Creating an Effective Resume & Cover Letter

1. Creating an Effective Resume &Cover Letter

2. Objectives • Purpose of a resume • Types of Resumes • Proper Resume Sections • Use of keywords & action verbs • What to include and exclude • Cover Letters

3. Purpose of a Resume • Application Tool Professional position, research projects, Graduate School • Marketing Tool To demonstrate experience and skills to clients • Summary of Professional Life & Skills Does not include personal information that is not applicable to Career • Work in Progress *Your resume should continually evolve*

4. Types of Resumes • Traditional Chronological Resume • Functional Resume • Federal Resume *Curriculum Vitae* Course of Life

5. Resume Basics • Resumes should be concise • Easy to read & align visually • New college grads with little experience only need a one page resume • Some graduate students and alumni may need a two-page resume • Determine what skills and achievements are necessary for your resume – keep only those that will help you get the job you are seeking SPELL CHECK!!!!! **Optimal Resume https://fit.optimalresume.com/**

6. Basic Section Titles • Name • Contact information • Objective • Summary of Qualifications • Education • Research • Related Experience / Employment Experience • Volunteer Experience • Activities & Honors / Professional Memberships • Skills

7. Contact information First Last professional@email.com Current (Until May 6, 2012) Permanent 1000 Melbourne Avenue – 2587 1234 Main Street Melbourne, FL 32901 City, IL 12345 123-456-7890 (cell) 222-222-2222 FIRST LAST 1500 Melbourne Avenue #123 Melbourne, FL 32901 321-123-4567 (cell) jjob@my.fit.edu FIRST LAST 123 Main Street, Melbourne, FL, 32901 321.222.1111 jjob@my.fit.edu

8. Objective Statement • Tailor your objective for field/position, consider revising for every position • Include specific skills necessary for the position that you have to offer About You What are your main qualifications? What positions do you seek? What are your professional goals? What type of organization or work setting are you interested in? About the Organization Which of your qualifications are most desired by your resume's readers? What are some goals of the organizations that interest you? What types of organizations or work settings are now hiring?

9. Objective Statement Samples • A position as a Support Specialist allowing me to use my skills in the fields of computer science and management information systems • Experience in payroll, program implementation, and Human Resource organizational structure. Accomplishments include: • Understanding of Benefit Administration and Labor Laws • Knowledge of human motivation factors • Administering counseling, support, career guidance and development • To obtain experience through an internship in the lab or field to utilize my knowledge of the biological sciences and to better my understanding of ecology.

10. Education • List most current education first • Omit high school • Bold major • Anticipated graduation date • GPA if over 3.0 • Related coursework – bulleted list of 4-6 related courses Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, FL Bachelor of Science, Marine Biology GPA: 3.45 Anticipated graduation: May 2012

11. Qualifications • Summary of qualifications and Objective Statement can be combined. • List several experiences and skills necessary for the position that are not obvious in your resume • Section to include keywords and requirements that have been stated in a job description. Results-producing Marketing Professional with a proven record in planning comprehensive marketing strategies within a bilingual market. Expertise in creating and executing successful marketing tools and programs within a team environment by driving growth in targeted markets.

12. Work/Related Experience Format • List Position, Organization, Location, and Employment Dates • List in reverse chronological order • Use past tense for previous positions • Start each description with an action verb (Utilize, Determine, Conduct). Make sure that all of your descriptions are full statements. • Florida Institute of Technology, Resident Assistant, Melbourne, FL, August 2009 - May 2010 • Served as peer counselor and assisted over 50 residents in transitioning to campus culture • Enforced college policies to ensure campus health safety standards were met • Organized, promoted and implemented educational workshops and social activities for residents • Resident Assistant 9/2009-5/2010 • Florida Institute of Technology Melbourne, FL • Served as peer counselor and assisted over 50 residents in transitioning to campus culture in several capacities: • Organized, promoted and implemented educational workshops and social activities for residents • Enforced college policies to ensure campus health safety standards were met

13. Work/Related Experience Formula for describing your responsibilities and accomplishments: What did you do > How did you do it > For what purpose > What was the result? Systems Administrator Rough notes: I helped migrate more than 1,000 users from local servers to corporate Unix DCS servers. My boss wanted this done in a month, and unbelievably, I achieved this. Formulated Statement: Integrally involved in seamless migration of 1,000-plus users from various local servers onto DCS corporate UNIX servers in aggressive one-month timeframe. Administrative Assistant Rough notes: On my first day on the job, I couldn't find anything, because the filing system was a mess. Customers were unhappy, because wait times were long as we located files. I reorganized the filing system, which now works beautifully. Formulated Statement: Improved office efficiency and customer service by overhauling previously haphazard filing system implementing a new charting system.

14. Work/Related Experience Tips • List tangible results and skills where possible. • Avoid using pronouns such as “I” or ”my” in describing your responsibilities and throughout your resume. • List only the past 10 years of work experience, or last five positions. • If you have a lot of previous work experience dating more than five years back and is not related to the position you are trying to obtain, consider condensing into one statement listing the positions or companies (which ever is more relevant) and the situation for the various positions: • 1995-2000 Held progressive positions in ______, _______, _______, _______ while attending Institution and receiving a _______ degree.

15. Keywords & Action Verbs • Checked • Classified • Coached • Collated • Collected • Communicated • Compiled • Completed • Composed • Conducted • Consolidated • Constructed • Controlled • Counseled • Created • Dealt • Delegated • Delivered • Demonstrated • Designed • Determined • Diagnosed • Directed • Drafted • Edited • Eliminated • Encouraged • Evaluated • Exhibited • Expedited • Forecasted • Found • Generated • Guided • Hired • Implemented • Improved • Increased • Influenced • Initiated • Innovated • Integrated • Interpreted • Invented • Invested • Launched • Led • Lobbied • Maintained • Managed • Measured • Mediated • Negotiated • Organized • Participated • Planned • Predicted • Programmed • Proposed • Reduced • Revised • Simplified • Streamlined • Systemized • Upgraded • Accelerated • Accomplished • Accounted • Achieved • Acquired • Adapted • Administered • Adopted • Advised • Advocated • Aided • Allocated • Analyzed • Appraised • Arranged • Assembled • Based • Budgeted • Built

16. Research related to your major Articles published (use proper citing for your major) Senior design project – describe goal of project and accomplishments Volunteering shows responsibility, dedication, and involvement Especially valuable if major related Use the same format as for work experience but identify volunteer work under a separate heading Research & Volunteer Experience

17. Activities & Memberships • Campus organizations – clubs, sports, student government, etc. • Honor societies related to your major (Psi Chi, Alpha Eta Rho) • Professional organizations: • IEEE • NSBE • SWE • Special scholarships – exclude amount • Awards • Certifications (Aircraft, Teaching, etc) • Leave off high school accomplishments • List most relevant activities

18. Skills • Lab skills (Proficient with laboratory and field equipment) • Basic software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) • Programming languages (C/C++, Perl, Java, C#, Fortran, SQL, PHP) • IEEE standards & Engineering concepts • Specialty Software • Aircraft flown (PA-2-161, Mooney M20J, etc) • Flight time (PIC, Dual Given, Instrument, Complex, Multi-Engine) • Fluency or knowledge of a foreign language

19. Dos & Don’ts • Do include all relevant experience • Do use a legible font face and size • Do include enough white space to allow for skimming • Do use bulleted lists • Do try to stick to one page unless you are a skilled professional • Don’t include your SSN, Photo, Marital Status, etc • Don’t use more than two fonts • Don’t put references on the resume – create a separate sheet • Don’t use excessive bold face/italics or an ink color other than black

20. Cover Letters • Opportunity to introduce yourself to the employer • Provide enhanced details about your qualifications • Point out specific experiences which make you an excellent fit for the position • A cover letter does not need to be lengthy and should not exceed one page

21. Cover Letters • Paragraph #1: How you learned about the job? Identifying your source of information about the job. • Paragraph #2: Why you are interested? Address the reasons you are motivated. • Paragraph #3: How you are qualified?Opportunity to relate your qualifications to the various skills the employer has outlined in the position description. • Paragraph #4: What steps you plan to take to be considered? Summarize your interest in the position, show appreciation, indicate contact information for further information, and take responsibility for following up.

22. Career Management Services • Part-time and full-time job postings – College Central Network • Internships & Co-op • ProTrack Co-op • Federal Work-study • Florida Work Experience Program • Workshops • Resume & cover letter critiques • Career Fair & Employer Day • Mock interviews

23. Contact Us Dona Gaynor, Director dgaynor@fit.edu Elizabeth Farney, Assistant Director efarney@fit.edu