At some point in your academic life, you’re going to burn out. It happened to me last year, and it was honestly one of the worst things that’s happened to me. It wasn’t just that I lacked the motivation, it was also that I completely lacked the energy to keep myself disciplined enough to work through the rut. Following this, I learned some tricks and techniques on how to avoid it in the future, and how to cope with it if it happens, and I’m going to share them with you below:
Avoiding Burnout
The primary cause of burnout is overworking, and getting stuck in a rut where you really don’t feel like you’re learning anything new, and so your learning experience becomes stagnant. I find that I come closest to burnout when I’m reviewing and revising my notes before a test, and being aware of this helps me to plan for it and avoid burning out. The most important things to do are as follows:
Plan your work and take breaks: I found that I could get 5-6 hours of studying done per day for 80% of the days I had over the holidays, and the key to that was taking regular breaks, and when taking breaks, to completely switch off from learning and revising and stop working when I said I was going to instead of being tempted to continue over the breaks (more on my productive holiday study routine and how to make one here). The key to effective studying is essentially to allow you brain the time to process what you’ve learned, and you need to remember to take breaks during a day of studying, and to take days off whenever you can.
Socialise:This is partly tied to the taking breaks, but if you put yourself in what could be considered a kind of solitary confinement when you’re working, your brain will learn less effectively and get distracted more quickly, and it is also likely to affect your mood. You may notice that the best students also party the hardest, and that’s because they know that they need to counterbalance the hard work with being sociable and doing things that aren’t at all related to work. It boosts your mood, and having the reward of being sociable keeps your brain and motivation fresh.
Physically get out of your study space: Even if it’s to go to a local café, or to go for a walk in the woods, it’s important to get yourself moving every so often, firstly so your brain can get a little bit more energised, but also so you don’t feel physically confined by the space you are studying in, or again you’re going to get demotivated and possibly even reach the stage of burnout. When I feel like this, I tend to either go for a run, or head somewhere where I can practise my cello without disturbing other people, just so my body and brain are physically away from my work for a bit.
Do something you love: For me, this includes doing stuff like playing my cello, but this also means taking a break by watching your favourite film, or drawing, or baking, or whatever makes you happy and really isn’t studying. It’s important also that in your free time (which is different from your break time) you’re doing things like these, and not letting your academics creep in, because you need to set up a mental and physical space where you aren’t constantly running at full speed in academic stuff, because a lack of escape mechanism means you’re going to get stuck in a burnout, which is honestly the worst.
What to do if you burn out
You can tell pretty quickly if you have burnout. If you feel physically and mentally dead, and completely lacking in any kind of motivation or discipline to get yourself to work, then you probably have burnout. I find that my burnout feels like a mental and physically deadness, and my head feels really heavy, like the machinery is all turning, but none of the cogs are making contact with one another and turning, so to speak. If you feel like nothing is working, then it’s important to not keep pushing (I’ve touched on this in previous posts where I’ve burnt out in exam season, but it’s important to crash, take a breath, and start again). Try the following:
Take a huge break: I know this may not always feel possible, but if you take a day off and do absolutely nothing, or at least nothing to do with your studying, your studying will get overall more effective. I took a rest day like this in the middle of my A-Levels (which, for my non-British friends, literally determine if you can get into university), and even though in the back of my mind I was really questioning if this was a good idea, it ended up really boosting my productivity and helping me really get my studying into gear
Scrap your current plan and make another one: I know this also sounds like another terrible idea, but if something isn’t working, you can’t stick with what you’re doing, or you’ll drive yourself further into the ground. Re-plan your study schedule (you can obviously use the previous one as a kind of template) and make sure you have time to take breaks. Also, I find that planning things gives me the motivation to actually go out and do them, so this helps in regaining your motivation.
Seek new perspectives: Talk to other people taking your subject if they’re available to talk. Discuss problems in the subject. Teach each other. This is a kind of group revision where, if you’re not going to get distracted, you can really genuinely learn new stuff and figure out what you don’t know. I found this useful when I couldn’t bring myself to revise on my own because I didn’t think I needed to look over anything more in particular detail, but the person I worked with helped to pick apart the things I didn’t know and helped explain them to me.
Try something new: If you have sufficient time to learn something new on the side, then do it. Find something you’re interested in, and research it further, or learn a new skill like cooking or playing guitar or something. If you burn out without pressure from exams, then learning something new is the perfect way of stimulating your brain back into action, and this in turn will have an impact on how effective your studying is as a whole, thus rescuing you from burnout
If you ever feel yourself burning out, then take action as soon as possible: the more you wait, the more you end up driving yourself into the ground and the harder it is to rescue yourself. A large part of studying that often gets ignored is the impact on your mental health, and if it begins at all to feel overwhelming or is forcing you to burn out, stop what you’re doing and make adjustments. If it gets really bad, then speak to someone, because you can’t constantly work at full speed without some repercussions. Please, please, please, look after yourself and your mental health, as they are a priority over your studying, and a sound mind and body will help you study much more effectively overall.
Literally get into an activity that involves touching things or You. Will. Die.
It can be so easy in this day and age to feel like that’s not an option, and binge culture has made the sickening descent into couch-based isolation and lack of self-discipline not only acceptable but a “fun personality trait” for many. But sometimes, often, you need to give your brain a break from consuming and Create something. You need to give yourself time. To think. And maybe even do something with your hands while your imagination roams free.
I’ve been addicted to social media. I’ve defended social media. I’ve nearly fist fought my parents for trying to take my phone (they were absolutely in the wrong). I’ve had multiple twitters at the same time. I don’t have a twitter anymore. I’ve been depressed, and scared, and wanted nothing more than to escape the ceasless, screaming void that was my life.
Filling that void with the internet did nothing for me. It was help from my oldest sister that did. Her and her husband got me out of my house, taught me how to be a healthy adult, then set me loose.
What does this have to do with hobbies?
My wife has severe seasonal depression. This fall, she is doing amazingly better than usual, and I couldn’t be more proud of her. She picked up sewing in September. Now she spends hours a day working on projects, watching videos, or planning what new dress she can make out of a tablecloth. It gives her mind something to do to take her mind off the cold. It also lets her interact with the winter by taking charge of her fashion and making warm clothes that she likes and has a personal connection to. And at the end of a long project, she always has a new piece of clothing. Something she produced and can take pride in.
It has also helped her relationship with others. In our group of friends, she has already gotten several requests to hem or adjust clothes, which makes her feel very needed and grows a sense of community. [Side note: I love my awesome wife and could gush about her all day] She also watches YouTube videos of clothing makers while working and gets all kind of inspiration from them that she loves to tell me about. When I see the light shining in here eyes my heart fills with the joy she’s found. Plus I got some new pajama bottoms.
I like vegetable gardening. I don’t currently have a garden but I’m working on getting a plot in the town community garden. In the meantime I’ve started following different gardening or nature-centric people on social media, and I’m going to start researching different gardening tips. The plan is to one day interact with other people who share my interests and make friends, but even just now I recognize how happy it makes me to look into those things. It calms my heart and reminds me to be kind.
I also realized I kind of have a knack for building things out of cardboard. First it was a box/jungle for our cat that I made from 12-4am for no reason but I love him, and then a dinosaur for a school project.
So—and this is where it starts getting applicable to your own life—I’m going to ask all my friends for their spare cardboard whenever they get it and I’m just going to make things. Animals. Decorations. Unsturdy shelves. Some of the things I make are probably going to be really crappy, but I’ll also get better as I go on. Hopefully someday when I have money to spend I’ll turn this into actual woodworking. But for now, I have cardboard and a pocket knife, and I’m going to put my grubby little hands all over it and have some fun.
Crocheting? Baking? Painting? Building? Making sculptures out of pipe cleaners? Practicing your handwriting? Scrapbooking? Cutting up all your blankets then stitching them together in different patterns?
It’s not only good but necessary for your mental, emotional, and physical health to take your eyes off of a screen and make your hands do something tactile every now and again. Or even more often than not. But right now, just start something. Anything. You don’t have to show anyone, you don’t have to be good at it as long as it makes you feel good. Looking for ideas or intimidated by how hard something seems? The internet, with all its greedy human pitfalls, is an incredible tool for learning things. Use it for good.
How to have a conversation about a topic you’re not interested in or don’t know anything about:
Listen to what the other person has to say about the topic.
Ask a question about what they said. Asking them to clarify or explain something you don’t understand is great, but any question will do. All else fails, ask them to explain what they like about some part of the topic.
Listen to their responses and go back to step 2.
Do this until 5-15 minutes has passed, then change the subject to a topic of your interest, unless you are actually interested in learning more on this subject, in which case, go on for as long as you like.
Sometimes, they will say something like “I’m sorry to blather on about [topic].” This is an attempt at a conversational dismount. You can either say “no, it was fascinating, thanks” and then bring up your own topic, or you can say “no, it’s fascinating, please keep going” if you want to keep hearing about their topic. Note the tense difference (past -> moving on, present -> keep going).
I just thought I’d write a script for this, because someone who can’t / won’t do this came up in a Captain Awkward column, and listening about topics you have no interest in is a really useful skill to have and not often explicitly taught, particularly to boys and men.
This is really helpful advice for people with adhd/autism because we’re often not great at social skills and holding conversations
Holy shit this bitch be Adulting ™today. I’m gonna apply for some jobs, return something I realized I didn’t want instead of letting sit in my room till the receipt expires, I’m gonna buy some groceries and a new sketchbook! And guess what?! I made a list. Yeah a fucking list. On my phone. And I wrote down my Adult ™goals on a big sheet of paper and pinned it to my bedroom wall. Holy shit my meds are working.
like that sounds intuitive and vague but so much of the day is spent in a period of wait and if you struggle to motivate yourself to do things then this is the best time
waiting for your water to boil? bag up your garbage. waiting for your coffee to drip? wipe down your counters. roommate taking up the bathroom? scoop the cat box. waiting for your food to cook in the microwave? do however many dishes you can while it’s in there.
waiting is the perfect time to do a limited amount of something for yourself where you would be otherwise just standing around doing fuck-all
THIS IS REALLY HELPFUL!
I actually turn this into a game!
“How many chores can I do while the water is boiling for my tea?”
“Can I put away the dishes and wipe the counters before my lunch finishes reheating?”
“Can I sweep the floor AND change the laundry while the dogs are out back?”
You can totally do this! If you make it like a game, also, you will get better at it, and you can be like ‘yes, now I put away the dishes AND wiped out the sink before my water boiled, I am a level 2 Adult!’
It’s also helpful because it reminds you (me) how little time some of these things actually take. “Oh. I can do (X) in the 2 minutes it takes that to heat up in the microwave. I guess it’s not actually a huge overwhelming task that I need to psych myself up for and make Special Elaborate Preparations before I can do it. Huh.”
This is also a super good way to limit the amount of time you spend on something, if there are tasks you tend to over-do, or if like me you have a habit of spending too much time on one thing to avoid doing another thing. I used to help with a dog training class and one of the things we taught our students was in the beginning at least to only do training in short bursts… two or three minutes, high value treats and lots of praise, get the behavior you want once or twice and you’re DONE. People have a tendency when they keep at it for too long to really hammer the dog with the same behavior over and over and be really perfectionist about it and make the whole experience Not Fun At All for their dog, and if you do that over the long term that is super bad. So we’d tell people to only work on training with their dog during commercial breaks. That way there was a definite end time, the dog gets to chill and absorb what you’re teaching while you sit back down and watch your show, you leave them wanting more so they’re eager the next time you jump into it instead of being crabby and over the whole experience, and basically it’s just a win all around.
I can usually manage to clean up at least half of the mess from making food during the waiting parts of the food-making, which is really essential for those days when I’m not braining well enough to actually go back and finish cleaning up later. This way, I at least reduced the mess. I’ve also gotten into the habit of putting away each ingredient immediately after using it, for longer cooking projects, which is useful because it means there won’t be a big overwhelming pile of food to deal with later, and even if I never do any of the dishes at least food won’t be left out to spoil. The only pitfall is sometimes I accidentally engage autopilot and put away things I haven’t used yet and then I have to get them back out…. only on bad brain fog days though.
The other useful thing to do in waiting periods is minor exercise. Just warm-ups and light stretching, but if you’re like me and get bad body aches from sitting weird and not stretching enough, getting in the habit of doing those warm-ups and stretches while water boils or the microwave goes, is super helpful for pain reduction. You could also do a few sets of hand weights or bodyweight exercises in the longer gaps, if that’s your thing.
You could also train yourself to pay attention to your posture and breathing during these gaps. Basically, if you can turn it into the trigger for a healthy habit, like “I just put the kettle on = time to do The Thing”, it’s a good way to sort of trick yourself into self care that you usually forget to do.
For people with anxiety about filing taxes, here’s what things that happen when you make a mistake on your tax return:
- it gets corrected
- you get a letter in the mail either asking for some additional information or a letter showing the adjustment
- you pay the amount (there’s options for payment plans too!) or get a refund
Things that do nothappen
- you’re “in trouble”
- you are charged with fraud
- you go to jail
I know that most people are probably just joking/exaggerating when they say a mistake on their return means they get thrown in jail but when I worked with the public I always would encounter people who believed that would happen and they would be panicking about it. So I like to put this out there every year because if I can even prevent one person from feeling that way, it’s worth it
Also the IRS will NEVER cold call you. If you get an upsetting phone call about your taxes it is a scam.
Hey, so, I work at the IRS, and this is not just accurate, it actively understates how much the IRS is willing to work with you.
Mistakeshappen, and if you submit a paper return, a tax examiner (like me!) will check over your return to make sure numbers are on the right lines, forms are in the right order, and your return is complete. Sometimes that means we finish filling out forms for you, no joke. As long as you made a good faith effort, we do our best to help you.
We even do our best to help people who aren’t filing in good faith, who are actively and blatantly trying to sneak something illegal by us. They get the same treatment as everyone else: we make sure entries are put on the right lines, we fix what forms we can, and adjust impossible deductions the same way we do with typos, even when it’s really obvious a taxpayer is trying to sneak things by us.
There are very few circumstances where returns are taken out of our hands and routed to the serious, ‘scary’ departments, and believe me it is impossible to commit those kinds of fraud by accident. You have to go down some weird aggressive research rabbit holes to commit the kind of capital-F Fraud the IRS gets in a tizzy over.
Point is, the IRS is nowhere near as scary as you’ve been led to believe it is, and the folks that claim otherwise are either rich enough to have an agenda against the IRS, or they’re vanishingly rare statistical outliers who fell through every crack and redundancy in the system.
As for the calling thing, @k-she-rambles is right, hoooo buddy the IRS will absolutely never ever cold call you, our accounts management people are so backed up that it’s a miracle to get one on the line for taxpayers trying to call in. The only way I know of offhand that you’re getting a legitimate call from the IRS is if you’ve received multiple forms in the mail and replied saying that it’s okay for them to call you.
If you ever receive an alarming text, email or prerecorded message claiming to be from the IRS, that is a scammy scam scam, and you can and should report that via contact methods found at the IRS phishing reporting page here.
For people with anxiety about filing taxes, here’s what things that happen when you make a mistake on your tax return:
- it gets corrected
- you get a letter in the mail either asking for some additional information or a letter showing the adjustment
- you pay the amount (there’s options for payment plans too!) or get a refund
Things that do nothappen
- you’re “in trouble”
- you are charged with fraud
- you go to jail
I know that most people are probably just joking/exaggerating when they say a mistake on their return means they get thrown in jail but when I worked with the public I always would encounter people who believed that would happen and they would be panicking about it. So I like to put this out there every year because if I can even prevent one person from feeling that way, it’s worth it
Annual reblog of this important information.
The thingy above where you sign your tax form says that you’ve filled it out to the best of your ability. “Sir, I am a dumbass” is 100% a valid defense
A part of being an adult is living with regret and not allowing it to consume you. The older you get, the more mistakes you’ve made, opportunities you’ve missed, people you’ve disappointed. And every day you have to remind yourself to be kind and forgiving of yourself. You accept and love the you from the past and understand that it’s all a part of the process. Then you move on and live your best life, knowing now as old as you feel today, you’ll never be this young again.
Greetings, Exalted One. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight and friend to Captain Solo.
I know that you are powerful, mighty Jabba, and that your anger with Solo must be equally powerful. I seek an audience with Your Greatness to bargain for Solo’s life.
With your wisdom, I’m sure that we can work out an arrangement which will be mutually beneficial and enable us to avoid any unpleasant confrontation.
As a token of my goodwill, I present to you a gift: these two droids. Both are hardworking and will serve you well.
Polite greeting (Greetings, Exalted One)
Self-Introduction (I am Luke Skywalker)
Establish Credentials (Jedi Knight)
Explain how you learned of this opportunity (Friend to Captain Solo)
Establish Purpose (I seek an audience with Your Greatness to bargain for Solo’s life.)
Show what you can bring to the organization ( I present to you a gift: these two droids. Both are hardworking and will serve you well.)
I highly recommend trying out mending your own clothes when they have holes or tears. Even if you’re totally new to sewing and mending and not skilled at it yet, it genuinely changes how you feel about your clothes. Just trying to darn a small hole in an old tshirt, or trying your best to tidily sew it shut will make it go from being just a shirt you own, to being something you’re maybe a bit proud of. If you do visible mending, it’ll also make whatever you fix up into something unique. It’s a nice feeling.
It really is!
Mending your clothes allows you to take a step back from the mass production and planned obsolescence that rule the fashion industry, and to regain agency over your wardrobe.
When you mend something, you truly make it yourown. That t-shirt may have been produced thousands of times, but the one you own is uniquebecause you’ve infused it with a bit of yourself. That’s something to be proud of, regardless of your skill level!
as with literally everything i write, this got really fucking long! like, wordcounter.net estimates this will take 7 minutes to read. so i’ve placed the bulk of this post under a read more
this is not a quick tips kind of post; this is a detailed breakdown of how to write a resume from scratch, with examples that are largely taken from my own resume. this is primarily a resource for people who don’t know where to start with writing a resume, not for people who just want resume hacks
i’m saying all this so i don’t get people in my inbox complaining about how long this is. writing a resume takes a lot of time and effort, and this post does not shy away from that
creating a resume will take you a while, especially if this is your first attempt. don’t be discouraged! take breaks, and don’t try to make the perfect resume on the first try. this tutorial is designed to be completed in rounds
it usually takes me a week to get a new master resume into working order
don’t worry about page length right now. you should make a multipage master resume that contains every relevant experience before making a 1-page resume. after you’ve made the master, you can build custom resumes from it for job applications
this post is best viewed on desktop, because i use nested bullets, and tumblr mobile hates those
let’s get into it!
step 1:
list out everything you’ve ever done that could feasibly count as a resume entry: extracurriculars, jobs, volunteer positions, research, organizations you were a part of (professional or casual), freelance work, long-term hobbies. i will refer to each different experience as an “entry”
for each entry, write where (city + state) and when (timespan) you did that thing
ex.tritones a cappella group, los angeles, ca, august 20xx - present
going forward, update this list as you join or complete new jobs/hobbies/whatever so that you don’t have to wrack your brain a year down the road wondering how long you held down that job or leadership role
step 2:
describe each entry
use bullet points to list out all the things you did within that role. start with the big picture, then move on to the small stuff
big picture: the goal of the role/organization/research, overarching and long-term projects, what results you were trying to achieve + why
ex. “studied the neuroanatomy and synaptopathy of the inner ear to determine the role of glutamate receptors in hearing loss”
small stuff: literal day-to-day tasks, every software and hardware you worked with, any particularly successful moments
basically, walk through a typical day or week in this role and list out every single thing you have to do, even the grunt work.
ex. “used redcap to administer neuropsychological batteries and collect biological data”
ex. “designed and implemented a novel article format that yielded a 10% increase in audience retention”
if you still have access to the original job posting or a corporate description of responsibilities for your role, pull that up and see how much you can paraphrase from it
no duty is too stupid rn. did you google weather forecasts for your boss every week? write it down. you can make it fancy or choose to delete it later
step 3:
fancify this shit
rewrite your bullet points from step 2 with better jargon. tell your employers what you did in a concise yet assertive manner
it helps to break down each point into its most basic components, which you can then generalize or rephrase
ex. “googled weather forecasts” might become “compiled weekly reports on changing data points to assess weather trends over time”
use action words. you can find resources all over the internet for this, but if you’re still struggling, shoot me an ask and i’ll link some of the resources i’ve used myself
caution: you don’t want to sound like you used a thesaurus on every word. make sure you aren’t obscuring the meaning of your bullet points. “googled weather forecasts” should not become “utilized online databases to assemble weekly communications on meteorological variations”
start thinking about how your responsibilities for each entry relate to a) what skills you want to showcase and b) what the employer wants from you. does the employer want you to demonstrate familiarity with online databases, or does the employer want you to demonstrate familiarity with weather forecasts? your bullet point for “googled the weather” will change depending on the answer to these questions
step 4:
look at the big picture
you probably have a metric buttload of bullet points for each entry. now you need to cut that down to what’s relevant. think about which bullets are most impressive, noteworthy, and descriptive of each entry
aim for 3-5 bullet points. any less than that and you have to ask why you’re including that entry. any more than that and the employer’s eyes will glaze over
try to combine bullet points
ex. “identify content and write articles when necessary,” “maintain a pool of freelancers,” and “identify key graphics and maintain tagging structure when uploading articles” all involve the process of creating an article, so they can be combined into: “identify content, assign stories to freelancers, write articles when necessary, and upload with appropriate graphics and tags”
start thinking about tailoring your word choices and bullet points to what the employer is looking for
if you can, pull up the job posting or a sample resume for the job you’re applying to and compare your resume to it. are you using similar language? are you demonstrating similar skills?
jobhero.com is a lifesaver
finally, eliminate redundancy in your resume, both in every individual entry and in the resume as a whole. if a skill can be demonstrated by multiple entries, you only need to list it once
kill your darlings! it may sound harsh, but the things that seem super impressive to you probably won’t even be a blip on the employer’s radar. “but saying i made coffee runs shows i’m dependable and a team player!” the employer isn’t looking that deep, my dude. you can showcase your dependability in your cover letter or your interview
you should redo steps 3 and 4 several times, soliciting feedback from your parents, peers, career center, etc each time
step 5:
add the Other Stuff
education
typically, you should only include institutions for the highest level of education you’ve attended. (undergrad and grad school both count as college for this purpose)
there are exceptions to this, depending on how long you’ve spent at a higher level of education, whether your alma mater will earn you brownie points, whether you had genuinely impressive accomplishments earlier in your life, etc.
once you hit, like, 2 years in college, you should try to get rid of high school achievements and showcase college achievements instead
list the school name, city + state, degree type (BA/MA/etc) and expected graduation date (even if it’s in the future), your major(s) + minor(s), and any related coursework (ie preprofessional tracks, specific courses related to the job). you can list your gpa if you feel it’s relevant, but i caution against doing this once you’ve graduated
ex. (where // indicates a new line) harvard university, boston, ma, may 2020 // bachelor of arts in cognitive neuroscience // minor: english: focus in creative writing // related coursework: pre-medicine, computer science 101 and 102 // gpa: 3.9/4.0 (dean’s list, all semesters)
skills
a list of items without descriptions. you can do a bulleted list or you can list the entries in paragraph form, separated by commas or bold bullets
hard skills: hardware, software, languages (spoken and programming), digital and communication platforms, social media proficiencies, other technologies and devices
ex. microsoft office suite, java, wordpress, slack, familiarity with ap and chicago style
soft skills: general qualities, buzzwords, personality traits
ex. leadership, conflict resolution, time management
certifications and awards
can be one section or two depending on how many of each you have
list each one on a separate bullet point
for each, write the certification or award, the institution that granted it, and the month and/or year you received it if relevant
publications
tbh i just cite my publications in the following format instead of following a style guide
lastname, firstname. “article or chapter title.” book title, publisher (aka company or website). publication date.
if you’re the sole author, you don’t need to list the author’s name
interlude: stretch the truth a bit. don’t lie about having experience or skills you don’t, but if you can reasonably google how to do something, boom! you’re proficient in it. if you worked with two team members who never pulled their weight? you just became the sole project lead. were you a beta reader for anime fanfiction back in the day? you’re a freelance editor, baby!
step 6:
now you have to organize all the entries from step 4
separate your entries into relevant sections. what’s relevant might change based on what you’re applying for
i’ve had, at various points in my life, some subset of the following sections: work experience, volunteer experience, leadership experience, research experience, writing experience, other relevant experience
list sections in order of descending importance
write all entries in reverse chronological order: start with the most recent and work your way backwards
write all bullet points in order of descending importance. unfortunately, i don’t have any quick tips on determining what’s important, but it helps to look at the job posting and see what matters to the employer
i tend to list big picture goals, then personal accomplishments (leadership skills, projects), then daily tasks
step 7:
format this shit
you can find resume templates online or in your word processor. templates serve as a good starting point, but i recommend creating your own format so you can edit and customize it with ease. this will probably involve a lot of fiddling with indentations, paragraph spacing, and moving things around
don’t go smaller than 10pt font
mess around with line and paragraph spacing to get the right balance of white space. if you’re curious about what i use, shoot me an ask and i’ll share my weirdly specific settings
keep an eye out for bullet points with orphan words (ie lines containing only 1-3 words) and get rid of them to streamline your resume
margins can be anywhere between 0.5″ and 1″
consistency is key! make sure each entry has the same kind of spacing. don’t use hyphens in one entry and en dashes in another
in the header, write your name, email, phone number, and address
interlude: save this version of your resume as your master resume. this gives you an unedited list of everything you ever did that you can now pick and choose from when you apply to jobs. update this list every 3-6 months.
step 8:
customize your resume for the job application
unless you’ve been in the industry for several years, your job-specific resume should be no more than 1 page
if you have more than 1 page: compare the job listing and your resume side by side and ask which entries demonstrate your capabilities most effectively, which bullet points are the punchiest, and if there’s any extraneous info
match each job requirement to one bullet point on your resume. then match each bullet point on your resume to a requirement in the listing. get rid of any bullet points that don’t meet either of those criteria. if multiple bullet points match the same job requirement, get rid of the extra bullet points
if you have significantly less than 1 page: see if you can add more bullet points or reformat your resume to introduce some more white space. a 2-column set-up is great for this, with section headers on the left and bullets on the right. do you have any hobbies you’re forgetting about? any soft skills you could add?
emulate the language of the job posting; use the same action words, the same soft skills
coda
your resume should work in tandem with your cover letter, but that’s a topic for another post. maybe in another 6 months i’ll write a post on that, too
always save your resume as a pdf! you don’t want your employer to have access to your metadata
if you made it through this whole post… i’m so sorry lmao but also thanks for sticking with me
let me know if you found this helpful or if this method scored you a job!
OH MY GOD whyyyy did no one tell me you’re supposed to send thank-yous after interviews?? Why would I do that???
“Thank you for this incredibly stressful 30 minutes that I have had to re-structure my entire day around and which will give me anxiety poos for the next 24 hours.”
I HATE ETIQUETTE IT’S THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE THING FOR ME TO LEARN WITHOUT SOMEONE DIRECTLY TELLING ME THIS SHIT
NO ONE TOLD YOU???? WTF! I HAVE FAILED YOU. Also: Dear ______: Thank you so much for the opportunity to sit down with you (&________) to discuss the [insert job position]. I am grateful to be considered for the position. I think I will be a great fit at [company name], especially given my experience in __________. [insert possible reference to something you talked about, something that excited you.] I look forward to hearing from you [and if you are feeling super confident: and working together in the future]. Sincerely, @mellivorinae
THIS IS A LIFESAVING TEMPLATE
YOU ARE WELCOME
My brother got a really great paid internship one summer. The guy who hired him said the deciding factor was the professional thank you letter my brother sent after the interview.
should it be an email? or like a physical letter?
email, you want to send it within a few hours at max after the interview if you can so it’s fresh in their mind who you are.
Confirmed! I interviewed for a job right after arriving in NY. The interview went incredibly well, and I went home and immediately wrote a thank you letter and put it in the mail. I had a super good feeling about this interview.
I didn’t get the job.
However, a few weeks later, I was called in to interview with another editor in the same company, and I did get that job. I found out later from the initial editor (the one who didn’t hire me) that he had planned to offer me the job, but since I didn’t follow up with a thank you letter, he assumed I didn’t really want it. He offered the job to another contender–but when he got my letter in the mail shortly after the offer had already been made, he went to HR and gave me a glowing recommendation. It was based on that recommendation that I got called in for the second interview.
So: send an email thank you immediately (same day!) after the interview. If you’re feeling extra, go ahead and send a written one too. OR go immediately to a coffee shop, write the letter, and return to the office and give it to the secretary.
Either way, those letters are important.
Pro tip: If you really want HR to develop a personal interest in your application, publicly thank them on linkedin. Just make a short post telling your network about how X recruiter really went above and beyond to make you feel welcome, or about how be accommodating and professional they were, or whatever. Make sure to use the mention feature so they’ll get a notification and see it.
Flattery will get you everywhere… and public flattery that might make its way back to their manager, doubly so.
Obligatory plug for one of FreePrintable.net’s sites: ThankYouLetter.ws. They have a whole section with interview thank you letter templates, and a page with specific tips for interview thank you letters. (There are also tons of other letter templates if you browse around a bit.)
As a former professional recruiter and recruiting manager, I confirm, especially for entry-level positions, where you are competing with oodles of people. This little thing can make a difference. Also the fact that, maybe, you took time to google the “interview etiquette”.
SIGNAL BOOST
The post-interview thank you notes can be a good way to recover in case you got asked a question whose answer you either didn’t know or felt was super weak. So if you follow the above given template, jump in with something like “upon further thought to your question, here’s my revised answer.”
But yeah always send a thank you note after an interview. It’s a small thing but it makes a hell of a difference. And def send thank you messages to any recruiters who may have helped. And also after you get the job. Small things like that really go a long long way.
AAM is an AMAZING resource for all work-related questions. This is a good starting place—basically the Big Questions people tend to have. (And some weirdness.) Job searching, negotiating for raises, performance issues, living through toxicity, recognizing toxic situations, dealing with coworkers, managing people, helpful starting-point scripts for all of the above… Do yourself a favor and check it out!
fucked up how cooking and baking from scratch is viewed as a luxury…..like baking a loaf of bread or whatever is seen as something that only people with money/time can do. I’m not sure why capitalism decided to sell us the idea that we can’t make our own damn food bc it’s a special expensive thing that’s exclusive to wealthy retirees but it’s stupid as hell and it makes me angry
bread takes like max 4 ingredients counting water and sure it takes a couple hours but 80% of that is just waiting around while it does the thing and you can do other things while it’s rising/baking plus im not gonna say baking cured my depression bc it didn’t but man is it hard to feel down when you’re eating slices of fresh bread you just made yourself. feels like everything’s gonna be a little more ok than you thought. it’s good.
bread is amazing and it’s also been sold to us as something really hard to make? Every time I tell someone I made a loaf of bread I get reactions like “you made it yourself???” and “do you have a bread machine then?” I haven’t touched a bread machine in probably 10 years. You CAN make your own bread, folks, and it’s actually pretty cheap to do so. I believe the most expensive thing I needed for it was the jar of yeast. It was about $6 at the grocery store and lasted me MONTHS (just keep it in the fridge.) The packets are even cheaper. destroy capitalism. bake your own bread.
You can also make your own yeast by making a sourdough starter, so that cuts cost even more.
But you have to feed the starter daily/weekly and that means it grows quickly, but there are tons of recipes online for what to do with your excess starter. Cookies, pretzels, crackers, pancakes, waffles, you name it!!
Make it even easier - “No-Knead Bread”. All YOU do is mix the ingredients together and wait until it’s time to heat the oven. The yeast does all the rest.
Here’s@dduane’sfirst take on itand the finished product. We’ve made even more photogenic batches since.
Kneading is easy as well; either let your machine do it, or if you don’t want to or don’t have one, get hands-on. It’s like mixing two colours of Plasticine to make a third. Flatten, stretch, fold, half-turn, repeat - it takes about 10 minutes - until the gloopy conglomeration of flour, yeast, salt and water that clings to your hands at the beginning, becomes a compact ball that doesn’t stick to things and feels silky-smooth.
Here’s what before and after look like.
My Mum used to say that if you were feeling out of sorts with someone, it was good to make bread because you could transfer your annoyance into kneading the dough REALLY WELL, and both you and the bread would be better for it.
Then you put it into a bowl, cover it with cling-film and let it rise until it doubles in size, turn it out and “knock it back” (more kneading, until it’s getting back to the size it started, this means there won’t be huge “is something living in here?” holes in the bread), put it into your loaf-tin or whatever - we’ve used a regular oblong tin, a rectangular Pullman tin with a lid, a small glass casserole, an earthenware chicken roaster…
You can even use a clean terracotta flowerpot.
Let the dough rise again until it’s high enough to look like an unbaked but otherwise real loaf, then pop it in the preheated oven. On average we give ours 180°C / 355°F for 45-50 minutes. YM (and oven) MV.
Here’s some of our bread…
Here’sour default bread recipe - it takes about 3-4 hours from flour jar to cutting board depending on climate (warmer is faster) most of which is rise time and baking; hands-on mixing, kneading and knocking-back is about 20 minutes, tops, and less if using a mixer.
Here ( or indeed any of the other pics) is the finished product. This one was given an egg-wash to make it look glossy and keep the poppy-seeds in place; mostly we don’t bother with that or the slash down the middle, but all the extras were intentional as a “ready for my close-up” glamour shot.
I think any shop would be happy to have something this good-looking on their shelf. We’re happy to have it on our table.
Even if your first attempts don’t work out quite as well as you hope, you can always make something like this…
can we have more posts like this in future please? this is really useful and could help those who are struggling
Perhaps I don’t speak the only language I know so good
So today I didn’t want to deal with public transportation and I wanted a few extra winks of sleep, so send in the Uber.
*Deep breath* so I order my first Uber, I do pool cause you know the environment and I’m being cheapfiscally responsible. The driver is about 9 minutes away and he’s either picking up or dropping someone off. About 5…
