Career Materials

When creating your cover letter, here are some guidelines to follow:

• Your name and contact information should appear at the top of your cover letter just as it appears on your resume.
• Address the letter to the proper individual. Refrain from using “To whom it may concern,” “Dear Sirs,” or any other vague or gender exclusive greeting.
• Know what the employer is looking for in their employee and speak directly to those qualities and qualifications.
• Project confidence in your ability to do the job. Do not use “I think,” “I feel” or “I believe” in your cover letter. These phrases leave room for subjective interpretation and make you appear less than confident in your abilities.
• Refrain from revealing hobbies or personal interest in your cover letter unless they relate specifically to the position you are applying for.
• Don’t begin every sentence with “I.” Mix up your writing style and make the cover letter interesting to read.
• Proofread several times. Be sure to spell the name of the company and the individual correctly.
• Always include a cover letter any time you send or deliver your resume to a company. The cover letter always appears first in your application packet but is usually only read if you’re being considered for an interview.

Get started by documenting your experience, skills and accomplishments. Use data sheets to begin the process. Write down everything you remember about a job. It will be useful when constructing your resume.

After writing down absolutely everything you can think of, start sorting through the information. Think about the skills and techniques you used to accomplish tasks. Which of those skills, techniques and accomplishments are most appropriate for the position? Get a copy of the appropriate job description and customize your resume.

Once you have an idea about the skills, techniques and accomplishments you want to include, start formulating some bullet points. Bullet points should begin with action verbs and speak to your skills, responsibilities and accomplishments that you have to offer the employer. They should not be complete sentences. In fact, there should not be any complete sentences on your resume.

The format of your resume is important as it needs to be easy to follow and flow well as you don’t want the reader (employer) to struggle. When formatting, look at it through the eyes of an employer. Utilize bullet points so information is easy to find.

In addition, try to keep your resume to one page if possible. If you have a lot of relevant information, then it is okay to go onto a second page. Your resume should never be more than two pages long.

It is crucial that you have at least three people proofread your resume. Choose people who have strong spelling and grammar skills and that you can trust to be honest. Spelling and grammar errors on a resume can lead to it being thrown in the trash.

Contact Information

Your contact information should appear in exactly the same format at the top of each page in your application packet (cover letter, resume and references). Your contact information should include the following:

• First and last name
• Complete street address
• City, state and zip code
• Daytime phone number
• Email address

Guidelines for Your Contact Information:

• The font size of your name should be 4-8 points larger than the rest of your text.
• Your voice mail recording should be business appropriate. There should be no music, profanity or children on your voice mail recording. Keep it short and business-like.
• Avoid ring-back tones. They play negatively into an employer’s first impression of you.
• Include an email address only if you check it regularly. Make sure your email address is business appropriate. The best option is to use your name without any numbers.
• Do not include the hyperlink of your email address.

 Objective

The objective should be short and include the name of the position. An ideal objective tells the employer exactly what you are applying for.

EXAMPLE:

Objective: Customer Service Representative at company XYZ.

Summary of Qualifications

The Summary of Qualifications section should include 5-8 bullet points of the most important information an employer should know about you. Speak to the specific skills and qualifications you have that make you the perfect candidate for the job. If you have previous experience in the field or specialized training in a certain aspect of the job, list it here. Again, use bullet points that begin with action verbs.

EXAMPLES:

• Speak fluent conversational Spanish
• Type 70 words per minute
• CPR certified through May 2009
• Highly organized and pay special attention to details
• Enthusiastic and motivational when assisting patients during rehabilitation exercises

Education

Your education information should include the following:

• Name of college(s) along with the city and state
• Degree you are working toward and program of study
• Expected graduation date
• GPA, if 3.0 or higher on 4.0 scale
• Clubs and organizations
• Special awards or recognition

Guidelines for Your Education Information:

• All education information should be in reverse chronological order (most recent first).
• Be sure to spell the name of your college(s) correctly. Lake Land College is 3 words and does not include “community”.
• In general, it is recommend that you do not include your high school on their resume. Once college coursework has begun, the high school information is not as important.

EXAMPLE:

Experience

This section not only tells the reader where you worked, but gives you the chance to really sell your skills. Your experience information should include the following:

• Company name along with the city and state
• Title of the position you held
• Dates (month & year) when you worked there
• 5-7 strong bullet points that begin with action verbs (in the correct tense) that speak to skills and responsibilities that will also be needed in the job you are applying for

Guidelines for Your Experience Information:

• All employment information should be in reverse chronological order (most recent first).
• Use keywords that highlight your skills and experience.
• Don’t write two word bullet points.
• Avoid using the word “assisted.” Focus on what you actually did.
• Refrain from using big words trying to sound smarter. It will come across as fake, and you run the risk of using the word inappropriately.
• Avoid repeating the same bullet point for multiple positions.

EXAMPLES:

• Provided exceptional front-line customer service
• Prepared information packets to be mailed to potential students
• Completed inventory control paperwork at the end of each shift
• Stocked shelves and tracked inventory needs
• Answered multi-line phone system and directed callers to appropriate personnel
• Reconciled cash drawer at the end of shift
• Developed and maintained Excel spreadsheets to track office expenditures
• Accepted customer payments and provided correct change
• Typed documents and input data using Microsoft Word, Excel and Access

Transferable Skills

Transferable skills are skills you have acquired during various activities and aspects in your life that are transferable and applicable to your job search. In other words, they are skills that you already have that you can use in your new field of work or in the job position you are applying for. Don’t forget the skills that you use at your current job as well. Just because it may be a different line of work than the position you are applying for doesn’t mean another employer will not benefit.

Even though you may not realize it, you have a plethora of skills that you use daily, such as time management, leadership, multi-tasking, and so on.

IDENTIFYING TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

This process begins by reflecting on all of your relevant experiences that may include work experience, academics, extracurricular activities, and life experiences. When identifying your transferable skills, consider these categories:

• Communication (oral and written)
• Interpersonal
• Leadership
• Organizational
• Work Ethic & Personality Traits

Many of these categories are used in jobs that you will be applying for. Therefore, it would be to your benefit to include the skills you possess in these categories in your cover letter and on your resume.

Use the transferable skills worksheet to help you identify the skills you have used in previous positions and choose the skills that you would use in the job you are applying for. Use these when creating your cover letter and resume to demonstrate you are qualified for the position. When preparing for an interview, practice giving examples of situations in which you used these skills.

EXAMPLES:

• As a student, you use multi-tasking skills when balancing homework between several classes. You are able to meet deadlines when you turn a paper in on time. You conduct research for projects and papers. Additionally, you reach goals by working hard and earning the grades you want.
• What if you are working at a job already but do not feel your skills will transfer to the job you want? Think again! Let’s use the example of a waitress who is applying for a secretarial position. A waitress uses multi-tasking skills by balancing the needs of several tables at once, provides customer service to her guests through conversation and handling conflicts, listens attentively as the guest requests food and beverage items and relays food orders from the guest to the cook staff. A secretary uses these skills everyday! A secretary uses multi-tasking skills when answering phones and assisting individuals in the office, customer service skills when working on the frontlines with customers to make a positive first impression, listening skills when determining customers’ and supervisors’ needs and relays information from customers to supervisors.

There are several additional headings that can be included on your resume. You must consider your personal situation and determine if any of the additional headings are appropriate for you. Just remember to format these sections in the same way you do the rest of your resume.

• Additional Training
• Volunteer Experience
• Leadership Experience
• Internship/Practicum/Clinical Experience
• Related Experience

Certain items should not be included on resume and could negatively impact your chances of securing a position. Items not to include are:

• Social Security Number
• Height, weight and health status
• Age
• Reason for leaving a position
• Hobbies and interests
• Supervisors’ names
• Full address of companies and colleges
• Grade school, high school and/or year of graduation
• Marital status and whether or not you have children
• Full or part-time status for positions held
• How long it took to complete a college program
• Be cautious of including anything that speaks to your religious or political beliefs.

This is the best part – you get to pick your references. You need to find three to five people who will speak positive of you. It is very important that you ask people if they are willing to serve as a reference so that they have time to think and prepare what they will say. To help them best prepare, provide them with a copy of your resume, tell them where you are applying and let them know what kind of jobs you’re interested in.

You should have two sets of references, personal and professional. Each set should include three to five people. Family members should not be used as references.

Good personal references are long-time friends, coaches, team members, peer volunteers and members of organizations you are affiliated with. These people should know you well enough to provide good insight into your personality and overall character.

Good professional references are instructors, past and present employers/supervisors, select co-workers and internship supervisors. These people should be able to speak on your technical ability to perform the job duties, how quickly you learn new tasks, your attention to detail and the likelihood if they would hire you again if they had the chance.

References are listed on their own page – one page for professional references and one for personal references. It is customary to send references with your application packet, and you must send them whenever requested in a job posting.

Letters of recommendation are wonderful and should be kept as part of your portfolio. Copies of the letters can also be forwarded with your application material. However, they cannot stand alone. Even if you provide written recommendations you will still need to provide a list of references that a potential employer can contact on their own.

A working portfolio is a collection of all of your work that you continue to add to and update over time. The following items are suggested for your working portfolio:

To create your working portfolio, start by gathering all possible items that demonstrate your abilities, achievements, assets, creativity, personality, and such. Organize these items in a logical order and make it easily accessible so that you can quickly pull documents from it when job opportunities arise.

An interview portfolio is a three ring binder with tabbed pages encompassing only the items pertinent to the job you are applying for. Just as resumes should be tailored to each position you apply for, so too should your portfolio. Customizing your portfolio will show a potential employer that you understand and possess the qualities needed to get the job done. Include three to four samples in each skill area you select to promote in your portfolio. Using your interview portfolio in an interview will present a visual picture of your qualifications and will help an employer remember who you are. The following items are suggested for your interview portfolio:

If items from your working portfolio become relevant to an interview, you will pull them from your working portfolio and place them into your interview portfolio.

• Keep fonts simple, proportionally sized, and uniform throughout your portfolio.
• Use underlining, bolding and italics conservatively.
• Single space your text.
• Use subtle colors and a consistent style.
• Spell check and proofread everything.
• Allow for a ¾” to 1” margin around the entire page of the document.
• Print documents on nice, plain resume paper with a high quality printer.