Resumes & Cover Letters

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Resumes Cover Letters

• Seattle Pacific University
• The Career Development Center

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What is a Resume?

• An advertisement your personal billboard.
• A way to obtain an interview, not a job.
• A summary of your skills and accomplishments
  selected specifically to demonstrate your VALUE.
• Digested in 10-20 seconds.

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What are Employers Looking For?

• A Match!! A match with job qualifications,
  experience, education, and skills.
• A Fit!! A fit within their organization.

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Resume Writing Process

• Broad Inventory or Job Sketch.
• Write down everything you did in your job (daily,
  weekly, monthly, etc.)
• Relive your experience
• PAR Problem
• Action
• Result

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Resume Writing Process

• Identify Skills and Unique Contributions
• Organize, Prioritize, and Write
• Format
• Proofread, Proofread, Proofread!

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Components of a Good Resume
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Objective

• Objectives are theme statements that will help
  organize the rest of the resume.
• No pronouns or self-defining language.
• Formula
• Position Department/Area Industry Skills
  Objective

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Sample Objectives

• To obtain a position as a financial manager in
  the health care industry.
• Entry-level position in broadcast journalism at
  a commercial television station.
• To use computer science training in software
  development for designing and implementing
  operating systems.

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Skills/Qualifications

• Hard Skills
• Computer Programs
• Computer Languages
• Foreign Languages
• Soft Skills
• Communication/Writing
• Public Speaking
• Organization
• Problem Solving

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Skills Statement Examples

• Skills Summary
• Fluent in Word, Excel, Power Point, Front page,
  and Publisher
• Experienced in C, Pascal, and html
• Able to process and organize large volumes of
  records
• Learn quickly, seek out new responsibilities

• Qualifications
• Knowledge of Microsoft Office products.
• Fluent in Spanish and extensive travel throughout
  Spain and South America.
• Patient listener with excellent communications
  skills

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Education

• Full name of degree
• Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
• Full name of School
• Location
• Date
• Anticipated graduation June 2001
• GPA

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Education Example

• Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration,
  Emphasis in Marketing
• Seattle Pacific University, Seattle WA,
  Anticipated Graduation June 2001
• Major GPA 3.6 Deans List 6 out of 7 quarters
• Related Coursework_____,_____,_____

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Experience

• Employers are looking for
• Position/Title, Name of Company, Dates, and
  explanation of your responsibilities.
• Numbers and percents show accomplishments.
• Use action verbs and details. Be specific.
• Formula
• Action Verb Adjective Quantify Subject
  Results Experience Description

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Experience Examples

• Motivated and supervised eight sales staff to
  best sales volume in 25 store district.
• Developed procedures/orientation manual for
  community services division.

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Other Possible Headings

• Interests
• Activities
• Honors/Awards
• Special Skills
• Leadership
• Volunteer Activities
• Related Experience
• Travel
• Certifications

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Style of Resume

• Brief is best. One page.
• Avoid personal pronouns.
• Use action verbs.
• Use bullet points for skills or job descriptions.
• Clean, simple layout with few indented margins.
• Use of space can denote confidence.

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Organization/Layout

• Remember its an advertisementsell yourself with
  a few key points.
• Positioning on the page is important, what comes
  first gets read first.
• Reverse chronological order.
• Use CAPITALS, Bold, Underline, and Italicize to
  emphasize important features.

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Final Product

• Use laser printing.
• Use resume paper recommend white or off-white.
• Absolutely NO errors!!

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One Size Doesnt Fit AllDevelop multiple
versions of your resume

• Word processed document formatted for human
  eyes
• Scannable
• ASCII Text-only
• HTML coded file
• Targeted for specific positions

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Formatted vs. Electronic

• FORMATTED
• Viewed by a human being
• Written for quick visual scanning
• Formatted to be pleasing to the eye

• ELECTRONIC
• Loaded into a computer database
• Written to be searched
• Formatted for complete and exact transfer of data

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Electronic Resume Tips

• Save or create your resume as text-only
• Review your resume and replace all unsupported
  characters with their ASCII equivalent
• Break the one-page rule. 1-3 pages is OK.
• Personal home pages with resume link should be
  all business.

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Keywords are the Key

• Employers and recruiters search resume databases
  using keywords.
• Nouns and phrases that highlight technical and
  professional areas of expertise
• Industry-specific jargon
• Projects, achievements
• Personality and attitude
• Check the detailed job description.

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Submitting Electronic Resumes

• Dont send your resume as an attachment!
• Always include an appropriate subject line.
• When submitting a paper resume that will be
  scanned
• Do not fold
• If faxing, use fine mode

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Cover LettersPurpose of the Cover Letter

• Applying for specific known vacancies.
• Inquiring about possible openings.
• A business letter that professionally introduces
  your resume.
• Explains the reason for sending your resume and
  contains additional information not found in the
  resume.

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Preparing the Cover Letter

• Produced neatly on 8 ½ X 11 paper that matches
  your resume.
• Completely free of spelling, grammar, and
  punctuation errors.
• Customized for the specific position, employer,
  and contact person.
• Three or four brief paragraphs.

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What Makes a Cover Letter Stand Out?

• Clear, concise, well written, and interesting.
• Helps the employer easily see the match between
  their needs and your qualifications and
  experience.
• Shows your knowledge of the organization and its
  needs.
• An internal company reference.

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Whats in a Cover Letter?

• First Paragraph
• Who you are, Why you are writing, What position
  you are applying for, and How you learned of the
  opening.
• Second (Third) Paragraph(s)
• Make the case for why you are a match for the
  position. Point out related experience, specific
  skills, unique qualifications that you know they
  need.
• Final Paragraph
• Closing and follow up. State your desire for an
  interview, let them know how and when you can be
  reached. Unless they say No Calls, let them
  know when you will be calling to set up an
  appointment for an interview.