Fine Tuning Your Resume and Cover Letter What is a resume? An individually designed document A sales presentation of yourself Not a place for modesty A marketing tool for opening the doors of prospective employers A screening device for selecting candidates for interviews Purpose of a resume To state the type of employment desired To present your academic training To describe your work experience related and unrelated To show involvement in activities campus, civic, volunteer, etc. To show awards, honors, and/or special recognition / certifications Goal of writing a resume To get an INTERVIEW! Common resume problems Content Format Objective statement Problem Not having a clear, concise objective Example To gain full-time employment with a growing organization where I can utilize my skills and educational background. Appropriate objectives Solution: State your current objective. Why are you writing this resume? What do you want to do? To obtain a position in information technology; special interest in programming and database development To obtain an internship utilizing my technical language skills. Where do you go to school? Problem • Virginia Polytechnical Institute • Virginia Tech University • VA Tech Solution • Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University • Virginia Tech QCA / GPA GPA - to list or not to list? Career Services recommends that you DO list your GPA on your resume for On-Campus Interviewing and for Career Fairs List in-major, overall or both Related courses Problem •Listing every class you’ve had in your major Solution •Remember that this is optional •List 4-6 classes that are advanced or show diversity in your background. •Make sure they support your objective Writing style Problem • Writing in complete sentences • Being too formal Example I was responsible for the professional enhancement of new employees. Solution Trained five new employees. Order of resume sections Problem Listing items as you think of them Listing jobs by order of importance to you instead of reverse chronological order Solution Have all sections in order of priority as they support your objective. Create additional headings if you need to highlight items out of chronological order. Being unique Problem Attempting to make your resume stand out from the rest by using artistic fonts, graphics or a very unusual format Solution Make your resume stand out by the incredible information you include about your experience and skills Templates Problems May not provide best set-up e.g. May find address information at bottom of page Tend to be date driven Solution Create your resume on a blank document using tables (See sample in Career Planning Guide) Relevant information Problem No relevant experience? Solution Emphasize projects! Include research projects, design projects, or other types of work you have done List specifics about what you researched or did during your projects Stating Accomplishments How to Write Action-Benefit Statements An Action-Benefit Statement is a strong and clear description of an action you took, which resulted in a Tangible Measurable Benefit to your organization Action-Benefit Statements demonstrate how your abilities and experience have made a positive impact on a company’s bottom line. Action - Benefit A specific action that you took that enabled you to achieve a positive result. when faced with a Situation Problem Opportunity Job responsibility Action - Benefit The positive result or benefit to the organization, such as an increase in revenue a reduction in costs streamlined processes or systems Improved morale. “Analyzed declining sales and developed a campaign to increase orders by 30% in less than one month.” The situation or challenge you faced • declining sales The Action you took • developed a campaign The Benefit of your actions • a 30% increase in orders Always Quantify or Qualify accomplishments and achievements Quantify Consider the impact of your work in measurable terms and include the numbers Percentages Dollars Values other measurements of success that represent your experience in the best possible light Example of Quantify Action-Benefit Good: Supervised a large staff of retail employees covering multiple territories. Effectively managed business unit P&L and consistently grew profits. Better: Ten years experience managing 15 employees across multiple territories on the East coast. Effectively managed P&L of $10 million business unit. Consistently generated 30%-35% gross profit. Qualify Consider describing the Process Depicting the environment Including the personal characteristics that a future employer would consider valuable in that role Example of Qualify Action-Benefit Good: Increased sales through cold-calling, follow-up and account management. Better: Consistently grew revenue and profits in a rapidly changing environment through aggressive cold-calling, persistent follow-up, and relationship-focused account management. Tips Focus on the benefits of your actions, instead of the actions themselves. Save the specific details on how you achieved your success for the interview. Add comparative information that puts your accomplishments into prospective. • “Increased sales by 50% in market that declined by 10%” Tips Describe accomplishments with phrases that begin with powerful Action Verbs, such as • Designed • Negotiated • Managed • Implemented Try rewording tired, boring phrases that describe dull job duties “Responsible for …” “Assisted with …” “Directed…” “Coordinated the efforts of…” Ethics Be honest Don’t undersell yourself, but don’t exaggerate Graduation date should be the only “projected” item on your resume Check and re-check Read and re-read all of your job search correspondence to check for errors Have faculty review technical sections of your resume or letters Use Career Services’ walk-in critique service to have an advisor review your documents 10:00am - 4:00pm M-F Computer Science 3604 Resume Evaluation Form ______ Format and Organization (75 points) Résumé: ______/5 Personal information ______/5 Objective(s) ______/5 Education ______/10 Experience, etc. ______/5 Length (one page) ______/5 Easy to glean in 20 seconds (headings, bullets, indents, etc.) ______/5 Other format (margins, centered on page, use of space) Cover letter: ______/5 Why you are writing - 1st paragraph ______/5 Summary of your skills - 2nd paragraph ______/5 Contact information - 3rd paragraph ______/5 Writer will contact company ______/5 Resume enclosed (2nd or 3rd paragraph) ______/5 Length (one page only) ______/5 Appearance (must "look good", with address, salutation, etc.) ______ Style and Tone (25 points) ______/15 Resume should be crisp. Avoid long paragraphs, wordy descriptions, repetition, undefined acronyms. ______/10 Cover letter should also be crisp, to the point, first paragraph no more than 6 lines, second 10 lines, third 6 lines . Good business writing. - ______ Mechanics Deductions (20 point possible DEDUCTION) ______/5 Misspelling or typos ______/5 Slang, clichés ______/5 Bad grammar ______/5 Unexplained/inappropriate abbreviations ______/5 proofread by (must be signed by the proofreaders in order to get credit) ______/5 thorough proofreading marks by your proofreaders - ______ Other Deductions (40 point possible DEDUCTION) ______/5 Missing cover sheet ______/5 Missing proofreaders ______/20 Late penalty per class time ______/10 Missing marked up first draft ______ Other ______ Total Points (100 points) Proofreaders Name (signed): _______________________________________________ Relationship: _________________________________________ Name (signed): _______________________________________________ Relationship: _________________________________________ Did you have someone proofread this writing and then revise it based on their comments? _______________________________________________ If so, did your proofreader make substantial revision marks throughout the paper? _______________________________________________ Or did they just read it over and make some general suggestions? _______________________________________________ Did you consult with the Career Services, Writing Center, or other service organization on this assignment? ___________ If so, please comment on what happened: