Cover letters and Resume

Ryan Kaye-

The resume that I have put together really highlights everything that I have done as a student growing up and the things that I have accomplished throughout my college career. The classes that I have taken can really highlight my intersisciplinarity as well as all of the other things I have done or participated in over time.

The questions that I always have about cover letters include the following: What would be the most important thing to write in the body of the cover letter. Should I include references in my cover letter? and What is the biggest mistake that people make when writing a cover letter?

There are many different resources you can use and places to go when searching about cover letters and resumes. I usually go to the UCF library and check out books that they have which help you put together a cover letter or resume. There are also many websites that you can use that will guide you through the steps to make a cover letter. I recommend you use the most important information that you have accomplished over the years and make sure its enough but not to much. If anyone has any questions about any of this I will be glad to answer them for you.

Kaitlyn-

My best advice for writing a cover letter is to not spend too much time reading samples from other people. Yes, there's a format it should pretty much follow, but aside from that, the worst thing you could do is produce something formulaic. I usually just sit down, and pour out everything (with revisions, of course) that I would say in person, if I were to meet them. Why am I contacting them? What is it about the company that makes me interested? Then, what is it about me that fits with this? This is your chance to show them they need you, even if they don't know it yet. I think many people see a cover letter as a formality, something you "just have to do". I feel strongly that the cover letter is everything. Everyone is going to have a similar resume, as (hopefully) they wouldn't be applying for a job for which they are not qualified. Your cover letter is what will get them interested. It is what will show them YOU. Use it as an opportunity to showcase yourself. The best you can ask for is to give a hint of your personality--I, happily, have gotten great feedback about my writing style. Actually, a respone I've got made me particularly elated, so I'm going to share.

Since there are pretty much no actual job listings for what I'm looking for, I've been sending out resumes to interesting companies that weren't expecting anything. The last person I went for an informational interview with (because unfortunately they, like everyone else, are not hiring) told me this: "I'm glad I actually opened your letter when I got it in the mail, because when I read it, I had to talk to you. Even if we're not hiring, we're always looking to meet the right kind of people, and you seem like you could be one of them. Either that, or you're just great at spinning". This I found pretty funny. While my letter was sincere, I know I sold myself. So that's my point: make it you, make it personal, and make it good :).

As for the resume, I think there is a surefire way to make the right one. It needs to be neat, organized, and edited so that certain key points stick out. No one wants to sit there and read through a wordy list about yourself when they're looking for one or two specific things. "Concise" is the word I'm looking for here. The most important thing is your experience, and you want to include just a couple reasons why each job qualifies you for the field of your choice. Simply listing your day-to-day duties is not going to be very impressive: "Okay, so you used to answer the phones and sort the mail.... Great!". Even if there's not much to say about a previous position, I bet you can find a way to spice it up! For my last job, which was little more than being a receptionist, I wrote "Boosted efficiency by facilitating research, funding, and travel initiatives". Find whatever it is that made and impact, and illustrate that!

One piece of advice I've gotten from workshops is to begin each line with a good action verb. Think "created", "designed", "led"--these show what YOU did and the influnce you had. Things like "I ran reports" or "I made these changes" are fine, but they certainly don't make you stand out. Another piece of good advice is to look for keywords in a job description and make sure that they're included somewhere in your resume. Is data analysis something they've listed as being important? Include it! Many times, employers will electronically scan your resume, and if certain things they're looking for don't come up, you might just be overlooked.

One of the things I love about the IDS degree is that it makes you different. I usually put my education information first, as it is my most qualifying factor right now. Employers are going to look at my degree and not see just plain old "Business" or "Psychology". They're going to see a unique combination of studies and ask, "What is this? I've never seen this before, tell me more". (Trust me, it gives you a good opening to describe yourself and why you're different). I then go on to elaborate my three major points of experience, each illustrating a different aspect of my interdisciplinarity. It shows, I think, how I'm well-rounded and likely capable of integrating different skills that they may find valuable. Initially I had big worries about people thinking that I simply couldn't make up my mind in college, but being able to showcase my interdisciplinarity through a resume has actually come to, as I believe, really make me stand out.

What about you guys? Have you had trouble trying to compose a resume and explain your degree, or have you found it beneficial, like I have?