This is your first impression!

With college admissions getting more and more competitive each year it’s a good idea to start diversifying your experiences early! Having great grades is great but maintaining your grades while also holding a job or internship is even more spectacular!

Finding these jobs and internships isn’t the hard part; it’s the actual obtaining of these positions that’s difficult. And let’s be frank… It’s probably because your resume sucks.

In all honesty, your resume is your lifeline. It is more important than the suit you wear to the interview (because if it’s bad, you’re not getting an interview!). It’s ultimately your first impression.

Especially as a teen your resume is what sets you apart. Although there is little writing, it is indicative of your writing abilities, your attention to detail, and how you view yourself and the world around you (it’s amazing what you could tell from the way a person describes their activities). Writing a good resume puts you two steps ahead of the competition!

These are three tips that I have found lead to a winning resume and an increased outlook in terms of job opportunities.

1. Think about the employer.

Most recruiters are looking at a hundred plus resumes a day! That means very little individualized time and even less time if an employer has to go looking for important information.

Organize your resume in such a way that an employer can easily see the highlights of your personality and experiences. They will keep their eyes glued on your resume just a bit longer if they consistently find relevant information!

2. Be consistent.

Consistency goes farther than just the way you write phone numbers, and dates. When listing your experiences, descriptions of each should be formatted similarly. Decide from the beginning what will be bold or italicized. Your resume is no place to show you love certain words more than others.

This also applies to fonts. They should be the same for everything. No excuses.

3. Avoid exaggeration…

…because as much as you want to say you could fly because you can glide; on a resume it’s lying and lying is punishable by termination. Enough said.

Now go out there and find that internship placement or job you have always dreamed of! These tips will most definitely bring you to it’s door!

I came across Temple Run a few months ago. It was a free game that caught my attention because of the unique iOS twist on an all too common movie scene: the chase. You act as a man who has stolen an idol from a temple and swipe across the screen to escape the evil monkeys.

The game is beyond addicting (I never play just once) and have found, like planking, posting pictures of your progress has become a social phenomenon!

In my short time playing the game I have found three useful tips to get a MEGA high score for those that want to show off to their friends! These tips have helped me substantially! I have went from a high score of 555,000 to 5,300,000…Yeah, that’s a big difference.

1. Stumble!

Seriously! As you progress in Temple Run you begin running faster. Your room for error becomes slight and your reflexes are put to the test. Although there are no power ups to slow you down, there is one part of the track that will: the small roots protruding on the track. Run over them and stumble! It will cause the evil monkeys to catch up to you but your speed will decrease dramatically. You can do this as many times as you want, just don’t do it immediately after each other because then the monkeys will get you!

2. Complete your objectives.

Temple Run objectives are for more than just bragging rights. They increase your multiplier! That means a higher score in less time… and who doesn’t want that? Some are difficult but most are extremely simple. You can even complete a few just by buying things from within the store!

3. Use both hands.

It’s happened to me so many times; I jump instead of duck or vice versa because my thumb gets a terrible cramp. Using both hands gives each thumb time to rest (& we all know that being comfortable is pivotal to a high score!) and it makes it easier to tilt your device to dodge missing parts of the track! I’m told Carpal Tunnel is extremely painful… and I’m not trying to develop it anytime soon.

Now go ahead, run for your life!