“So, what’s your deal?”

Faced with this question during an interview for the job of your dreams, would you know how to respond? That was just one of many topics that David Delaney, guest speaker and recruiter at digital information management company Yext, discussed during his 8th period resume workshop. Conducted on Jan. 10, the workshop was a new initiative sponsored by the TJ Partnership Fund.

“There’s a great lack of knowledge about how to put together a resume,” Jefferson College and Career Center coordinator Eileen Kropf said. “For that reason, it’s really useful to have something like this.”

Working around technology malfunctions and a fire drill interruption during one of the workshop sessions, Delaney covered a wide range of topics, from recommendations on resume length and content to strategies for crafting a more polished finished product.

“A lot of kids assume they should put everything they’ve ever done on a resume, and one of the main points that we got from [the workshop] was that you don’t need to do that,” Kropf said. “Less is better.”

Having seen thousands of resumes and conducted numerous interviews throughout his career, Delaney offered his unique insight into the hiring process that many attendees appreciated.

“I feel like he knows what might stand out with an applicant versus what he might just glance over,” sophomore and workshop attendee Sonika Vuyyuru said. “The tips he gave about concentrating on the meat of your activities were very helpful, and maybe something that somebody who doesn’t have a lot of experience couldn’t have provided.”

Junior George Tang, who had not applied to an internship before, relished the opportunity to hear from a professional with vast experience in the field rather than from a presenter with more theoretical, second-hand knowledge.

“I was really looking forward to bettering my understanding of the application process and familiarizing myself with the standards companies and research labs set for interns,” Tang said.

A majority of the workshop focused on the mechanics of creating a resume, with Delaney providing tips, one among them his suggestion to edit resumes in a seldom-used font such as Comic Sans to improve the brain’s ability to catch grammar mistakes and typos. But the event extended beyond just resumes, also touching on other ways to put one’s best foot forward during the application process.

“It was great that he covered networking, because that’s usually something that people don’t think about,” Vuyyuru said. “It was interesting to see how that would affect you not only in getting an internship, but also in the long run, building your network from the beginning of your career.”