RESUMES and COVER LETTERS

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RESUMES and COVER LETTERS

• How to Maximize your
• Skills and Accomplishments
• to Land a Job or Internship

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OUTLINE OF TODAYS SESSION

• Introduction
• Objective
• Elements of a Good Resume
• The Employers Perspective
• Two Resume Types
• Formatting a Resume

• Qualifications Summary
• Accomplishment Statements
• Electronic Resume
• Cover Letter Basics
• Tips for Effective Cover Letters
• Summary

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INTRODUCTION

• This workshop will help you create
• resumes and cover letters that will
• enhance your presentation of skills and
• accomplishments and become better tools
• in your job or internship search.

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OBJECTIVE

• Upon completion of this workshop you will know
• The elements of a good resume
• How to write a qualifications summary
• How to write accomplishment statements
• How to create an electronic resume
• How to write an effective cover letter

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WHAT IS A GOOD RESUME?

• Marketing tool you are the product, and your
  resume is part of your sales pitch
• Highlights your unique qualifications and how
  they meet the employers need
• Gets you an interview or moves you forward in the
  selection process

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THE EMPLOYERS PERSPECTIVE

• When reviewing a resume, the employer
• looks for answers to the following
• Is the experience appropriate is relevant
  experience or skills missing?
• Is length of time at the right level sufficient?
• Is there a sufficient level of technical
  knowledge?
• Is there a sufficient level of management or
  leadership skills?

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THE EMPLOYERS PERSPECTIVE-cont.

• Is there a solid record of achievement?
• How does the candidate compare with other
  candidates?
• Is this a good career step for the candidate?
• Does the resume have a focus, and does it
  demonstrate the candidates value?

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ELEMENTS OF A RESUME

• Heading
• Qualifications summary
• Education honors and awards
• Professional experience
• Volunteer experience
• Additional skills
• Professional affiliations
• Publications and presentations
• If recent graduate, Education should be near
  top of resume if not, Education placed near end
  of resume
• If applicable

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TWO POPULAR RESUME TYPES

• Chronological
• Combination chronological and functional

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CHRONOLOGICAL

• Begins with your most recent job and goes
  backwards
• Traditional resume format preferred by
  conservative employers
• Works best for people who have progressed in
  titles and responsibility in one organization or
  one field, or who have a good work history
• Fast read gaps and flaws are obvious
• If it doesnt work dont use it

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COMBINATION RESUME

• Quick synopsis of your market value followed by
  employment history
• Promotes assets, key credentials, and
  qualifications
• Supports your accomplishments that match
  employers needs
• Utilizes benefits of both resume formats

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FORMATTING A RESUME

• Use letter size (8.5x11) paper
• Print on high-quality printer
• Choose easy-to-read font
• Avoid point font size of 10 or below
• Margins should be symmetrical
• Bold section headers use other formatting
  features

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FORMATTING A RESUME-cont.

• Double space between sections single space
  between job statements
• Use bullets to highlight accomplishments avoid
  gimmickry
• Limit to 2 pages, depending on years of
  experience, whenever possible

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QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY

• Succinct preview of, and substantiated by, what
  is presented later in your resume
• Grabs the reviewers attention
• Summarizes your value to an employer explains
  what you can do for them now
• Presents a clear focus or objective

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WRITING A QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY

• Starts off with your current status
• Shows years of experience in job target field
• Includes transferable skills, strengths, traits
• Can be displayed in short paragraph form or
  bullets

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EXAMPLE OF QUALIFICATION SUMMARY

• Financial executive with eight years of
  experience in healthcare, financial services, and
  public sectors. Ability to manage mainstream
  financial functions and perform in general
  management capacity. Effective leader and team
  builder with strong strategic and team management
  skills. Expertise includes controllership,
  financial planning and budgets, financial
  systems, and treasury.

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EXAMPLE OF QUALIFICATION SUMMARY-CAREER CHANGER
(from Monster.com)

• Dedicated RN with 10 years of experience in
  medical-surgical settings seeking career
  transition into clinical nursing research. Offers
  solid foundation in analytical tools and
  methodologies, current healthcare advancements,
  and surgical procedures. Strong background in
  diabetes education, with experience developing
  and delivering training programs to staff,
  community organizations and medical providers on
  a range of diabetes-management topics.

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EXAMPLE OF QUALIFICATION SUMMARY- SOON TO
GRADUATE (from Monster.com)

• Communications major (graduation May 2006)
  offering proven skills writing press releases and
  feature articles generating favorable publicity
  and increased organizational visibility.
  Talented, experienced communicator, knowledgeable
  in press conference coordination and volunteer
  recruitment. Proficient in Microsoft Office,
  including PowerPoint, QuarkXpress, and Adobe
  InDesign software.

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ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENTS

• Showcase relevant achievements dont regurgitate
  job duties
• Use action verbs and keywords in short phrases to
  demonstrate achievements
• Show measurable results for actions that solved
  problems or addressed a needuse numbers when
  possible!
• Use PARs Model (Performance-Action-Results)

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ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENT EXAMPLES

• Planned and implemented special event to increase
  membership and raise funds. Event raised
  200,000 and attracted 200 guests, 30 of whom
  became dues-paying members.
• Designed and conducted training program on water
  conservation strategies for 120 citizens in three
  rural villages after training, water usage in
  villages was cut by 24.
• Established a summer camp and offered courses in
  computer skills for 150 low-income children ages
  6-14 improved computer skills resulted in
  enhanced classroom performance during school year.

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FINAL ADVICE

• Proofread, proofread, proofread!!!
• Your resume must be clear, visually
• appealing, accurate, and typo-free
• Ask a friend, faculty member, peer, or colleague
  to review and provide feedback

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ELECTRONIC RESUMES

• Also called text-only resumes or ASCII
• Used when sending your resume via e-mail and you
  dont know if recipient has same software that
  you are using
• Used when uploading your resume as part of an
  online application
• Easier for employers to add to tracking databases

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CONVERTING RESUME TO TEXT-ONLY

• Save your resume file as a new document.
• Set your margins so that you have 6.5 inches of
  text displayed.
• Select all text, and then select font that is
  non-proportional 12 pitch, such as Courier 12.
• Save as text only with line breaks.
• Open this new file in Notepad, Simple Text, or
  whatever text editor you have.

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CONVERTING RESUME TO TEXT-ONLY-cont.

• 6. Review your resume in the text editor. You
  will note that many of your formatting
  characteristics are displayed differently (e.g.
  bullets show up as ?).
• 7. Replace formatting with ASCII equivalent
  (e.g., replace bullets with or hyphens). Use
  word wrap feature under the Edit menu if you see
  long lines of text (unless otherwise specified).
• 8. Test out the resume by copying and pasting it
  into the body of an e-mail message to see if
  youve corrected the flaws.

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COVER LETTERS

• Purpose
• Your formal introduction to a prospective
  employer or internship host
• Achieves interest
• Summarizes and highlights what you can offer an
  employer

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TYPES OF COVER LETTERS

• Response to a specific available position
• Letter of inquiry a.k.a. broadcast letter

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RESPONSE TO SPECIFIC POSITION

• Important to
• Present your accomplishments and skills that best
  meet organizations needs
• Use industry-specific terms mimic or paraphrase
  wording in ad

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RESPONSE TO SPECIFIC POSITION - LETTER STYLES

• Three styles
• Narrative-use paragraphs to describe your skills
  and experience
• Bulleted-use bullet points to highlight selected,
  targeted accomplishments
• T letter-draws direct parallels between the
  employers stated needs and your experience

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BROADCAST LETTER

• Useful for
• Networking and informational interview requests
• Mail campaign targeting prospective employers or
  internship hosts to create interest serves as
  introduction and conveys your potential value

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BROADCAST LETTER STYLES

• Two styles
• Narrative-use paragraphs to describe your skills
  and experience
• Bulleted-use bullet points to draw attention to
  targeted, selected, accomplishments

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TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE COVER LETTERS

• Treat as a business letter use business letter
  format, including
• Use of personal letterhead include phone number
  and e-mail
• When possible, address to a specific person
  (hiring manager preferable, HR manager if
  necessary)-try to include exact title. If
  unavailable, opt for Dear Sir or Madam
• After salutation, use colon, not comma
• Close with Sincerely yours, or Yours truly,
• After your signature line, indicate if there are
  enclosures or attachments
• Letter should have polished, professional look
  and content be sure to proofread!

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TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE COVER LETTERS-cont.

• Customize each letter to the specific job (when
  responding to ads)one size does not fit all!
• Grab attention with your first sentence start
  with why youre the perfect person for the job,
  or how your background addresses employers need,
  or
• If referred or recommended by someone the
  employer knows, start out with, At the
  suggestion of John Doe, I am writing to apply for
  the position of
• Be sure to reference the position youre applying
  for-dont leave the employer guessing!

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TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE COVER LETTERS-cont.

• Keep to one page when possible
• Make the connection between your work experience
  and the stated requirements of the position. Tie
  your experience to your skills, then tie your
  skills to the job description
• Use action words to describe your accomplishments

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TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE COVER LETTERS-cont.

• Convey confidence and enthusiasm!
• Indicate that your resume and any other requested
  credentials are enclosed
• Close by ASKING for an interview!
• Keep a copy of all letters that go out, including
  your e-mails

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SUMMARY

• Best resume format for your background and
  experience
• Create a summary statement
• Write measurable accomplishment statements
• Write cover letters highlighting your most
  saleable skills and experiences geared to the
  type of search youre conducting