Hello everyone, I hope all is well. This week we will be discussing professional documents including the resume and the cover letter. At this point (college) we know how important a resume is in getting that perfect position within a company, or institution. We all got into college and probably had to write some derivation of a professional resume, and I am sure most of us have worked at least a few jobs, which required a resume to even be considered. I have often wondered how much a resume actually matters when a person is applying for a position, and I guess that really depends on the situation, but I believe it is very important. Often we are told that the key to securing the right job depends on who you know, rather than what, but that may or may not be the case. What do you all think?
An interesting point that defends the theory of a resume being important, is the fact that it will help a potential employer to better understand out interdisciplinary degrees. A professional resume will most likely list our education first, and with an interdisciplinary degree, we can adjust the description of that degree a bit depending on the position we are applying for. For example, I have applied for a job in public history, so I put Humanities before political science, and when I have applied for jobs at law firms, I put Political Science first, so that the emphasis is placed on that particular area of study that applies more to the position being applied for.
It seems important that the professional resume show how multidisciplined we IDS students are in terms of the variety of jobs we may have had, or at least how we have used interdisciplinary methods to work in a certain position, or perform a particular task. Do you all believe that a resume should focus on job variety or task variety within a particular position?
The cover letter is also a very important part of the application process. I believe that this also gives the applicant the opportunity to grab the attention of the potential employer by explaining our IDS degrees, or, more specifically, how our multi-disciplined educations make us a better fit for that particular job. When speaking with employers, many say that the cover letter will generally make or break an applicant's chances. The cover letter provides that initial, (first impression), of the applicant. How much weight do you believe is placed on the cover letter. Has it become obsolete? Has the resume itself become obsolete?
Of course, we have already discussed in an earlier post the important of an e-portfolio, so do you think that the E-Portfolio is enough? The next question is how does an employer even get an E-Portfolio? In my opinion, the good ol' hard copy resume is still extremely important in the application process as it gives the employer a good "first impression" of an applicant, and then the E-Portfolio could be given in the resume for further reference.
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Hello there! There was a lot to think about when reading your blog topic and how it relates to positions one applies for. A resume can be constructed with different compositions and really depends upon your situation, below are some examples of this.
ReplyDeleteIf its your first career oriented job straight out of college you would want to list Education or Academic Experience second under OBJECTIVE, which in my opinion should always come first as it is pro-active and demonstrates a little about yourself. Emphasize and elaborate on your educational background especially if you have not worked consistently.
The alternate situation is if you are seasoned with past employment you would want to list Objective than Skills or Experience, emphasize skills and tasks acquired from each position and college education third, than last a page of Employment History(names of companies worked for and brief description of work performed, ph.#).
Coverletters seem to be more important when applying for professional career positions. They comand attention and can be used to sum up your mission or objectives and proving why you stand apart from other applicants.
The question of if paper resume's are becomming a thing of the past is a good question. Last year while driving around I heard a interview on NPR 90.7 about this very topic. The analyst mentioned that the way today to get noticed for any saught after position with cutting-edge companies is to have an online portfolio or website as your resume. The reason for this is because the simple act of interacting was more fun for the employer (hiring mgr.) therefore causing the candidate to stand apart and more memorable.
I feel that the hard copy is more usable and can be carried and shared by recruiters more easily, therefore probably the way to go for most every job.
Thanks for reading, April Dilio
This week’s discussion is a very in depth one and I feel like it will help us all when we graduate to try to find our careers. In response to Ben's first paragraph I feel that in today's job field, it is about 95% who you know and not what you know. That’s why putting yourself out there to meet new people and connecting with them will put you ahead of the game. Networking is key in the business world. I feel that if you have a connection within a certain position you will get the job more so than someone who has just applied with no connections will. Many times you hear of a job opportunity through friends and then that begins the ball rolling. Now don't get my wrong, what you know is an extremely important part of getting the job but as for acquiring the job, I feel who you know is a bigger deal.
ReplyDeleteI believe the resume is an important tool in the workforce if it is done correctly. Many people go out with resumes that are not done properly and have errors on them. This is just setting you up for failure. You need to make sure you proofread your resumes, and also get a second opinion on them before putting them out for potential employers to see.
The cover letter is a big part of the resume because it gives the employer a little better look into the inner workings of the individual. Sometimes if you have a bad cover letter then an employer won't even look at the resume. So the cover letter must be as perfect and well balanced as the resume. It is not something to look over or an unimportant item. Everything is important when it comes to landing a job.
Stephanie Hart
I agree with most everything already stated. :)
ReplyDeleteI have come across this stuff first hand recently. I lost my job last November and was in need of getting a new one. I typed up a quick Microsoft Word Resume, without a cover-letter, because I thought "Who reads it anyway?". Well, nine months went by with no luck. I could not figure out what I was doing wrong!
So with much reluctance I went to the career center on campus. My worst fears were realized... I was afraid I was going to be ripped apart for my resume and they would tell me everything was wrong. And they did! lol My resume was setup in an outdated format and I was emphasizing things that didn't matter and didn't state things that did.
It was a great experience and I learned a lot about resumes and cover letters through them. And the best part was it was free!
If you can get on campus to the career center to have them look these over I recommend it. They are really nice and super helpful!
I ended up getting a job a month later with a court reporter as an administrative assistant. :) So yes, I think these documents are very important! :)
Good luck!
A resume is extremely important for an employer to reference when deciding who to interview. Of course it matters somewhat who you know, it is much easier to get you foot in the door with connections. But barring that it is the resume that speaks for you as a candidate.
ReplyDeleteAs far as whether one should emphasize job variety or the tasks involved at previous jobs, that completely depends on the situation. I think job history should be limited to relevant work to the position applied. If someone lacks relevant work history, describing tasks in previous jobs that relate is acceptable.
Next, neither the cover letter or the resume are obsolete. Both are extremely important for their own reasons. A cover letter is an opportunity to show a little of one's personality and include information about oneself that doesn't belong in a resume. It also provides the space to show, in one's own words, why they would make a good employee. The resume is still the most accessible example of a person's accomplishments and education. It puts that information directly in an employer's hands for easy reference.
Finally, I agree that the ePortfolio is a good augmentation that should be reserved until after the interview. The person hiring you has already put a face to the resume and may want to explore further and that should be the ePortfolio's job.
Jaime Pazos
I struggled quite a bit with this topic, as evidenced by my relatively late first post, but not for lack of possible responses. In fact, if anything, I really have a lot to say on the subject of resumes and cover letters, eportfolios and web presences as employment documents.
ReplyDeleteAs you all know by now, I spent many years as a Human Resources Director for a hospitality company. During that time, I learned to be a pretty good resume reader. I can usually immediately spot when someone is covering up some unsavory experiences with some well-placed wording, I know when someone is overstating their employment history and I can spot a fraud within just a few minutes of careful review. It's not that I have any special talents, it just goes along with the territory after seeing hundreds of resumes.
One thing that I would immediately advise against is having just one resume. You should have multiple resumes, each one geared to a different level of employment. You don't want to be sending a management level resume for a mid - level job. It will just be tossed in the trash heap. And here's a very important piece of advice. Within those groups of resumes, you must have a version for each job for which you are applying. Each time you apply for a job, review the job posting, job description and, if possible, the company culture and use those keywords as descriptors in your resume. That is, tailor your resume to match the company's wording. Many companies are now using keyword matching software to find applicant's who are exact matches for the skillsets they are attempting to fill.
Your resume should be a living document, constantly being updated. As you progress through your career, winning awards or achieiving goals, take out your resume and add those accomplishments right then. If you don't, and you later need to update your resume, you may forget important details of the event and risk not including it.
I beleive the cover letter...even when emailing a resume is very important. It is your opportunity to stand out among other candidates. Please, though, proofread it several times and ask someone who is not your Mom or your best friend to proof it as well! Since the mind often "reads" things that are not there, it is sometimes helpful to read the resume and cover letter in reverse order, sentence by sentence to make sure that all words are present and spelled correctly.
I know I will add more later (got a couple of other deadlines that must be met), so I will close out for now. I do have a killer resume format and, if I can figure out how turn it into a hyperlink, I will send it out to you all!
Gail Weinstein
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ReplyDeleteI believe the resume is very important. Many employers want to see a resume along with the application, so it really is the first impression, a lot of times it decides whether or not you get an interview. You have to sell yourself in your cover letter and resume, it really does make or break you.
ReplyDeleteHonestly I do not send cover letters, but like Gail said, it is important. Since the resume is what the institute, or employer, most likely sees first, it is a good idea to stand out among all others who are competing for that same spot.
Is it important to show variety within a position? Of course, being versatile can really bump you up a few spots. I did mention before that "Jack of all trades is a master of none", but those who are multilingual usually get priority over those who only speaks one and even two languages.
Emphasize the skills that pertain to the position, but also show that you are able to do a variety of tasks.
Felicia Banks
Gail-
ReplyDeleteI would love to see that resume format! I am constantly trying to better my resume. :)
I completely agree with you about the "living document". I never knew that you could make a 'different resume' for each position, I always thought it needed to be one document that you only updated when something new happened. :( Needless to say I didn't get very far with it.
But I do think that that is something that most people do. It is hard to think about keeping your resume current when you are in a position that you are pleased with currently.
Thank you so much for your professional input! I look forward to reading the following posts.
Amanda Anthony
Felicia,
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you have a very good understanding how resumes and cover letters can be beneficial to you in the job market. I also see that you have experience with sending out resumes but not cover letters. I am sure you have gotten may responses back from sending your resume out, but you may want to look at sending cover letters too because they are an important part of the application process. It will give you the experience and you may even realize you prefer to send a cover letter out because of the increased responses.
I really love your saying "jack of all trades, is a master of none." I feel this relates to us IDS students perfectly! We have the benefit of being able to put multiple areas of study on our resumes rather than just one! This will create new opportunities for us once we graduate.
Stephanie Hart
Jamie,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the opening to your blog because I read that you think that who you know helps you in today’s world as well. Yes, the resume does speak for itself but potentially if you know the right people, your resume could not even be looked at during the interview. These are very few circumstances but it can happen.
I also feel that neither the cover letter or resume is obsolete, nor will it ever be. There will always be some form of a resume that must be provided for professional work positions, it may be called another name in 20 years or so, but some variation of the resume will always be around. That is why it's important to understand the benefits of them now before we enter the job market.
The e-portfolio can be something for after the interview but it may be beneficial to put it on your resume as well. It may allow your employer to understand you better as a person, therefore helping them make a better decision when it comes interview time.
Stephanie Hart
I feel as though the resume is a great way to show our interdisciplinary studies. They can be placed under education, experience, and references. This sections allow us to show off our personality by what we have accomplished thus far.
ReplyDeleteThe cover letter is also an integral part of the application when applying for grad schools. This is also a great way to show how our diverse accomplishments and studies being IDS students. The cover letter can make you or break you because it is the first thing employers see. I feel it is very important to make it look as good as possible because of this.
In my personal resume, I placed IDS under the education section and broke it down to what my areas are. I then showed in my personal experience my interning at a pharmacy for a year. I also put in my references a pharmacist as evidence of my working for him, and a rabbi which covers my judaic studies minor. I think it is very important to reiterate ur interdisciplinary achievements throughout the resume so the employer knows you are serious about what your applying for.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though the E-portfolio is a great tool to help express and show your personality how you see fit. I think its great but also not as well known yet in the country. It is a nice add-on to a resume and cover letter. I also think that by having an e-portfolio, it shows that your want to take it to the next level and make yourself more competitive amongst other candidates. It should not be the only thing given to an employer. It can be given via the internet being that the internet has taken over everything in our generation.
ReplyDeleteI think that a resume is an important first impression. Your cover letter and resume are the first things employers see, and unfortunately sometimes they make initial decisions based on those. Personally, I think it depends on what job you are looking for. For a career in something like engineering, a resume is extremely important because employers are looking for criteria and experience. On the other hand, if you are applying for a social job, then your interview may weigh more than your resume because they want to see your people skills. Overall, I think it is good to tailor your resume to the job you are applying for.
ReplyDeleteJoanna Goldonowicz
If you may not have the opportunity for a one on one interview, a cover letter is perfect to make a good impression. Along with your resume, your cover letter is you on paper. You get to describe a little bit about you and help others to see your personality. Without the cover letter, your resume looks like a list without any flavor. Personally, I have gone gave employers my resume at my interview, and was able to talk with them about it, so I didn't really need a cover letter. If I had not had that opportunity, I definitely would have attached it to my resume.
ReplyDeleteJoanna Goldonowicz
With the e-portfolio, I think that it all depends on the employment situation. If you are applying for a job, and do not have an opportunity to meet with the employer(s) one on one, then I think the e-portfolio is an excellent tool. If employers are just looking at people's applications as a preliminary action, having an e-portfolio is an excellent edge in. I like how it shows different aspect of who you are and highlights experiences and achievements. It is a great tool if you cannot meet in person because it conveys more than a piece of paper. Ultimately, I think by creating our e-portfolios we are getting a jump start on the game of life.
ReplyDeleteJoanna Goldonowicz
Amanda,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned in one of your post that your resume format being old, and you going to the career center, I guess I can say I sound just like you. I have a resume that I kind of just put together, and as I said before I never used a cover letter because honestly I never needed it. I have heard about the career center looking over your resume, but I never thought that I would need to go. After hearing your story I think I might go because I plan on applying to pharmacy school and I want every part of my application to be as strong as possible, hopefully they don't butcher it too much...lol.
Gail,
ReplyDeleteI would also love to see that resume format, especially because it seems like you know what a strong resume should look like. It's funny that you say you can spot when people are trying cover up with wording, I am guilty, and I am sure a lot of are. I don't lie, but if I feel like I sound boring I try to spice it up with how I would word it. Another thing that I was talking to a friend about the other day was job titles; some job titles sound so much more important than the actual job, I find it funny. I guess I should start to take my resume and cover letter more serious.
I am so sorry that I failed to post my additional responses...the truth is I finished some work on a critical deadliine after a very hectic day at work and promptly fell asleep...only waking up to find that David Letterman was well past his monologue! I could not find the way to turn my resume into a hyperlink, so for those who would like to see it, drop me an email at daytonahr@aol.com (the one I check several times a day), and I will send it you via your email. Keep in mind, though, that it is designed to help a more seasoned candidate stress their skills over their actual jobs and that it eliminates position titles as they can, as Felicia indicated titles mean different things to different companies. I also have a very traditional format that I use when it is more appropriate. One look at its' very lenghty narratives that are position specific will tell you why I had to prepare the new one for the more forward thinking companies. Neither, though, exactly fits the eportfolio catergories well enough, so I had to deconstruct my actual resume to fit into all of the nice boxes of the format!
ReplyDeleteGail Weinstein