Your Week 4 assignment requires you to draft a resume tailored to the job ad you analyzed for your Week 3 assignment.
Note that word: “tailored.” People often talk about resumes as if they are monolithic artifacts, created once and then built upon over time. No: the resume should be a much more supple, ever-changing document.
Think of it as a snapshot of your experience that demonstrates why YOU are the right person for the job you’re applying for. Not all of your experience will be relevant to every job, and the more carefully you shape each resume to the specific position, the more effectively you demonstrate your interest in that job and organization.
In preparation for writing the Week 4 assignment, use this blog post as an opportunity to crowd-source what you do and don’t know about writing resumes. Write one comment in which you identify a few things that you’re fairly certain are true about good resume strategy, and then write one comment in which you raise a question about some element of resume-writing that you’re genuinely unsure about. If you have a response to a classmate’s question, feel free to post that as well!
To do: Make sure it’s truthful and to the point, hook them in the first line or look then prove it. Elaborate and add more things in your cover letter to sell yourself. Keep your resume up to date.
Questions: Employers ask salary questions and I never know what to say, I’ve never had a set salary before. How truthful can you be with your objective? What if you can’t make the second blank page on your resume go away?
Try to keep it to one page if it’s a hard copy, make your name stand out, be concise — honestly everyone has already made really good points about what you should do.
Is saying “references available upon request” or listing references something that employers actually want to see?
Great question! Current wisdom on this issue is that IF employers have asked for references, they should be listed on a second page with full contact information. Otherwise, all reference to references (see what I did there?) should be avoided. Let it be assumed that if the employer needs to call references, you will have them ready to hand–pointing it out sounds amateur-ish.
Be concise! It doesn’t need to be lengthy to make it seem like I did more than I did.
Should I change the action verbs of my resume depending on what job application I’m filling out?
Yes! Precise action verbs can be a great way to tailor your resume for the job. For example, if teamwork seems really central to the position, you can say you “collaborated” on a particular project, but for another position (one that stresses information-gathering) it might be more effected to say you “consulted” with co-workers to bring about a particular end.
Make sure your bullet points are very specific to what you did. (for example, how many people you were at your event/how many articles have you published).
What does everyone think about having different experiences on your resume where you did practically the same thing?
Depends! If the “same thing” is not directly relevant to the job than pointing out that you ran a cash register for three different business may not be that helpful in demonstrating your skills for a job that’s all about writing excellent copy. If the job is one that requires customer service or money-handling skills, that cumulative experience can be an asset.
Make sure that it’s aesthetically appealing (check for consistent formatting), and choose to use dynamic/action verbs to describe your experience.
Should your resume include information that you will write about in your cover letter/letter of interest, or is that too redundant/a misuse of space?
Avoid being wordy and make all your bullet points relevant!
When should I include relevant coursework?
That’s a tricky one! Some people put it in the “education” section, some put it in a “skills” section. Generally, I think the former is more effective. Just because you had a class in something doesn’t mean you’re “skilled” at it, but it does mean that you probably understand the thing better than someone with no background and can talk about it in an interview.