From your experience, what has worked and not worked for you when submitting your resume for a job position?
Having complete, thoughtful bullet points are incredibly important. Formatting is also very important.
I may be a bit emotional today, but I just received eight applications for an open position in my department, and I’m wondering if anyone still learns how to write appropriate resumes and cover letters. The applications I received are all from people who went to excellent colleges and who have graduate degrees. And there are basic errors everywhere! I won’t interview any of them because if they don’t care enough to do a good job on their application, what does that say about how they will perform on the job?
Please:
- Include dates for your degrees and your work positions
- Use parallel construction (and, yes, bullet points and clean formatting) for all entries
- Use active verbs to describe your work tasks
- Proofread everything and have someone else proofread your work as well
- Explain why you are interested in the position, especially if it is a career shift for you
- Address your cover letter to the correct person
- Use basic business letter format
- Think about which skills are important for the position (do not list everything you have ever done) and highlight those
- Use your career center if you are in school and ask them to go through your resume and cover letter before you send anything out
- Only apply for those jobs for which you qualify and which you would really want if you were offered the position
- Be professional and clear in the cover letter, not cutesy or clever
Best of luck–and remember to use all resources available to you–career center, samples online, friends, and relatives.
^^^ Excellent post!!!
I read a cover letter once from a teacher looking to work in my school. She raved and raved and raved about the school where she student taught. Unfortunately, it wasn’t our school. Ouch.
Another time, a lovely letter got the name of the school completely wrong. Another Ouch.
Match your skills with each and every one of the bullet points (read skills needed) for the job. If you do not have something that they list, address how you would be willing to learn a new skill or have another skill that could be applied (and list how it can be applied). Someone is reading lots of resumes, make their job easier. Also, including hobbies or volunteer work on the bottom of the page is very helpful. A great business person told me this once, don’t lose the opportunity to let someone see you as a whole person. I have had so many people comment on my hobbies and other listings it gives them something to talk about during an interview as well. And please no grammar or spelling mistakes.
@ZZdecision2016 @bjkmom @Happytimes2001: I appreciate your responses very much. I found them very helpful!
I would like to comment on @ZZdecision2016’s post. He/She highlights two points that grabbed my attention: Points (5) and (10). I often find myself applying for positions that I have a strong interested in, but they have nothing to do with my expertise. When this happens, I get discouraged because I know that my chances to get an offer are limited since most employers generally look for candidates who have a plethora of work experience in that field. Though I am proud of my talents and skills and have no doubt I can perform well in these roles, I fear that my lack of experience would make the employers think I am not qualified for these positions. For instance, I once applied for a translator position with a non-profit organization. Even though I am fluent in the language I was interested in, I didn’t pass the interview because apparently, I had no experience. How do I know this? After reviewing my resume, the interviewer kindly asked me: “Why don’t you consider a role as a math teacher?” minutes later my interview was over.
As @ZZdecision2016 mentions, one could always write on the cover letter about their intentions to shift careers. However, this thought contradicts his/her point (10). Most jobs I have applied to specifically want their applicants to have some years of experience. This fact may represent a nightmare for people like me, who share diverse interests and seek to explore different fields. Apparently, if one wants to shift careers, the best way to do it would be by volunteering or holding a non-paid internship in that field of interest so they can add that experience to their resumes. For example, I don’t think it’s easy for someone to hold a job as a math teacher when all they’ve done is related to psychology. For reasons like these, some employers are very careful in selecting their candidates. Perhaps I’m going off topic, but I just wanted to state my views on @ZZdecision2016’s points (5) and (10) to keep the conversation going.
Good question, @LawGreen14. I think if you are switching fields, it’s important to be willing to do an internship and/or take specific classes to prepare for the change. Sometimes it’s hard to know all that is involved in a position until you are actually doing it for some time. From the outside world, the position can seem easy to do. From the inside world of the job, however, you will see that so many more details and skills are involved. So I think that showing a willingness to learn in your cover letter and listing some job-specific items on your resume (volunteer work, classes, informational interviews, etc.) will prove that you are in the process of making the shift with “eyes wide open.” This will make you a stronger candidate.
So you will be walking a fine line between showing that you have the confidence, interest, and ability to learn about a new field and ALSO the humility to acknowledge that there is a lot to learn. This way, you respect the job/field you hope to join and understand that the job is a skilled one that takes time to do well.