internship...

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Theo

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Am I better off leaving past work experience off of my resume if the work was physical type labor- And just leaving the internship experience?

I have been told that companies would throw out the resume if it contained physical work experience, despite the GPA, etc. Others have said it shows good character and exhibits te ability to work hard, etc, etc.

What do you all think of this? Assuming I do have an internship under belt before graduating, should I only list that as the work experience? Or would it not hurt me either way?

Thanks for the help!
 
haha, not quite that bad. But not skilled labor either, so it is pretty low on the job classes.

Overall, when I was 15 I sent out flyers and built a base of around 8-10 people who I did landscaping for (lawns, leaves, gardens, shoveling). I stuck to it. I think it has taught me some valuable business lessons and people skills as well, which is a way it could help me. But could people who see it on a resume think this? Probably not. I venture to say some would laugh, and that is my main basis of creating the topic.

I also worked for a garden nursery during this time as well.
 
I'd say it depends on the employer. It really is a matter of personal preference, but in either case it signals that you don't have much relevant experience, so you're resorting to citing something completely unrelated. If you're so proud of it, put it on.
 
As some of you may know, I'm fresh out of college and fresh off of a long, arduous recruitment process. This is no lie: my roommate, a fellow finance major who had limited relevant work experience, listed on his resume this work experience:

1.) I started my own landscaping company when I was 9 and hired 1 employee
2.) Building construction in the summer
3.) Research Assistant in the biology lab

My 2nd roommate and I laughed this guy out of the apartment. Man, did we ever let our roommate have it about how moronic his resume was and about how prospective employers would throw his resume in the trash.

Well, this guy was offered a half dozen jobs and ended up accepting an INCREDIBLE job at a large bank. He had a 3.6 GPA as a finance major (a near-impossible task at my university). The fact is, employers that recruit on-campus are complete and utter GPA w*hores. If you have a high GPA at a good university within a strong academic major, then your work experience may be irrelevant.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 02:09AM by kkent.
 
"The fact is, employers that recruit on-campus are complete and utter GPA w*hores"

I would be too. If I have 400 CV/Resumes for 10 jobs, taking the top 50 or so by GPA scores or some other objective score gets the list down to a manageable level. Its a no brainer.
 
we are the same way, like it or not there has to be a quick and dirty way to sift through a list of candidates...i guess the GPA thing is one way to get it done. might not be the best way to do things but if you thought about how many resumes we got every day, it might put things in perspective
 
If you're young, you should list whatever work experience you have. I don't quite undertsand kkent's post - They laughed him out of the apartment for listing these things, then he gets a bunch of job offers, but they still conclude that it was because of his gpa? There is another possibility...

Here's the deal - when you are 27, you laugh at jobs like landscaping because you have progressed so far in the last 5 years. When you are 37, you think that landscaping jobs are important because it shows that someone can do hard work (honestly, the hardest I ever worked was stacking bushel boxes of apples into tractor trailers from palettes), can show up for work, etc.. When you're 47, you wish you could go back to landscaping. If you are going to be interviewing with the self-important 27 year old, leave it off. The 47-year old, keep it there.
 
Theo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> haha, not quite that bad. But not skilled labor
> either, so it is pretty low on the job classes.
>
> Overall, when I was 15 I sent out flyers and built
> a base of around 8-10 people who I did landscaping
> for (lawns, leaves, gardens, shoveling). I stuck
> to it. I think it has taught me some valuable
> business lessons and people skills as well, which
> is a way it could help me.

I went to a industry PE roundtable once and the guy from Carlyle commented on how he sees tons of candidates who claim to be interested in the dynamics of the deal, fast pace, innovation etc etc but one of his most impressive hires was a kid who had sold knives door to door, only to become the regional top seller. He said it was more impressive than pedigree because hardly any of the recruits from the typical channels have any evidence of being an entrepreneur, which is the type of mindset he felt was necessary for PE/venture capital.
 
Thanks for the experiences and thoughts on this, everyone. I have a lot more confidence in putting it in there now.

Interesting info, Joey. It makes a lot of sense and I can see why each age of person might have a different mindset.
 
Hi Numi,

I met with a dean back in April with concerns on how important internships were, but at the same time I knew I had to take summer classes to make up for lost credits when I transferred. Overall, the person stated that I could do one in the Spring. She said the people at career services would help me out in the early fall.

Anyways, I had full intentions of doing one in spring of 08' right before I graduated. Sorry if I made it seem like I was in the middle of one. Anyways, I made a post on AF about how a spring internship works, and it seems they have them for accounting and not finance. I am kind of in a tough situation if that is true, although it is my own fault for not looking into it sooner.

I actually have a good older friend who knows a guy high up at Credit Suisse, so perhaps if I am lucky and worse comes to worse I can make it in there for a few months next spring. I am taking the level 1 in December. Just wished I had a better idea of what area I would enjoy best or be best suited for, but that only comes from real experience. Will keep everyone updated.
 
Theo,

don't be afraid to write about those summer jobs. it tells a lot about yourself and as long as everything is consistent, as long as you can explain why you made such a decison at this point of time, you will be fine. i'm sure employers prefer to have someone honnest and determined in front of them rather than someone who loses motivation while facing a problem...

I guess that you won't show that experience anymore when you'll have loads of relevant experience but we all need to start somewhere!! Good luck!!
 
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