Rsum WritingCover Letter

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Résumé Writing/Cover Letter

• Counseling Career Services
• Stanly Community College

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Résumé Writing

• What is a résumé
• It is a brief history of your accomplishments
  prepared for specific employers
• A good résumé is
• Clear
• Well-organized
• Dynamic
• Neat

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Writing Your Résumé

• Select a focus
• List and detail your job experiences
• List qualifications, hobbies, interests
• List education and training qualifications
• Dont forget skills

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How to Begin

• Pros and Cons Software for Résumé Writing
• Pros
• Many types of software packages
• Easy and simple to fill out
• Allows frequent updating
• Cons
• Generic in appearance
• Only as good as the information provided
• May not allow for detail information

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What the Employer Looks For

• Used as a screening tool
• It is most effective when it follows a personal
  contact
• A support person or a computer may screen your
  résumé
• Résumés are not read thoroughly

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Writing the Résumé

• Focus the résumé for the position
• Create a visual pattern (spacing)
• Use no more than 2 fonts
• Use the same font size and point size for every
  heading
• Select bullets that compliment the font
• Be careful with too much margin space
• Print the résumé ask a professional to review
  it

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Writing the Résumé

• Be careful with the order
• Always begin with the Header. This will be seen
  first
• List your educational experience including any
  relevant courses
• List your professional experience including coop
• Be specific
• List your work experience
• Be specific
• List your honors, awards, qualifications
• List your skills both hard (specific to job) and
  soft (communication, attitude)
• List your volunteer work, community service
• Other sections

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Proofing Your Résumé

• Always print the résumé to look for errors
• Read it slowly
• Check dates carefully
• Watch for misspelled words
• Check headings for font/bold inconsistencies
• Check for typos
• Try to improve use of action words
• Always mark the changes on the paper copy
• Make corrections on the computer and print again
• Read it again
• Ask a counselor or instructor to read it for you

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Employer Pet Peeves

• Leaving out dates
• Wordiness
• Fancy fonts
• Graphics
• Typos
• Misspellings
• Poor grammar
• Too Long
• Disorganized

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Cover Letters

• Strategies for Writing a Cover Letter
• Make it easy for someone to understand who you
  are
• Highlight your most relevant qualifications
• Include information you know about the company
• Explain why you want to work for that particular
  company
• The cover letter must be neat and clean
• Always check for errors
• Keep it short
• Dont forget to ask for an interview

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Keys to Success

• Know who you are
• Know your skills
• Dont depend on cold résumés and cover letters to
  get you a job
• Network
• Be confident
• Have a career plan

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Questions?