<p>And basically all your wage jobs have been fast food companies... should you exclude them, e.g. when applying to Merck, or Sigma-Aldrich? (Or various other biotech companies?)</p>
<p>I'm quite embarrassed actually -- I was thinking of omitting that from my work history but then I'd have gaps in my work history and I'd have nothing to replace it with ... except unpaid positions...</p>
<p>I think it’s pretty understandable for a college student to have short-term jobs (retail, food service, etc), they’re not really going to hold it against you. They’re also probably not going to care that you have gaps in work.</p>
<p>If you’ve done unpaid work that shows that you’re dependable, a good employee, whatever, then it’s worth putting on your resume. Relevant experience is relevant experience. Not like my wage affects how well I pipett.</p>
<p>Just put down whatever work is most valuable to the job you’re trying to get–unpaid or not. If you need to put down a low wage/unrelated job to prove that you have work experience or as a possible reference, then do it.</p>
<p>Why wouldn’t you put unpaid work on your resume? If you weren’t getting paid and didn’t intend to put it on your resume, what the hell did you do it for!?</p>
<p>lol twistedxkiss </p>
<p>funny side note, thats the exact and only mentality high school and college students seem to have involving research and charity anymore lol. nobody really does those things purely to help others or research for knowledge’s sake.</p>
<p>(if anyone calls me out for generalizing, i’ll choke you)</p>
<p>Well, you did say “exact and only.” 
In the interest of defending my character, I volunteer at the humane society for the puppies, I volunteer for Organizing for America for my resume. Although I am really loving OFA, I think I’d do it anyway.</p>
<p>since i decided that i want to shoot for grad school, i’ve been doing research, becoming leaders in certain organizations and creating connections solely to get in grad school. I feel rather hollow.</p>
<p>Its just a new experience…but if i want to keep up in this cut throat individualistic culture, i best keep getting ahead for status’s sake…or maybe i could move to calcutta, india and live amongst the desolate dying and poor…maybe…</p>
<p>What do you do about jobs (paid and unpaid) that you only start this semester? These are a little bit more relevant (being an undergrad TA, being a paid research assistant for narcotics research in the university hospital). </p>
<p>I’m likely to be only a few weeks into them when I submit the bulk of my applications.</p>
<p>When you are listing your work history you are supposed to list the jobs you currently have 1st (even if it only has been a few days or a month since you first received the job)</p>
<p>Here’s the standard procedure for a resume:
Name
(Contact Info)</p>
<p>Objective (insert objective here, i.e. to get a job in _____ for ____ purpose)</p>
<p>Education</p>
<p>Work Experience (list paid and unpaid jobs/internships here)
Company ABC. January 2010-Present
-did ___
-compiled ____
-organized ____</p>
<p>Research Experience 123. December 2009-Present</p>
<p>Fast Food Restaurant XYZ. February 2009-November 2009</p>
<p>Fast Food Restaurant CDE. March 2007-May 2008</p>
<p>Related Experience (list volunteer work/clubs/relevant activities here)</p>
<p>Skills (list computer, language, etc etc)</p>
<p>Well yes, that’s what a resume is supposed to look like… but umm I just think my current work history looks weird, and not in a good way…</p>
<p>you’re a college student. Why would you have more experience? You have to start somewhere.</p>
<p>I got a paid position at a well-funded and established lab with a resume that looked pretty similar. You really aren’t in bad shape.</p>
<p>I worked at partyland, day by day calendar company, the humane society, and now i am interning with organizing for america. My work history is pretty weird, too. XD But I have been getting really good feedback on my resume anyway.</p>
<p>When you list any relevant experience or even work experience that shows you are reliable and as well show them that you can work in diverse settings, it can only help you. Use those experiences to your advantage and tell the interviewer how those experiences contribute to your strengths. Just keep throwing those resumes out there if the first one doesn’t succeed.</p>
<p>
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<p>I went to a horrible blue collar high school, where 50% of the graduating class went to community college and where the dropout rate was like 25%. I’m not joking. </p>
<p>Let’s just say I’m really really really extremely jealous of the people from TJ or magnet high schools who did big fancy research projects and already have prestigious work experience earning 20 dollars an hour being interns at big biotech companies their first year. And there are so many of them from my current school alone. And how am I supposed to compete? 
</p>
<p>Life is so unfair. I hate my home state. The governor and the legislature (which btw, is 100% white-dominated) make taxes extremely high so no biotech companies want to go there, but my state can’t even fund a proper public education system with its high anti-business tax rates.</p>
<p>I don’t even have anything from high school on my resume anymore. In fact, I often only even include where I went to high school if I am applying someplace local and I want them to know I grew up there, for summer jobs at mom and pop places they seem to appreciate that. I have done a hell of a lot of resume building since college started just from playing into my interests, and actually most of it has been in the last few months. I accomplished nothing in high school and graduated with >3.0. High school definitely doesn’t need to hold you back for long at all.</p>
<p>I know plenty of people, myself included, who get good positions in labs without having done research in high school. I also went to a poorly funded public high school with high drop out rates, but playing the victim isn’t going to get you anywhere. Having missed out on a year or two of doing research in high school isn’t going to matter in the long run. </p>
<p>Employers do not expect everyone to have done research in high school, as it’s a pretty small group who do it (and yes, most of them come from magnet schools or from families with connections in labs). Here’s a shocker, people are always always going to have unfair advantages, and sometimes you get the short end.</p>
<p>Your work experience is pretty normal for someone your age, and there’s nothing you can do to improve it except to apply for better positions. So put together your resume, send it out, make yourself look presentable, and go for it. I’ve worked in 3 labs over the past 4 years (one at a top biotech firm and now at a medical school) and your resume doesn’t look much different than most of the undergrads I’ve worked with in research.</p>
<p>And yes, someday, like mentioned above, you won’t even have high school work on your resume, and no one will care what you did as a 17 year old.</p>
<p>I had a horrible summer of 2009. (Thanks, recession.) Now I feel like I’m going to be constantly behind on every opportunity because of it =(</p>
<p>Help! Is there any way to cover it up or make up for it!</p>
<p>I wasn’t able to work at all from end of freshman year until beginning of junior year, because there were no opportunities at the college I was attending at the time and I couldn’t find any outside work, none at all. Didn’t hold me back once I got to my new school.</p>
<p>You need to focus less on the bad and more about how to present the good parts of your resume in the most effective way possible. You aren’t doing yourself any favors thinking the way you are now.</p>