How to Make a Minimum Wage Job Stand Out on Your Resume
By: Christina Strati
It can be hard to fill up your resume, especially as an underclassman. You may debate whether or not to include your high school job on your resume, but I’m here to tell you that as a junior, I still proudly leave a spot for my ice cream store cashier job! In my opinion, it’s better to fill the space on your resume with as much experience as you can. White space is not your friend if you are trying to show employers that you have experience under your belt. No employer expects you to have 37 internships, but two jobs and a few clubs (like AMA!) can tell an employer a lot about you. I’m here to explain when it is and isn’t appropriate to leave a minimum wage job on your resume, and how you can use your experience at these jobs to beef up your resume! Here are my 5 tips for success:
Tip #1: Don’t just include the job description---talk about what was accomplished because of you
What is something you did on the job that would have gone a lot worse if you weren’t there? Don’t be afraid to brag a little! If you spotted an error on a customer’s receipt, that shows attention to detail. If you managed to calm down a screaming customer, that shows people skills. Any time you can think of that you went above and beyond at your job, find a way to include that over a simple summary of your job description. An example could be “spotted error on customer receipt using strong attention to detail, which led to company savings of $36.”
Tip #2: You may have solved a company problem without realizing it
Solving a company problem doesn’t have to mean saving your boss a million dollars. It can be something like calming down a really upset customer, stepping in as the manager while yours was on vacation, or finding a better way to organize a system at your company. For example, at my ice cream store, employees never knew where to find things in the messy basement where we kept all the extra inventory. One day, it was slow at the store, so I wrote out a list of all the items that were hard to find and hard to find them. I included this on my resume by saying that I “single-handedly implemented a new organization system to help coworkers find items throughout the store.” In reality, all I did was make a list and put it on the fridge, but my wording will catch an employer’s eye. (Fun fact, I just got asked about this in an interview, and I used it to demonstrate how I go above and beyond in the workplace). It’s as easy as that!
Tip #3: All customer service jobs can relate to marketing!
I’ve had a lot of interviewers ask me if I have marketing experience, and for a while, I didn’t. But marketing is all about learning what people want and how you can give it to them. Anyone who has worked in retail or food does that 50 times a day. When I worked at the ice cream store, I was constantly striving to keep the customer happy. That is marketing! Don’t underestimate your own experience. One way to include this on your resume could look like “used a consumer-oriented mindset to meet all customer needs, often solving problems to keep all customers happy.”
Tip #4: Try not to include too many minimum wage jobs
This is important especially if you have a tendency to hop from job to job, only working each job for a few months at a time. Employers want to know that they can count on you to stick with them for longer than a few months. Even though most internships only last a semester, employers are looking to hire interns that they can hire on full time after the internship is over. If you seem like the type to bounce between jobs every few months, this may work against you.
Tip #5: If you have worked a lot of minimum wage jobs, include only the most relevant or the ones you have made the most impact at
Only include your job if you worked there for a reasonable amount of time. There is definitely wiggle room here, so you can be your own judge about what timeline is appropriate to include for you. An employer isn’t interested in a job you worked freshman year of high school, but if you stuck with the same job for two to three years, that shows an employer that you are in it for the long haul. It might make sense for you only to include your most recent minimum wage job, if you have the space for it. But if you were a manager at your high school job, or you solved a company problem at one of your past jobs, it’s better to include that than your driving experience for Instacart.
At the end of the day, any experience is good experience. It’s all about knowing how to talk about your experiences in the right way. Employers know that we fluff up our resumes a little bit. That’s what makes us stand out against your peers. Just make sure that you could reasonably speak about any experience you have on your resume in an interview. I hope that helps some of you decide how to showcase your minimum wage jobs! If you have any questions or want help editing your resume, shoot me an email at strati.3@osu.edu and I’d be happy to help!