Resumes & Cover Letters - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Resumes & Cover Letters

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Resumes & Cover Letters Seattle Pacific University The Career Development Center What is a Resume? An advertisement your personal billboard. A way to obtain an ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Resumes & Cover Letters


1
Resumes Cover Letters
  • Seattle Pacific University
  • The Career Development Center

2
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.

3
What are Employers Looking For?
  • A Match!! A match with job qualifications,
    experience, education, and skills.
  • A Fit!! A fit within their organization.

4
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

5
Resume Writing Process
  • Identify Skills and Unique Contributions
  • Organize, Prioritize, and Write
  • Format
  • Proofread, Proofread, Proofread!

6
Components of a Good Resume
7
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

8
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.

9
Skills/Qualifications
  • Hard Skills
  • Computer Programs
  • Computer Languages
  • Foreign Languages
  • Soft Skills
  • Communication/Writing
  • Public Speaking
  • Organization
  • Problem Solving

10
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

11
Education
  • Full name of degree
  • Bachelor of Arts in Political Science.
  • Full name of School
  • Location
  • Date
  • Anticipated graduation June 2001
  • GPA

12
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_____,_____,_____

13
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

14
Experience Examples
  • Motivated and supervised eight sales staff to
    best sales volume in 25 store district.
  • Developed procedures/orientation manual for
    community services division.

15
Other Possible Headings
  • Interests
  • Activities
  • Honors/Awards
  • Special Skills
  • Leadership
  • Volunteer Activities
  • Related Experience
  • Travel
  • Certifications

16
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.

17
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.

18
Final Product
  • Use laser printing.
  • Use resume paper recommend white or off-white.
  • Absolutely NO errors!!

19
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

20
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

21
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.

22
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23
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24
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.

25
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

26
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.

27
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.

28
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.

29
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.
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