if you or your awesome college student is applying for a job here are some simple things to remember when preparing your resume. (you would be surprised how many people make these blunders.)
http://www.businessinsider.com/annoying-mistakes-job-seekers-make-2017-3
another thing that bothers me is when you have a weird email address like elwhacklocoman1994@ your email address you thought was cool when you got it at 15 needs replaced or at least get a second one for job searches and such.
also there is a back and forth debate on cover letters ( I personally think they are silly and a waste but many people do not agree with me)
The professional email address should start with college application time, way before job search time.
true…but surprisingly not uncommon.
I think it’s not always a personal choice. My D recently started a new job and during the search, some employers didn’t want cover letters and some made clear that they wouldn’t review applications without cover letters. Our unscientific, small sample survey, showed that smaller employers did want cover letters, maybe because fit was more important.
Some of her points are good, although it seems obvious that resumes should be proofread for typos, but some of her points were stylistic and subjective. I agree that it’s important to make good use of white space, but what’s annoying to me (as a former graphic designer) may not be to someone else. And eliminating keywords could work against applicants when the first round may be via a computer searching for specific terms. I do think it’s a good idea to use accomplishments instead of duties in job descriptions, and I agree that making the summary key points instead of a paragraph makes resumes easier to read.
zoosermom you maybe correct. but I personally dislike them, it is the dating equivalent of I like long walks on the beach and rainy days watching Netflix. (canned)
I once got a job due to my cover letter. I am in technology. My resume is a technologist’s resume, fairly terse. The hiring organization specifically mentioned that they thought I was a great writer given the cover letter. That’s what sealed the deal.
Granted that was centuries ago, but there are still employers who are looking for the whole person and not just specific skills.
In academia I have seen cover letters run two or even three single-spaced pages. They are taken very seriously.
When I was in Germany (mid 1980s) I read somewhere that cover letters were expected to be handwritten. So I got out my best calligraphy pen and wrote the thing in modified italics. The guys who hired me mentioned that my handwriting was beautiful!
I would always include a cover letter unless the potential employer specifically requested that I not send one.
A cover letter gives context to your resume and connects it directly to the job. Also, if you are a strong writer, a cover letter is a way to demonstrate that (as @ChowdyCat mentioned) since resumes tend to be very formulaic.
Say I met someone at a conference and we were having a discussion about something and that person asked for a resume. My cover letter would be something along the lines of “I enjoyed our conversation last week. Attached is the resume you requested. After our discussion, I looked into the foo mechanism you mentioned and I agree, it looks very promising. When I worked on the flubber project we used a similar approach…”
@mathmom - That is so cool. I would be living in a cardboard box if good handwriting were a job requirement but if a job applicant submitted a resume with a beautifully handwritten written cover letter I’d be tickled and it would be a plus mark for the applicant.
It seems obvious that the resumes should be proofread, but so many aren’t. I hire for jobs that include a writing component. Applicants do not seem to realize that their resumes are the first writing sample we see, and it also showcases their attention to detail - or, often, lack thereof.
I see a lot of sentences where a word is skipped or repeated. This could have been avoided if the applicant gave the resume to someone to read over. The more feedback, the better.
I also notice a lot of capitalization that is inconsistent, wrong, or both.
When I find a resume that goes into a “Yes” or “Maybe” pile and it is accompanied by a cover letter, I’ll read it. I don’t like to write cover letters myself, but there are employers that require them.
On cover letters – this advice is specifically for fields like communications/media (in this case, NPR internship applications) – but it is very specific, coming from the people doing the hiring:
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/02/27/502445571/hey-students-5-things-that-are-wrong-with-your-cover-letter