PDF Writing Guide Resume & Cover Letter - Baruch College

Resume & Cover Letter Writing Guide

Office Location: VC 2-150| Phone: 646-312-4670 | careerdc@baruch.cuny.edu 55 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10010 | baruch.cuny.edu/careers

Resume /Cover Letter Essentials

Table of Contents

Resume Content Essentials....................................................................................................................................... 2 Resume Sections....................................................................................................................................................... 3 Resume for Electronic Screening Process............................................................................................................... 4 Examples of Specific Undergraduate Activities and Academic Experience......................................................... 5 Transferable Skills.................................................................................................................................................... 7 Creating Strong Resume Statements....................................................................................................................... 9 Action Verbs............................................................................................................................................................... 9 Sample Resume Layout............................................................................................................................................. 11 Sample Resumes........................................................................................................................................................ 12 Reference List............................................................................................................................................................ 21 Cover Letter Essentials............................................................................................................................................. 22 Cover Letter General Layout.................................................................................................................................... 23 Cover Letter Sample ? Letter of Application........................................................................................................... 24 Cover Letter Sample ? Letter of Inquiry.................................................................................................................. 25 Post-Interview Thank You Letter Sample Format.................................................................................................. 28 Post-Interview Thank You Letter Sample............................................................................................................... 29 Post-Interview Thank You Email Sample................................................................................................................ 30

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Resume Content Essentials

Your resume is your first impression to an employer. The resume must convince the employer within a matter of seconds that you are a qualified candidate for the position and should be interviewed. Therefore, it is necessary that you put significant effort into creating a resume that is clear, concise, consistent and relevant to the position or industry.

Resume Styles: Chronological and Functional

The chronological resume is the most widely used format. Its defining feature is the listing of work experience in reverse chronological order, with the most recent work experiences listed first. Most employers prefer this format.

Functional resumes omit work experience and instead list various abilities and accomplishments under functional headings. This style of resume is typically used for individuals who have been in a career for a number of years and desire a career change.

General Resume Tips:

Resumes must be one page, unless you have significant work experience (10+ years). Font size should be between 10 and 12 point and margins can be ? inch to 1 inch - adjusted as needed to

make your information neatly fill one page. Bolding is used minimally and consistently, to emphasize what is most important. Students in more conservative fields including finance, accounting, CIS should have a more formal resume

style, and students in more creative fields such as graphic design, arts, music can design more creative resumes (refer to examples). Each bullet has 3 parts: an action verb, a specific task that is quantified, and a specific outcome or result. Include the most important and relevant information to demonstrate relevant or transferable skills and provide examples of these skills in your bullet points. List your experiences in reverse chronological order by end date in each section (List only past and current experiences, not future plans). Within each experience, list your most relevant bullet points for the position that you are applying for. Always be truthful about your accomplishments and background. Use heavy bond paper in a professional color (white, ivory, or beige) if you are mailing your resume or attending a job or internship fair. (Free paper is located on the 6th Floor Computer Lab in the Library Building). To revise your resume, attend a resume workshop at the Starr Career Development Center or make a one-onone appointment with a counselor through Starr Search.

Did you know?

According to the recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the average time spent by recruiters looking at a resume is between 5 to 7 seconds. 76% of resumes are discarded for an unprofessional email address, or spelling errors and/or poor formatting.

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Resume Sections

All resumes should include the following sections:

Contact Information

Include your full name, current street address, email address (preferably your Baruch email address or another professional email address), and phone number. You can also include any relevant URLs from LinkedIn, Twitter or a link to your website.

Dates and Locations Education

Include specific months, years and locations for all experiences.

Include school, location, degree, date of graduation or expected date of graduation, major, minor, and GPA (if over 3.0). If you are a first-year undergraduate or sophomore, you can list your high school, but it should be removed once you are a junior. Also include previous undergraduate institutions, community colleges, dual-degree programs, and study abroad.

Experience

Include paid and unpaid work, internships, volunteer jobs, and military service relevant to the job to which you're applying. List organizations, locations, dates, your title, and a brief description. Start descriptions with action verbs that emphasize your skills, and use short, concrete, and results- oriented phrases to describe your work. Within this section all experiences should be listed in reverse chronological order, with the most recent positions listed first. Divide your experience into multiple sections if applicable, such as Research Experience, Marketing Experience, Administrative Experience, Internship Experience, or any other similar heading in order to place your most important position first.

Skills

List computer skills, foreign languages, technical skills, certifications, training, and research skills as appropriate.

Optional Sections:

Honors

List honors or scholarships you have received (limit to a few of the most recent or prestigious). This can also be included in "Education," rather than listed in a separate section.

Academic Projects

Describe relevant projects that you have done in class. Include the project name and a few bullet points that describe some of your tasks.

Leadership Experience

Employers often look for evidence of leadership. List any involvement you have had that demonstrates leadership qualities. You can also put these in the "Experience" category if you worked extensively with the club & organization and can describe your role in depth.

Relevant Coursework

List up to six completed courses that are directly related to the job you are seeking. This is helpful for positions not directly related to your field of study or if you've taken non-major courses that are more relevant to the job.

Activities

Include clubs, athletics, professional and community organizations, and list any leadership positions held. If you have the space, you might describe your responsibilities using action verbs.

Interests

Include this section if you have unique or impressive interests and be specific. Categories such as "reading" and "travel" are too general and common.

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Volunteer Work

Include volunteer opportunities and roles you have had in your community or for your favorite cause. Volunteer opportunities are a great way to share a distinctive skill set or interest.

Other Sections When appropriate, include sections for certifications or licensures, professional affiliations, and publications.

Personal Website

Include a link to your blog or portfolio if it is professional and includes pertinent information that an employer would find helpful in evaluating you as a candidate.

What NOT to include (for jobs in the U.S)

International Student Tips!

Personal information such as age, marital status, number of children, pictures (these may be required in some countries), or inappropriate email addresses.

Objective statements, such as "Seeking a position in the finance industry." Instead, use your cover letter to emphasize the position you are applying for and how your background relates.

Repetition of words such as "responsibilities" and "duties included" before each description.

Avoid personal pronouns ("I, my, his, her, them, their, your, mine") and abbreviations ("corp., etc.")

List of references or "References Available Upon Request." Instead, prepare a separate document and bring this list of references with you to interviews or submit the separate references document when requested.

Typos or inconsistencies. Ensure that the resume has no spelling or grammatical errors and that all punctuation is consistent.

Social Security number, passport number or other identification numbers.

Boosting Your Resume for the Electronic Screening Process

Many large organizations rely on applicant tracking systems (ATS) to help pre-filter resumes. The systems work by scanning resumes for contextual keywords and key phrases based on the job description, mathematically scoring the resume for relevance, and sending only the most qualified ones through for hiring managers to review. Here are a few tips on how to ensure that your resume is not eliminated by ATS software:

Keep Format Simple: Avoid headers, footers, templates, borders, lines, symbols (bullet points are fine), shading, fancy fonts and font colors other than black.

Use Common Headings: Use common headings such as Education, Experience and Skills. Use section heading like Professional Experience instead of Finance Related Experience. Some of these unfamiliar headings like Affiliations, Publications, or Memberships can be difficult for ATS to scan.

Tailor Your Resume with Keywords: Include verb phrases and skills written in the job description throughout your resume and online application. Keywords are graded both by how frequently they appear and the extent to which they are used in context. Note that these systems are smart enough to recognize the difference between random strings of words and words used in context.

Avoid typos: Edit your resume carefully! Your resume should never contain typos.

Include both acronym and the spelled-out terms: Use both acronym and the spelled-out form of any given title, certification, or organization, so you're set regardless of which format the ATS is looking for. For example: Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Complete all fields in online applications: Even those fields that are not required. Employers may use those fields as filters and, if left blank, your application may not make it through the system. 4

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