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Creating the Perfect Resume and Cover Letter Virtual Script (2020)Slide 1: Title PageHello and welcome to the Career and Leadership Development Center’s Creating the Perfect Resume and Cover Letter Virtual Workshop.Have you ever considered the difference between job skills and transferrable skills? Do you often wonder how to talk about your experiences in a resume or cover letter without bragging or coming off overly confident?We will be discussing all of these items today in our workshop. During this video, you’ll receive general tips and tricks about the development of your professional documents, learn how to personalize these to fit your unique style, and increase your understanding of the content you should (or should not) include in your resume and cover letter. Slide 2: Learning OutcomesUpon completion of this video you will have Developed the basics of a personalized resumeSharpened your resume and cover letter writing knowledgeIncreased your understanding of cover letter contentSlide 3: Getting to know…Yourself! In the CLDC, we know that Your career development process starts with knowing about yourself.According to the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) Theory it’s important to start with the foundations of knowing yourself and your options before you can make decisions.By spending time reflecting on all of the things you want to add to your resume you will be able to more confidently tell an employer about your background, expertise, and experiences.Writing a professional resume and cover letter are part of the career development process, so we’ll start with the basics today to help you build your foundation for the future job search.Slide 4: What’s in your treasure chest?We are going to start this process of developing your resume by brainstorming all of the jobs, experiences and projects you have done in recent history.For this activity, please refer to the worksheet that corresponds with this video titled, “Treasure Chest Activity.” This worksheet will help you begin to form the basic backbone of your resume. If you already have a basic resume, you can still use this exercise to help you determine what you would want to add or edit on your existing document.Read through the prompts on the screen and press PAUSE on the video to complete the Treasure Chest Activity for the next five minutes. This is a quick brainstorm activity, so you don’t need to spend too much time thinking about the perfect wording yet. If you need to figure out how to get started, see the example at the top of the worksheet.Take a few minutes to fill out the worksheet now.How many items did you end up listing? Did you think beyond paid positions and consider projects from class or group work you have conducted in student organizations or volunteer work? If you didn’t, that’s okay, you have plenty of time to add these items to your treasure chest and continue to think about this list over time.Slide 5: ExampleNow, let’s look at an example of a volunteer experience and the wording that can be used to describe this experience. In this example, we see that the person’s past experience is as a “Library volunteer”.Below the title, this person added some minor details about the work they did in that volunteer job, such as greeted customers, put books away, and read to kids during programs. Do any of your past experiences on your Treasure Chest look similarly simple? If so, let’s talk about ways to increase the detail of this experience with skill based wording and additional value. For instance, details can help show diverse perspectives and experiences, such as utilizing words to describe the type of visitors, like Athens County community members and Ohio University college students. You can also add verbiage at the beginning of each description using a skill based verb, which we will discuss later in this video. In that same worksheet, consider the details you can now add to the items and job duties you listed. Press PAUSE and take five minutes to add at least one or two more details to your job descriptions and the tasks you completed in your experiences. Slide 6: Let’s talk about skillsAs mentioned in the Treasure Chest activity, you will want to add details and verbiage to your past experiences. To do this you will want to think through the types of skills you used to accomplish these tasks. Let’s talk a little bit about the different types of skills you can show up on your resume. Slide 7: SkillsJob Skills are those skills you have to use in a specific job. These could include maintenance, management, technical computer-based skills and others that are needed for that specific work.Transferrable Skills are qualities that can be transferred from one job to another. You likely already possess many transferable skills employers want, like organization or strong communication. Adaptive Skills come from adaptive behavior, or the conceptual, social, and practical skills that individuals have learned and use in their daily lives. For instance, if you are someone who has not had a job in the past, but you spend a significant amount of time organizing your daily schedule for your academic work, organization could be a skill you discuss on a resume in the way you describe your ability to manage academic demands and meet deadlines for scholarly projects. Adaptive skills are things that people rarely think to discuss on a resume, but they are skills that employers do want to know you possess.Each of these types of skills have verbs that easily describe them more in detail so consider the verbs you would want each of your bullet points to describe your experiences from your Treasure Chest activity. If you also need a list of skill based action verbs to use in your resume, you can check out the CLDC Resources page at ohio.edu/careerandleadership. Under the CLDC Resources tab, click on the Purdue Owl Action Verbs link for a list of Action Verbs to use on a resume.Slide 8: CLDC Leadership SkillsBased off of feedback provided by companies and organizations that recruit OHIO students, the CLDC staff compiled this list of skills most valued by employers and part of any top leader’s skillset and it might be useful to include these skills in your resume and/or cover letter if you possess strengths in these areasMost of these skills take significant practice, but if you have been able to put these skills to use in past experiences, consider how you would want to talk about them on your resume.Slide 9: Let’s practice: ContentOkay, now let’s discuss content of your resume in more pare and contrast the content of the resume experiences you see on your screen. How does the content on the top compare to the content on the bottom?What are some strengths that you see in the top example? What are strengths you see in the bottom example?You may notice that the top description of this person’s experience at Donatos is very clear and describes the literal job duties. However, what an employer wants to see on your resume are the skills you used in the jobs you have done, and not just the duties themselves.As you can see, the bottom example goes into more detail the skills this person used in the Donato’s job, such as collaborating with other team members to show their team development skill.If possible, what are transferrable ways you could talk about your past experiences on your Treasure Chest activity, as opposed to your basic job duties. For example, did you list that you cleaned up an area or worked with people? Consider what it means to keep an environment clean that shows your focus on maintaining a safe and sanitary workspace, as opposed to mopping and sweeping a kitchen. If you said you worked with people, what skills were you actually using? You could instead mention that you communicated regularly with customers one on one or in person and instituted strong customer service.Slide 10: Sample Action VerbsLet’s take a look again at the different type of action verbs you could use to describe your experiences. As I mentioned earlier, you can check out these action verb lists on the CLDC Resources page. You are also welcome to look back at this video for examples of action verbs that better describe the transferrable skills you used in an experience.Additionally, if you would like more one on one help with your resume and thinking through these details, I will mention at the end of the video how to make coaching appointments with a professional staff member in the CLDC. Slide 11: Resume Quiz: Fact or FictionLet’s switch gears a bit in the next few slides. It’s time to put some of your preconceived resume knowledge to the test with a simple True and False Quiz. Slide 12:You should always include “references available upon request” on your resume.If you answered FALSE, you are correct.This phrase is no longer needed on a resume and a Reference Page should always be listed on a separate document. For each application, always have at least three professional references with the name, title, phone number and email of the person you are choosing to list as a reference. Also, if you have not already asked, make sure someone always knows you are listing them as a reference if you feel they will give you a strong recommendation.Slide 13:You should only include your GPA if it’s a 3.0 or above. If you answered TRUE you are correct.You do not have to include your GPA on a resume at all, but if you are going to include it, it should be above a 3.0 GPA. Slide 14: You should list your experiences from least recent to most recent within a section on a chronological resume. If you answered FALSE you are correct.Experiences should be listed in reverse chronological order from most recent to least recent within each section if you are creating a chronological resume with all of your experiences. Slide 15:You should stretch your experiences to make them seem more relevant to the position you seek.If you answered FALSE you are correct.You do not want to mislead the employer to believe that you are more qualified than you are. This could backfire and hurt your reputation if you are unable to live up to the employer’s expectations. Slide 16: Employers spend less than a minute reading your resume.If you answered TRUE you are correct.This is why it is so important to customize your documents and use strong skill-based action verbs. Slide 17:A resume should never exceed one full page.If you answered FALSE you are correct.Some college faculty and programs of study encourage students to only have a one-page resume. However, in the CLDC we recognize that every student and their experiences are different. Our rule is that if you have enough experiences to fill a full two pages, then having a two-page resume is okay. For graduate students, it will be very likely that you will have a two or more-page resume. However, if you cannot fill two or more full pages, try to condense your document so that each of your pages are full and concise for the reader.Slide 18: CongratulationsCongratulations, our resume quiz is complete. Knowing more of these details about a resume will make you more prepared as you start or update the documents you have to highlight your experiences to future employers. Slide 19: Formatting and Other TipsIn order to feel more comfortable with formatting your resume, we in the CLDC recommend avoiding resume templates and starting with a general Word document. You can get additional formatting tips on our website as well under the CLDC Resources page. Once on that page, click on the Resumes, Cover Letters, References and CVs link.Slide 20: Formatting and Other TipsFrom this page, scroll to the Resume Checklist to learn additional formatting rules for resumes. Slide 21: Cover LettersNow let’s briefly discuss the next important document in your application materials for your future job search – Cover Letters.Over the next several slides, I will be reviewing the basics of a general cover letter. Again, you are welcome to schedule career coaching through the CLDC to have your documents reviewed once you have a draft and I will talk about how to schedule those appointments at the end of this video.Slide 22: Cover Letter BasicsLet’s start with who you address your cover letter to and what goes into the opening paragraph.Make sure you address the letter to the hiring manager. You can usually find the name of this person in the listing or on the company’s page by doing a little bit of research. You can even use LinkedIn to potentially find this person. However, if you are unable to find a name for that person, consider beginning your cover letter with “Dear Selection Committee or Dear Hiring Manager”. Additionally, avoid gendered language in your opening, such as Mr. or Miss or Mrs. It is best to list the person’s title before their name instead of assuming their gender. For example, Dear Associate Director Don Smith.In your first paragraph, explain how you came across the position by listing the website the posting was found.Then, make your interest very clear in the following sentence. A good example of this could be, “I am very interested in your position because I have the expertise knowledge of the work you do at your company and know I would be the ideal candidate to fulfill your employment needs.”Slide 23: Cover Letter BasicsThe Middle Paragraph is the place you will spend a majority of your time and energy customizing for each job posting.Here you will want to use one specific and detailed example of your experience to highlight why you are an ideal fit for the position. This does not mean you should restate the information directly from your resume, but instead provide specific examples or anecdotes from one of your experiences that are most directly related to the job.In this paragraph, it is okay to borrow words from the job description, such as highlighting key words from the posting that the employer would consider to be a desired qualification. You will also want to emphasize what you have to offer instead of what you have to gain. Employers are less interested in what the job will do for you or mean for you. They want to know what direct impact you will make on the company and how that will benefit them.Slide 24: Cover Letter BasicsIn the closing paragraph, you will want to demonstrate your enthusiasm, but maintain a formal tone. Reiterate why you’re a great fit for the position and let the employer know how to reach you. A good tip for writing a cover letter is to avoid exclamation points as much as possible. In our digitally focused world, it is easy to write like you text a friend or write emails to colleagues. However, for cover letters, avoid jargon and an overuse of exclamation marks.In the end, thank the employer for taking the time to review your application documents and list a professional salutation such as “Sincerely” or “Thank you.” Something that is often asked is if your cover letter should be signed. In our technological world, it is okay just to type your name. A signature is no longer the norm when submitting a cover letter.Slide 25: Formal Cover Letter VS. Email Cover LetterAnother common question we get in the CLDC is if the cover letter should be sent as an attachment or used in an email. We recognize that sending an email in response to a job or internship posting is becoming more common, such as when a formal cover letter is not requested or required to apply. However, if you do communicate with an employer or recruiter via email you should consider using similar tone. This email should be concise and convey the same message as a formal cover letter. You can even attach your resume and a formal cover letter to the email to cover all your bases.Slide 26: Most ImportantlyThe most important process for any type of application material and prior to submission is to proofread. This is essential because these application documents do not get you the job. They get you the interview, and it’s never too early to make a good first impression.Slide 27: HandshakeAs I mentioned earlier, if you would like to speak with a coach in the CLDC to discuss your career and leadership goals and experiences, we are available to have these discussions with you in a 30-minute session.? You can schedule these appointments using the Handshake platform.??You can log into Handshake at ohio..??Once logged in?with your Ohio University?email and password, click on Career Center on the top bar of the Handshake homepage,?and then click on Appointments.?We look forward to hearing from you soon.? ................
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