Welcome to National Student

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Welcome to National Student Employment Week
2006! Marketing Your Student Employment
Experience Presented by University Career
Center University of Maryland www.careercenter.um
d.edu
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What are the benefits of student employment?

• Involvement on campus
• Leadership opportunities
• Mentoring experience
• Money for school and recreational expenses
• Real work experience build your resume
• Discover what you like/dont like to do -
  interests
• Create a network of professional contacts
• Develop skills, abilities, and competencies
• Build time-management capabilities
• Build a toolkit of transferable skills
• Remember Volunteer, service, and internship
  experiences count too!

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Transferable Skills What are they?
Transferable skills are portable skills that
you have developed throughout life and which can
be taken with you to other life experiences, in
this case, to the job search process. Identifying
these skills and communicating them to employers
will increase job search success!
Transferable skills are divided into 3
categories

• Working with people
• Teaching, speaking, presenting, mediating,
  debating, collaborating, cooperating. Remember
  Leadership experience in classes and student
  organizations is invaluable to your resume
  development.
• Working with things
• Troubleshooting, designing, constructing,
  designing, interpreting text
• Working with information and data
• Calculating, writing, researching, computing,
  editing, gathering data, analyzing, assessing

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Articulating your ExperienceResume and Cover
Letter Writing
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Resume and Cover Letter the Dynamic Duo

• Cover letters and resumes are meant to be used as
  a
• team the resume gives the employer a snapshot
  of your
• qualifications, while the cover letter
• fleshes out your most relevant and meaningful
  experiences
• While information on your resume should be
  concise, the cover letter is
• your opportunity to show off and highlight key
  examples that make
• you a great candidate
• Both resumes and cover letters are most effective
  when targeted for a
• specific job, employers want to see that you have
  researched the
• position and have prepared a package that best
  represents your
• match in qualifications

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Resume Writing Techniques Organization
Contact Information (usually found in header)
Includes name, address (permanent and current),
phone number(s), e-mail



Career Objective Brief and specific. Type of
position you are seeking? Using which skills in
what area? Matches job for which you are applying
Education Begin with the most recent degree and
major. May also include relevant courses, GPA
and honors
A resume may include the following content
Experience List position, firm, location, dates.
Using action verbs, describe activities and
accomplishments. Include full/part time,
internships, etc.
Honors/Awards/Publications List any awards
received, especially pertaining to employment you
are seeking or long term goals
Skills List computer (hardware and software),
foreign language proficiency, etc.
Professional organizations/Extracurricular
activities List memberships (offices and dates
held), relevant activities not covered under
experience
Other pertinent information Special licenses,
certificates. Exclude information about hobbies,
family and interests that is irrelevant
References Do not include references on your
resume. Phrase available upon request is
optional, employers know the information is
available
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Dos of Resume Writing
Do be professional

• Maintain ½ to1 margins for an easier read
• Choose simple fonts, white, ivory or light gray
  paper and black ink
• Do not write your resume in the first person
• Choose a layout for your information that is
  easy to read

Do be careful

• Proofread and ask others to proofread to avoid
  mistakes
• Typos and misspellings decrease your chances of
  making the definite pile
• Pay attention to font types, font sizes, and
  bullets to ensure consistency

Do be relevant

• Research the employer and the position
  description customize
• Focus on your job candidacy and provide
  information pertinent only to that
• Target your resume for the specific job,
  incorporate aspects of the job description
• Mention hobby/interests sparingly, unless linked
  to job in some way

Do be specific

• Use s and s to describe the amount of people
  you
• supervised, the budget amount you worked with,
  etc.
• Be careful with abbreviations of tasks or job
  titles, do not assume that all who
• read your resume will figure it out for themselves

Do be truthful

• Keep values and ethics in check, think before
  padding your resume
• Do not embellish or misrepresent credentials,
  tasks, results or titles, you may jeopardize
• the interview or offer

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Donts of Resume Writing

• Highlight experiences that relate to your career
  objective,
• it is possible to transform a good experience
  into a substantive resume item
• Example Made phone calls Conducted targeted
  telephone research
• which led to nationwide analysis of tire market
• Dont lie, but dont sell yourself short either

Dont underestimate yourself

• Refrain from excessive use of superlatives such
  as dynamite, fantastic, incredible, etc
• Example Instead of calling yourself a dynamite
  salesperson, write that you were salesperson of
  the month for 6 months running

Dont overkill

• Use clear and concise wording to get your point
  across
• Avoid using slang and trendy words, be wary of
  jargony buzzwords such as
• optimized, augmented, and capitalized
• These words sounds great, but they say very little

Dont overuse jargon

• Leave white space on your resume, will allow the
  employer to
• read your resume more easily, will pick up the
  words you want seen
• Do not try to crunch every experience, activity,
  membership on your resume,
• choose and customize your resume based on your
  objective for a specific
• employer

Dont cram
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Why do Cover Letters matter?

• Cover letters help establish a personal
  relationship with the reader
• They create a mutual interest between reader and
  writer
• They draw on job description to define
  qualifications and experiences that fit the
  professional needs of the employer
• They may lead an employer to consider you for an
  interview even if your resume is not exactly on
  target
• Cover letters must answer 2 main questions
• Why you are interested in the position?
• How you do qualify for the position?
• What can you contribute?
• (Use specific resume points and expand to show
  examples of abilities)
• When creating your cover letter, keep in mind
  that
• Research is critical Demonstrated knowledge of
  the potential employer makes your total
  resume/cover letter package more effective
• Customization is important. Like your resume, a
  targeted cover letter builds a better case for
  the applicants match with the open position

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Structure of a Cover Letter
Return Address/Your Address The address should
be aligned with the rest of the text (generally
left)
Date Written out ex. April 18, 2002

• Name and Address of the Recipient The following
  should be included in this sequence
• Line 1 Persons full name (always make an effort
  to know the name rather than just Human
  Resource)
• Line 2 Persons Title
• Line 3 Department
• Line 4 Company Name
• Line 5 Street Address
• Line 6 City, State, ZIP code

Salutation Dear Mr., Ms., Dr., etc
Opening 1 short paragraph that announces the
purpose of the letter and gives the reader a
reason to read on
Body 2-3 paragraphs telling the reader why you
are interested and why you are qualified
Closing 2-3 sentences thanking the reader and
defining next steps/follow-up
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Cover Letter Opening, Body and Closing
Ms. Jane Student 10 Terp Drive City, MD
20748 April 18, 2002 Mr. John Benefit Human
Resources Manager Human Resources Division Shell
Shock, Inc. 19 Saddle Street City, MD 20748 Dear
Mr. Benefit Opening/Introduction Body Closi
ng Sincerely, Jane Student Jane Student
Opening/Introduction Reference previous
conversation or correspondence, if there has been
any. State how you found the job were you
recommended by a person the employer may know?
Briefly state your current situation why are
you interested in the job? Mention company name,
job title, etc. customize.
Body Define your accomplishments and how they
relate to the job. Elaborate on experiences on
your resume that connect with the
qualifications/experiences the employer seeks
be specific and customize. Show that you have
researched the company, Ex. Shell Shock, Inc.
has a long standing tradition of great customer
service, my experience as a . . . will contribute
to You may also explain large gaps of
unemployment.
Closing State the action you expect from the
recipient and/or the action you will take. Offer
specific time frames for the action, Ex. I will
follow-up with you in two weeks. Thank the
reader for his/her time and consideration.
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Helpful Career Center Resources and Services to
Help you Make the Most of your Student Employment
Experience at UM and Beyond!
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Career Center Resources

• TERP Online (TOL) is the University of Marylands
  FREE on-line database for internships, part-time
  and full-time jobs. These positions are listed
  exclusively for University of Maryland students.
  Additional opportunities are listed by our vendor
  partner, Experience, as part of a national
  databank of jobs.
• Each student can register to access TERP Online
  to create a profile, post their resume and
  supporting documents, search for jobs, and view
  the events calendar.
• On-Campus Interviewing (OCI)
• Job Binders in the Career Center
• Quickbucks
• Internship and Part Time Job Fair, Fall Career
  Fair, Spring Career Fair, Winter Job Fair,
  Diversity Job Search Series, etc.
• Same-Day Assistance Appointments and Individual
  Appointments.

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Questions? Thank You for Your Time!