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Are you bored in quarantine? Do you feel as if you’re missing out on all the exciting opportunities you had planned for this summer or fall? Even if you’re stuck at home, I have a few things you can do to boost your résumé!
Online volunteering
One of our bloggers, Sofía Martinez-Murillo, wrote a fantastic post containing four ways to volunteer online. The best thing is you can do all of this from the comfort of your couch or your bed. You can help the elderly, aid those with disabilities or create your own volunteer opportunity. There are also many possibilities to volunteer just looking inside UT Dallas. Student volunteerism the Division of Student Affairs has an exclusive section for Online Volunteer Opportunities, too.
Take free online classes
There are lots of different courses online that you can add to your résumé. Through Google’s Digital Garage, you can earn your certification in the Fundamentals of Digital Marketing. There are also online Harvard Classes that cover an array of technological topics. I’m in the process of earning my digital marketing certification, and I’ve found that it’s helping me learn even more about my major!
Update your LinkedIn
Thanks to quarantine, you now have plenty of time to update your LinkedIn profile. You can update your bio, add new connections and make sure all relevant skills and certifications are listed. Be sure to include a summary on your profile, too. Think of it as your generic cover letter to future employers. Remember, there are always things you can revise and improve.
Learn a new skill, any skill
Research jobs you want to apply for or places you’d like to work in the future and the tasks you might have to take on in those roles. What skills do you need to perform those tasks well? Take some time to learn these new skills and/or improve upon them. Pro tip: Take note of the common job responsibilities or tasks you see across multiple positions and start there first. You want to bring all possible skills to the table to put yourself above other candidates.
Learn to code
A great resource to help you learn the basics of JavaScript is Grasshopper, a website that helps teach you how to code in a fun yet straightforward way. You can download the app on your phone and do a little bit each day. There are eight foundations of JavaScript that Grasshopper teaches. It’s smart to be familiar with web coding language. JavaScript helps web developers create interactive websites and apps.
Join a club or organization
I implore you to join a club or organization on campus. If you head to the Student Organization Center page on the UTDallas website, you can search for any club you can imagine. You can also check out the Jindal School Student Organizations as well. Taking part in extracurricular activities shows someone reading your résumé what your interests are and that you are willing to invest time in what you want.
Join JSOM Social
Lastly, you can always join the student JSOM Social Team and start learning about content creation, digital marketing, blogging, social media branding, and more.
Hopefully, these topics can cure your boredom and help you out in the long run.
