Your Culture, Your Career, Your Commencement Resumes, Job Search, and Interviewing

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Your Culture, Your Career, Your
CommencementResumes, Job Search, and Interviewing

• Laura F. Kestner
• Director, Career Services Center
• Marquette University
• Holthusen Hall, First Floor
• 414.288.7423
• career.services_at_marquette.edu
• www.marquette.edu/csc
• This presentation was updated
• Spring 2009

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Marquette University Career Services Center
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Mission Statement

• The Marquette University Career Services Center
  strives to
• assist all students and alumni in discerning,
  developing, and
• pursuing meaningful traditional and
  non-traditional careers.
• This is achieved through
• Teaching students and alumni to develop lifelong
  job search skills and use online and traditional
  career resources
• Providing leadership and support in the career
  area to the university
• Developing positive relationships with employers
  resulting in student and employer connections
  and
• Supporting institutional outcomes and research
  endeavors.

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Services Offered

• Career counseling and job search assistance Get
  a plan!
• Have your resume critiqued by sending it to
  career.services_at_marquette.edu
• MU Career Manager
• On-campus interviewing
• On-line links to full-time and internship
  listings and resources
• Resumes for referral to employers

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Kimberly-Clark Career Library

• Subscriptions to newspapers, magazines and other
  periodicals that profile job vacancies
• Industry information that include a variety of
  directories Information and handouts concerning
  occupations, such as What Can I Do with a

• Major in ?, job titles for positions obtained
  by Marquette grads
• Graduate school and entrance exam information
• Job search resources including sample resumes,
  sample letters, information about search
  strategies
• Three computers for job search use, including
  access to a laser printer

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www.marquette.edu/csc
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Resume Writing
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Resume and Cover Letter Writing

• A resume and cover letter are your only chance to
  make a first impression
• These job search materials are an advertisement
  of you and your skills
• The average time an employer takes to read a
  resume 20 seconds

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The Resume

• There is no right way to write a resume
• Employers have different opinions on what they
  each prefer
• Choose a resume which best highlights your skills
  and interests

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Purpose of Resume

• The most common mistake job seekers make is not
  knowing what they want to do
• Job seekers must know themselves, their skills,
  and their career goals
• Why are you sending this resume?
• The Ill take anything approach doesnt work

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Basic Information
Jordan M. Jameson PO Box 1881 Marquette
University Milwaukee, WI 53233 414-288-7423
jordan.jameson_at_marquette.edu
Karen Knolls PO Box 1881 Marquette
University Milwaukee, WI 53201 414-288-7423
karen.knolls_at_marquette.edu
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Objective

• Objective vs. No objective
• Objective helps the employer know why he or she
  is reading your resume
• An objective should answer this question What do
  I want to do?
• As you gain more experience, your objective may
  be obvious

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Background Summary

• Three or four subjective strengths/qualities
  about yourself
• All of your resume is fact, you can prove it
• This section allows you to bring up skills which
  you believe to be true
• Be prepared to demonstrate skills mentioned in
  this type of section

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Objectives Examples

• Account manager at a top communications firm
• Management trainee position using my background
  in retail
• A position using my skills and experience in
  criminology
• An internship in the field of psychology

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Skill Highlights Examples

• Meet deadlines and manage time effectively
• Quickly and accurately identify the key issues
  when making a decision or solving a problem
• Interact and work effectively with peers,
  superiors and subordinates
• Ability to work on a team on diverse assignments
•  Organize and present ideas effectively for
  formal and spontaneous speeches
• Organize and present ideas effectively for class
  and organizational presentaitons

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Educational Background For each
degree-conferring institution beyond High School

• Degree or certification
• Dates attended or graduation date
• Minor/ emphasis area
• GPA (if proud of it)
• Institution

• Concentration
• Teaching Certificate
• City, State
• Relevant coursework
• Specialized instruction

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Experience

• Work experience, clinicals, volunteer experience
  (internships, community service, student
  teaching), campus leadership
• Market like experiences together using headings
  like Internship Experience, Career-Related
  Experience, Publications Experience, Research
  Experience

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Experience

• For each position/experience
• Job title, dates, organization name, location
• Responsibilities
• Use a variety of ACTION WORDS which describe
  situations and achievements
• Unless necessary, avoid little words in
  description such as a, an, the
• Include scope of responsibility such as
  Supervised 8 employees
• Concretely outline any outstanding results such
  as
• Developed new computerized customer listing using
  MS Access

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Experience Example 1

• Career Related Experience
• MARSHFIELD, INCORPORATED, Marshfield, WI, Summers
  2002, 2003, 2004
• Summer Research Intern
• Learned advanced research techniques under the
  supervision of a research executive
• Compiled and wrote reports outlining research
  data and results
• Developed marketing proposals including
  electronic and paper materials
• Presented suggestions to work group
• MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY OFFICE OF RESIDENCE LIFE,
  Milwaukee, WI, August 2003-May 2004
• Student Worker and Hall Secretary
• Provided information about Marquette Residence
  Halls to current and incoming students, parents
  and visitors
• Acted as a liaison between administrators and
  those with questions about halls
• Assisted with office tasks including data entry
  and mailings
• Created bulletin board displays providing
  information to students living in the halls

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Experience Example 2

• Marketing Experience
• Funjet Vacations Milwaukee, WI, June 2003-
  Present
• Associate Product Manager Intern
• Assisted in the development and executed the
  implementation of various marketing activities.
• Performed the following duties successfully
  Trend analysis, Pricing, promotion advertising,
  inventory management, product development, sales
  tracking and reporting, competitive analysis,
  travel agency communications and materials
  development, co-operative marketing planning, and
  problem resolution.
• Worked successfully independently and as part as
  a team, adapted to fast-pace travel industry,
  learned to multi-task, set priorities to meet
  deadlines, enhanced organizational skills.
• Leadership Experience
• American Marketing Association, Marquette
  University, Milwaukee, WI, 2003-2004
• Vice President of Finance and Fundraising
• Maintained current and accurate financial records
• Reported on financial status at each meeting
• Lead major fundraising efforts
• Communicated regularly with fundraising team

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Experience

• Marketing Class Projects
• Investment Analysis, Marquette University,
  Milwaukee, WI, Spring 2003
• Security Analysis Project
• Gathered and analyzed information about a firm
  for class research.
• Performed a financial evaluation and determined
  the value of shares.
• Submitted a final report on data gathered.

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Honors/Activities/Leadership
Honors and Activities Deans List, Presidential
Scholarship, Womens Soccer Team

• The trend is to keep away from any extraneous
  information that does not clearly connect to your
  career goal.
• What you need to ask yourself is, Will this
  information help the potential employer learn
  more about how well I can do the job? If your
  answer is yes, then be sure to include the
  information.

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Job Search
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Job Search Techniques

• Know yourself
• Define your criteria
• Perfect your job search materials
• Three ways to find a job
• Set goals and time commitments
• Master networking and interviewing skills

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Know Yourself

• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• What sets you apart from others in this room?

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Define your criteria

• FIVE things you need in a position for it to be
  satisfying
• Setting/environment
• Distance from home
• Size of city
• Pay vs. cost of living
• Fit with co-workers
• The Decision Making Process Handout

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Define your criteria

• What are your goals?
• How could your first job get you closer to those
  goals?
• Can you concretely put those criteria into words?

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Remember your criteria when...

• Thinking over your first offer
• Applying for a WACKY job
• You are tired of the search, ready to be finished
• All of your peers have great jobs
• Faced with making some compromises

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Its okay to be flexible and open...

• as long as you are paying attention to any RED
  FLAGS
• Turnover within organization
• No one could say anything good about working
  there
• Seems too good to be true

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Perfect your job search materials

• Based on your resume, would YOU hire you?
• Resumes critiqued, make any changes
• Cover Letter Draft
• Interviewing
• Mock Interview

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Three ways to find a job

• Respond to position openings
• Develop target list of employers
• Network with potential contacts and employers

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Respond to position openings

• Golden Eagle SearchThis Job Search Portal has
  over 5 million national job postings that come
  from corporate web sites, job boards, education,
  government, newspaper and recruiting websites.
  Jobs are collected from all industries,
  disciplines, and regions.
• Access via Career Gateway https//www.mu.edu/gate
  way/
• MU Career ManagerStudents and alumni are
  encouraged to submit their resume for inclusion
  in the MU CareerTRAK program. This comprehensive
  online job search tool connects students with
  employers in three main ways.
• Full-time and Internship Position Openings
• On Campus Interviews InterviewTRAK
• Resume Referral

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Respond to position openings

• Internet
• Field specific search
• Go to favorite search engine
• Type jobs
• See what comes up
• Professional Associations
• Go to favorite search engine
• Type association
• See what comes up
• Look for words like career, employment, jobs

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Develop target list of employers

• Vault Vault is the worlds leading source of
  career information.  It will make your efforts at
  researching employers, industries, and career
  subjects infinitely easier and more efficient.
  Resources include 80 Career Guides 3,000
  Company Profiles 1,100 Career Articles
  Industry Profiles
• Access via https//www.mu.edu/gateway/
• Reference USAReference USA is a database of 12
  million companies and organizations. It is
  searchable by geographic location, SIC codes,
  company size, etc.
• Access via https//www.mu.edu/gateway/
• Book of Lists Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis

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Network with potential contacts and employers

• MU Connect Career Alumni NetworkThe Career
  Alumni Network is a link to alumni who have
  expressed interest in helping MU students with
  career options.  The program can assist you in
  many ways whether you are researching career
  fields or seeking a position in a particular
  state, industry, or organization.
• Access via https//www.mu.edu/gateway/
• Professors
• Friends of family/family of friends
• Campus networking events
• Speaker series
• Alumni events

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Career Fairs

• Career FairsUsing MU Career Manager, students
  can see which organizations will be attending our
  career fairs.
• Fall Career Fair Two-day fair for Marquette
  students and alumni only. FALL
• WorkForce Wisconsin Private Colleges Fair held
  in Marquettes Student Union for MU students and
  those from other private colleges in Wisconsin.
  EARLY SPRING
• Big East Fairs Colleges and universities from
  the Big East Conference schools have joined
  together to form a Big East Recruiting
  Consortium. They hold both an on-site fair in
  Madison Square Garden, New York, NY and a
  virtual fair. EARLY SPRING

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Set goals and time commitments

• Finding a job is a full time job
• Set weekly goals for working on your job search

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Successful Interviewing
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Interviewing Savvy

• Meeting of two (or more) face-to-face to discuss
  employment
• No set recipe for a successful interview, but the
  objectives are
• To elaborate resume information
• To supply info NOT on resume (personality,
  communication skills, general fit)
• To enable you to gain additional info on the
  employer

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Types of Interviews

• Screening
• general
• on-campus (MU Career Manager)
• career fair interaction
• eliminates unqualified candidates
• Selection
• longer, more thorough
• identify more qualified
• day-long, see about 3-5 people

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Getting ready...

• Who gets the job?
• most qualified?
• best dressed?
• best interviewee?

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Know yourself

• Dont know your strengths?
• Ask your friends
• Think of past supervisors or professors and what
  kinds of praise they have given you
• Two helpful handouts
• http//www.marquette.edu/csc/students/handouts.sht
  ml
• Top Skills Employers Seek
• Transferable Skills

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Know yourself

• What are you strengths?
• Assignment 10 strengths/ 10 examples

• Strengths
• Strong public speaker
• Leader

• Example of how you might demonstrate this
  strength
• Present frequently in class presentations. Most
  recently was part of a group presentation for a
  student leadership conference.
• Served as representative on student government

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Know yourself

• Clearly define your goals before the interview
• What are the five things you need in your next
  job for it to be satisfying?

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Know yourself

• These may be based on your interests, skills,
  work values
• Some examples might be
• Location (city, suburb, region of country) and
  distance from family and/or friends
• Salary, be sure to compare cost-of-living
• Small or large organization
• Culture of organization (corporate, casual,
  non-profit)
• Travel required

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Know the organization

• The function and size of the organization
• The potential for expansion or growth
• The products or services provided
• Typical salary ranges for your desired position
• Geographical locations
• Research or practical emphasis
• Career advancement possibilities
• Opportunities for training or further education
• Stability of the financial condition or backing

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Know the organization

• Golden Eagle SearchThis Job Search Portal has
  over 5 million national job postings that come
  from corporate web sites, job boards, education,
  government, newspaper and recruiting websites.
  Jobs are collected from all industries,
  disciplines, and regions.
• Access via Career Gateway https//www.mu.edu/gate
  way/
• Vault Vault is the worlds leading source of
  career information.  It will make your efforts at
  researching employers, industries, and career
  subjects infinitely easier and more efficient.
  Resources include 80 Career Guides 3,000
  Company Profiles 1,100 Career Articles
  Industry Profiles
• Access via Career Gateway https//www.mu.edu/gate
  way/
• MU Connect Career Alumni NetworkThe Career
  Alumni Network is a link to alumni who have
  expressed interest in helping MU students with
  career options.  The program can assist you in
  many ways whether you are researching career
  fields or seeking a position in a particular
  state, industry, or organization.
• Access via Career Gateway https//www.mu.edu/gate
  way/
• Reference USAReference USA is a database of 12
  million companies and organizations. It is
  searchable by geographic location, SIC codes,
  company size, etc.
• Access via Career Gateway https//www.mu.edu/gate
  way/

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What to Wear

• SUIT, SUIT, SUIT
• Always err on the conservative side
• When purchasing a suit, tell the person helping
  you that it is for interviewing, not clubbing

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Now you are ready for the interview!
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Upon your arrival

• Get there early
• Treat receptionist with respect
• Introductions
• smile -)
• firm handshake
• eye contact
• use names

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What to Bring

• Padfolio
• Extra copies of resume
• Official Transcript
• List of references
• Possible questions to ask the interviewer
• Pen and paper to use FOLLOWING the interview for
  notes

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Responding to Questions

• As directly as possible
• Honestly
• Be yourself, focus on positive qualities
• never apologize for your lack of anything
• back up everything you say with examples
• If you talk quickly, count to 3 before answering
  questions right away

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Practice

• Articulate and natural
• No canned answers
• Know your general strengths
• Three things you do well
• Back up EVERYTHING with examples
• Mock Interview

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What employers seek...

• Ability to assume responsibility
• Willingness to work hard
• Initiative, drive, resourcefulness
• Motivation
• Ability to handle stress
• Interpersonal Skills
• Flexibility
• Oral Communication
• Self-discipline
• Confidence, self-reliance
• Personality

• Interest in job
• Organizational, planning skills
• Leadership
• Creativity
• Written Communication
• Job-related experience
• Entrepreneurial spirit
• Need for advancement
• Defined career goals
• Good GPA
• Computer Literacy

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60 Second Commercial

• Advertisement of yourself
• Where are you now?
• Where have you been?
• Where are you going?
• Career Related
• Not personal not where you were born, how many
  brothers and sisters you have, etc.

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60 Second Commercial Your Turn

• Advertisement of yourself
• 3 minutes to come up with one
• Get into pairs
• Practice answering question
• Tell me a little bit about yourself.

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Sample Questions

• What are three of your strengths?
• You have more than three, pick those most
  career-related
• What arent you good at?
• Think about what you wish you did better
• Tell me about a difficult situation and how you
  dealt with it.
• Behavioral question
• PAR

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Questioning the Interviewer

• You will be evaluated on the questions you ask
• Never ask about salary or benefits until they
  bring it up or a job offer exists
• Avoid asking questions available in company
  literature

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Questioning the Interviewer

• What is a typical day like?
• What are the priorities of the position?
• What do you enjoy about working here?
• What are three main qualities or skills you are
  seeking in an ideal candidate?
• End with this What is your timeline for filling
  the position?

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After the Interview

• Always send a thank you letter
• Reiterate your skills
• Mention something you may have forgotten or
  hadnt had the chance to speak about
• Hand written on nice notecards or Typewritten on
  letterhead
• Send to all those with whom you met

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Evaluating your interview

• If youre feeling down about the interview
• Think of how you could have answered the
  questions differently
• Remember, practice makes perfect
• Focus on something else

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Tips

• Dont talk too much
• Follow-up in a reasonable manner
• Watch nervous mannerisms
• Be on time
• Be friendly and enthusiastic
• Wear a suit!!
• Knock em dead!!

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Success can be yours with the help of the Career
Services Center