For our week 6 meeting, SIM held its very first resume/cover letter workshop! Krisztina Kecskei from the UCLA Career Center gave a very informative and thorough presentation on how to craft the perfect resume and cover letter to land you an interview.
Resume:
Your resume should be one page only and have consistent formatting and styling. Your potential employer will only look at your resume for 15-30 seconds, so it’s important that it be targeted to the specific company and position, concise, and easy to read. That means avoiding the bells and whistles of tables and text boxes, and including buzz words from the company’s website and job posting. Krisztina advises that you copy and paste–that will catch the hiring manager’s eye.
In terms of what to put on your resume, put your education and relevant skills and experiences. You may also consider including extracurricular activities, community service, honors & awards, and publications as separate sections You are not expected to put everything you have ever done on your resume.
Your education section should at a minimum include your institution, degree, and expected graduation date. If you are a transfer student, list your community college. If your GPA is above 3.0, list that as well. Academic honors, awards, relevant coursework, and study abroad experiences could also go under this section.
Your experience sections should list your experiences in reverse chronological order. You should also have bullet points detailing what you did. They should be easy to read and be 1-2 lines max. To build strong bullet points, use action verbs and quantify results. A list of good action verbs can be found in the Career Guide here. Each experience should have 3-4 bullet points.
Cover letter
The purpose of the cover letter is to grab the reader’s attention and differentiate yourself. It should communicate interest in the organization and fit for the position as well as convince the hiring manager that your skills and accomplishment align with what’s needed for the position. One advantage of a cover letter is that your voice and personality can shine through, which can help you stand out from others. As such, avoid cover letter templates that take a fill-in-the-blank approach.
The format of a cover letter should be the same as your resume–same font and font size, same margins, and same heading. The parts of the cover letter include your greeting, body paragraphs, and salutations. The date and company address should be included, too. To see a visual of what this should look like, reference page 47 of the Career Guide.
Your introduction should hook the reader with a story. Introduce yourself, state the position you are applying to, and what specifically drove you to apply.
For your body paragraphs, Krisztina suggests selecting 2-3 major accomplishments to write about in more detail than is covered on your resume. This also means you shouldn’t write about everything that’s on your resume. Once again, you want to connect the position’s needs to your skills. Research the company, address the employer’s needs, and actively promote yourself.
In your concluding paragraph, you should restate and summarize what you already talked about. Also important is to reemphasize your interest. Then politely thank the employer for their time and always request an interview.
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