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Before a career fair, resume drop, company info session, or career fair students interview need to prepare the latest version of their resume. In order to write this document, they must have a list of their experiences and skills, along with well-written text describing each item. Students then use a word-editing program like Microsoft Word to format some of the text into a one-page resume. One freshman used a Microsoft Word template from an upperclassman in his fraternity; another underclassman duplicated a resume style in a pamphlet provided by the Careers Office; a senior used a LaTeX document that he noted was difficult to change. Many students commented that they rushed this process and hated having to stay up late the night before a career fair to tweak their resume. The MIT students we spoke with seem to typically attend one career fair, four info sessions, and three interviews per semester. They typically update their resume once per semester, but the task becomes increasingly rare in later grades. The most common errors are small typos, formatting inconsistencies, and even occasional mistakes. One student recalls incorrectly listing a summer internship from “June 2008 - August 2009” and another misstated the grade she participated in a club.
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