How to Write a Great Resume and Cover Letter 1

Welcome back to the college info geek podcast it's not my friend yo that's an energetic yo I'm so. They build with. That that's all I got yeah I'm. You must have done the morning routine. All the energy okay I'm dead. Now we're dead alright. Now we're gonna go to sleep back to chillin. That was the whole episode just and I have to change the title. Now just Martin says yo ya got a VI earnestly yeah with a comma like comma earnestly yeah a VI yeah. That would probably get. More views than the actual title ain't. That just away. I kind of want to experiment. That with just stupid titles. That probably work in the standard slack today.

One of the creators. He was trying to translate his video description and title into Chinese. Because apparently. You can do that or it was possibly Korean. I can't remember which one do. You mean they were trying to do the translation themselves or they were trying to press buttons. That would provide a translation. I think either YouTube has an automatically automatic button or he was using Google Translate but. Either way he wasn't trying to translate the video itself into Chinese. He was trying to translate the title in metadata. Because you can do. That there's like a whole translation section then. You can provide a translated title for every language out there but he posted a screenshot of his original copy in English and then the Chinese characters and then. What he got by putting the Chinese characters back into Google Translate that's always good and it was hilarious. It was like the original English translation was like.

That you know the printer cartridge industry has always been exploiting consumers in the retranslated version was like the printer cartridge industry or the big printer company has always been slashing consumers yeah here's the thing about automatic translation. It is not to be relied upon not. Yet anyways it's terrible yeah there's like. All these theories out there about how. You need you want perfect translation then. You need to develop a GI like artificial general intelligence. That is of you mean. It needs converter and stuff right. Because communication requires context also Google Translate actually translate a lot of stuff into English and then into the language sometimes. Because it has those as the most in English yeah so that's why it gets super messed up. When going between non-english languages a lot of the time. That would make sense yeah yeah computers don't have context until. We make them really smart yep and they learn. How to walk to me and know my aunt. I do have to say. That the auto-generated English captions for our podcast are quite good Oh voice recognition and yeah typing like cuz.

We don't buy human created captions for this podcast. It would be too expensive for the amount of time. That we spent podcasting I do. It for all my videos on the main channel but I got a comment from. Somebody last week. Because the video went up like a few hours too late and they were like where's the captions and that informed. That there were in fact captions and I remembered Oh YouTube Auto generates captions. I forgot about that and I had always assumed. Because you and I are talking back and forth. That it wouldn't work but they're actually pretty good. I turned him on and there were very. Few errors that's cool so. I guess it's probably the fact. That we're speaking into really good microphones and we probably don't overlap. That much that it works out so yeah I'm very happy. That the robots do. That for us speaking of translations. We went to the what was. It called Howl's Moving Castle. If the field is right and it was the first time. I had ever seen. It in Japanese with the subtitles and it was so weird there were just. Some times where there were lines. I was expecting because I've seen the dub so.

Many times and then it's very different in Japanese there's the thing about that is your casual. What for not watching it in Japanese the first time yeah or my casual for even using the subtitles at all well. I don't think. That would be fair. That that's too high. I remember the gate keep your enjoyment okay and and make. You feel less for enjoying things. This wouldn't perchance be. Because your own self-confidence is lacking and you want to use. You know I would do. That and I know acidity to make yourself feel better would. Because nobody ever tries to build their self-esteem based on things. That weren't really so much a choice as an accident. They don't do. Anything by choice. That is worth being proud of no. One would do. That yeah who would do. That that's like. Something that some barbaric species of alien would do. We don't do. That yeah ever but it was interesting like the one land. That I was expecting is when Calcifer says like. She likes my spark. That isn't in the Japanese version at all it's he just literally says like. I like her or something like. That yeah so clearly. They take some creative liberties in tents. Because otherwise. You got so much cultural context. That wouldn't mean. This yeah thing yeah so it's clearly not like a one-to-one translation yeah and I know sometimes. I turn the subtitles on Full Metal Alchemist.

While we're watching it. Though we're watching the dub. Because we're eating and like. I can't hear. It very well I'm cool the sound of that doing Islands a good dub the dub yeah it's awesome certain ones are really good dubbed. I think that Full Metal Alchemist has a really good dub Cowboy Bebop does. Some of those shows don't but for me I often like to still watch the dub anyway. Because my language is where. I can feel the most emotion yeah well. Any Dragon Ball Z's way better dubbed otherwise. I like hate half the voices said Goku's voice sound like an old grandma or something yeah and I mean maybe. I was used to that it'd be cool but I'm not used to that so it's way too far from. What I expect from the show to be comfortable yeah exactly alright so. We have a an actual topic. This week I'm sure people.

We were expecting us to talk about you mean probably the title probably the titles. It might be. That I might actually just change. It up and just talk about like baseball cards the whole time. I mean who knows you're gonna find out keep listening I do have a couple. These I do have a couple of items of business. That I want to take care of before. We get into. That first and foremost. You went and made yourself an Instagram. It was an accident. I can't make fun of you for being a Luddite anymore oh yeah. You can I had to have Ashley like show. How to do stories. Now it's like what's and then yesterday. I was like what's there. You sent me a message. I can't find it where's the button for messages and then. I will hit it and then. I was like oh look there are messages there and I'm just like. I have no idea. This app works that's because. You are now using Instagram you're not. Even using it correctly. You like hacked your web browser to post pictures from your computer which I honestly think is pretty cool that's because. I don't want. It that's because I'm posting I'm used specifically to share my like photography Eric not personal life stuff. Although I'll mix.

That in the text but though actually I'm curious why wouldn't. You just use the new buffer integration since. They can natively post to Instagram. You could just put your pictures in buffer yeah. It I could do. That but I also like. I right now to start. It up and to commit myself to improving my photography. I wanted to post. One every day for the next 30 days at least and then see. How sustainable. That is okay and I like having that as a daily habit. Because one otherwise. I might forget. It but two I want to interact in any level with people there like mentioning stuff of my photos and I've got. It so automated. That I don't.

How to Write a Great Resume and Cover Letter 2

Even have to look at it anymore. I will not look at it anymore and then. I won't be there to say. Anything okay real. You know I want to mildly use. It in a sort of active way I'll pay attention. If people say stuff well. We found out. That people are indeed sliding into your DMS so yeah. I didn't even know that that was real hotel. You know I just found the button and the thing I didn't know stuff in case people are curious about the weird method.

You use how exactly do. You post picture so. Because I'm sharing stuff from my my good camera my like sony a6000 mm-hmm. I exported them from Lightroom and I've got the JPEG right there on my on my desktop. I don't want to do the weird workaround. That I've seen people do. You like put. It in Dropbox or something then save. It to your camera roll on your phone yeah do. Some stuff like. That that to me I'm like afraid I'll lose quality somewhere in there and it is annoying that yeah it's also just annoying so. What I'm doing is this works in Firefox and Chrome. You find the appropriate buttons but basically. I right-click go to inspect element. It opens up. All the developer tools mm-hmm then there's a little symbol. It looks like a phone or a tablet or something depending on the browser and it's testing responsive stuff and once you've got. That going you can choose a device to pretend. That the browser is it like sends data.

That tells the Instagram website oh I'm totally an iPhone 6 right now wink yeah and then. It shows because the mobile version of that website. You can upload photos yeah so then. It shows me the little little cell phone version with the plus button and I just add stuff straight off the desktop smart. I don't I don't want to have a bunch of weird. That little barrier would have stopped. Me from wanting to use. It yeah and it's been part of why I haven't wanted to share. Any photos on it for a long time mm-hmm it's kind of a pain cuz. You have to say Oh get up Dropbox in your phone export the picture then well. This is like kind of a taking advantage of the twenty second rule here yeah. That is an annoying barrier so it's gone. Now and then for me. I didn't want to do. That I probably would use the new buffer thing oh yeah cuz.

I don't think posted. That came out like days after yeah it's I started the Instagram thing like. I looked and I was like that's not real oh and then. It was suddenly real yeah so maybe I'll use. It at some point but for now. I want to kind of pay attention and really figure out. How to use the service and your Instagram is mainly. What like shrek memes it's definitely shrek memes okay. It is entirely I'm using like a photo portfolio site but a more casual. One hmm because. I was thinking about building a portfolio site. I think you should have perfect portfolia also in your resume, if you do not know how to wright it - read examples in the site https://hrcareersearch.com/best-resume-writing-services-near-my-location.Because I I do a lot of stuff sometimes mildly skillfully and then. I don't share. It I'm like humbled to to a fault. I don't ever I'm a secret man. Nobody knows. What I do all the time yeah and I felt like. I would like to do. Something with photography at some point. If it's just like. You know I'd like to work with. Some botanic garden and be like I'm gonna put stuff in your cool magazine or just. Something it's fun and you can't do much with a skill. One knows you do yep so. I wanted to build a portfolio site and then.

All annoyed thinking about okay. What image size should. What about nobody's gonna notice. When there are new photos. I spam my Twitter account and say look. Everybody look at my portfolio again put. One up which is like the same thing but more obnoxious mm-hmm so. I find that Instagram people just tend to see your stuff. They do on Twitter yeah or they at least tend to engage with. It more because. More followers on Twitter. I do on Instagram but the at least in terms of likes versus likes on Twitter it's like 20 to 1 difference yeah I'm getting a lot like the ratio of engagement I'm getting so far just on Instagram with the like I've only got like a hundred and twenty followers right now which I'm sure is nothing to your mountains but like my engagement is a pretty high percentage of that actually so it's interesting and I just it's much easier. I will never advertise a portfolio site I'm not going to constantly hound people to look at it hmm. I would much rather. You can basically subscribe and say sure I'll see your photos and that's what Instagram does so. I think Instagram is just a way to do.

These Airness like it's sort of the way things are going like. You I think. You should have a portfolio website. If you're a content creator. You probably should have a blog and an email list. Because that is the platform. You own and that's where. You can create like be. How things exactly. What you want them but the world's attention right now is on these social platforms especially Instagram that's probably. Where the most attention is at the moment so it's silly to not take advantage of it. You want people to see your work yeah and my thing against social media has primarily been against being addicted to scrolling through. It yeah and also. I still do not care to share. What I do most of the time yeah but if. I don't share my creative work. I can not that sucks. You know maybe. Somebody would like. It yeah it's not like. What did I have for breakfast. This morning or what is a thought. That just popped into my head it's like. I created something I'd like. Someone to see. If they want to yeah so. Where can people follow.

If they happen to follow your photos my Instagram is yo Martha Lemieux and also my twitter is now but it basically Martha Lemieux is is not real but I decided. That it's now long for Martin Martin is not sure it's for Martha Lemieux but yeah long for Martin that's the situation. That works for me I like. It we came up with. It playing the stupid jack jack box jack box game. I think so yeah yeah and that's it Plus like. Everyone else oh. You can't borrow my last name like hi I'm Martin BAE. Me Oh could. You spell that not in the slightest. Because it's German not pronounced like. That and any English spelling doesn't look like a real English name yeah yes just change. It to be a yme yeah. I don't I don't want to do marsala mousse better yep and that is your Twitter. Now too so yeah. Everything should be synchronized. We will have. That in the show notes. I really liked the way. That you photographed your girlfriend's art like.

That seems like a really cool idea. That I haven't seen done before yeah. I was actually pretty proud of those. Because we were just gonna go out. That day and get them and and I was like okay well first thing we're not we're not just sharing like the JPEGs of the art that's dumb we're gonna take the prints and they're about going outside and stuff so we're gonna be outside somewhere and then. I just like remembered an old photo. That wasn't good but I wanted to try. Something so then. I just stuck. One of them in a tree and I was like actually. This a lot better. I thought and yeah it's it's like interesting so. It looks really good. It like provides. Some context and environment for the print and like. You said it is better on Instagram.

Than just sharing the JPEG yeah. I don't think the JRuby is compelling and then like a there was. One about tea and she was like maybe. We should get. One next to the T stuff and I was like. One moment let. Me take the rest of this poo R I'm gonna spill. It around a circle and then I'm gonna line. Everything up and make. It all like conceptual there's any of that on yours or is that all in Ashley's that is all on hers I'm just like. 

How to Write a Great Resume and Cover Letter 3

I I put it in a story. I probably probably use stories for stuff like. That's because. I don't really want. It to be the main set of photos I'm sharing but it is cool and it will be on hers. If it's not already. Whatever it is so we'll have hers in the show notes as well. One thing I will tell. That you may not know about is with your stories. They by default disappear in 24 hours yeah. You can create. These highlights. I didn't know how. That and I was like. I don't know what this button does and I don't want to mess. You just go to your portfolio or your your profile and you hit a little plus button for highlight. You can just choose. Any story you've done recently and it will just save. It forever so I've got like. Several little highlight things built - oh. I was like I thought. I had to like type. Something I don't know nope that's together multiple stories so like. I do like an occasional guitar story but it's few and far between so I've just taken.

All of them and stitched them together into. One like guitar highlights yeah I'll have to look at that I just. I don't want to like mess. Something up or do. Something when Facebook started the first thing I did will was showing me and we were. We were in class and I set. It up and I was filling in the information and then. It and then. I heard the little status. That said Martin is single and I was just like. I clicked like. He couldn't take. Because I was like. I don't know what this is oh man. It was a great start. I love gay that's the way to you know look right there so I'm traumatized okay. All right okay I'm moving on that little bit quicker with the next.

One a couple weeks ago. I just mentioned. That I did a video with Neil deGrasse Tyson yeah. That is on line. Now it's on the star talk channel so. We will have a link to that in the show notes but you can also go over to the star talk YouTube channel and look for the thumbnail. That has a graduation cap on planet Earth and you'll find us cool there's also footage. That they cut and sent to me. That didn't make. It to that video and I'm trying to figure out. Where to share. It just like. Me and you have like. All like your exercise stuff stuff. I do yeah I have director's cut material see. I just don't know. I want to put. Yet or or how. I want to work into a video so. We will figure.

That out but today. We are going to talk about resumes and cover letters so for anybody out there looking for an internship or for your first time job. This is gonna be a nice little overview of how to tailor your resume. How to make. It optimized and how to do the same for your cover letters. I will note. That we have very good articles on. Both of these topics on college info geek so we'll have. These linked up in the show notes. I highly recommend reading them. You need to create a resume or cover letter. Because they'll probably be. More detailed. This episode and they're gonna have examples yeah it's easier to show.

You like we could show visual examples but then the audio feed wouldn't have. It wouldn't make sense yes much. You know unfortunately for the audio feed. They don't get to see your amazing example. This one yep yeah that's a big key elusive right there yeah. I also have a copy of my resume here but this is just it's a boring resume or do. I know who I'm hiring yeah yours just says. It right there it's very clear it's yes. It states who you are and why they should hire. You okay so let's get in to this topic by starting with resumes specifically and I guess.

I wanted to ask. You like what do. You think the point of a resume is I think the point of a resume is to basically get. You an interview that's a pretty good answer yeah. I think that maybe. You were super incredible. It would get. You a job but I think for the most part the most you should hope for is that you're going to get your foot in the door. Because you can't prove yourself in person or you know over Skype or something mm-hmm then. It doesn't really matter what's on it that's the next step. You have to prove yeah so really it's a distillation of your professional experience and your skills and your education and everything that would basically pique the interest of a hiring manager to the degree. That they would want to interview.

Because they're probably only going to interview. You know anywhere from 10 percent to 1 percent or even less of the candidates. That they get resumes for depending on the size of the company yeah so the point of the resume is not to tell your entire life story. It is not to say every single thing you've ever done. It is just to put exactly. What is needed to convince a hiring manager. That they should bring you in and see. You are worth hiring yeah that's basically. I guess the first point. That I would make here is that you do not want your resume to be SuperDuper long. Because you have to think about this from the perspective of the hiring manager who's going through resumes they're not just going through yours they're not going over.

It with like a you know a tiny little magnifying glass or monocle and just lovingly considering every single word you've crafted here they've got like a stack of hundreds or more likely a folder full of PDFs and they're just clicking through them looking for keywords looking for oh. This person went to the school or this person has experience in Django and react CJ is perfect. I want to bring this person in here so it's really about making it concise and making it compact as possible and also putting the most relevant things at the top so.

I guess the first question is do. You need an objective statement. Because this is often like the first things right below your contact. Even have one that's a question. That I will. Now find out. I don't have. One I don't. It looks like. I don't have. One so the reason. I want to bring x2 out to get a job yes the reason. I wanted to bring this up is because. I do not think the objective statement is nearly as important as people think. It is from either side of the argument a lot of people will be like no. You should never have an objective statement. Because a waste space on your resume and it's just. You know it's useless and then. Some people will say well. You should have an objective statement. Because it instantly tells the hiring manager.

What you're looking for and what you can do. I think it doesn't matter. I think you have. One as long as. It doesn't take away from the really important information being on that one page it's fine to be there and if the hiring manager doesn't care their eyes are just going to move right past. It to it I doubt they're gonna be like wow trihard yeah oh actually. This company doesn't accept it's just like. You have a good objective statement yeah.

You you know feel free but if exactly. You do literally like to get like a job get paid like. That you see the Parks and Rec episode really. They were looking for new candidates for Leslie's position. I don't think she's controller on and or no it's for Tom's position cuz Tom left and there's just. One guy you know he's just he's like. This wiry dude with with curly hair and glasses and Ron Swanson's like. What are you hoping to get out of this job son just like um money like like two weeks worth of money would be perfect.

How to Write a Great Resume and Cover Letter 4

I just need enough to pay rent dude yeah. I feel like then. You probably shouldn't put the objective element but yeah actually. This so this brings up a question or a point. That I wanted to make I've seen people in my youtube comments or on Twitter saying like oh hell yeah my objective is to make money. I should be honest about that right like what's wrong about that and I get. Where you're coming from. That you do want to make money and I get. That some jobs are clearly a stepping stone to your real career objectives but if you're.

That blunt then you're basically just telling the person hiring you I don't actually care about your company I'm just in this for the money and you know what maybe. They view you as a completely expendable resource to be used up until. You are no longer useful then tossed into a trash heap in which case sure. You you can pair up and go about your merry way but more likely. Than not they're looking for somebody who at least expresses. Some amount of interest in helping the company grow into. Something better yeah and if that's not the case.

If it's just they're a little too blunt. If you've got a deal with. You know you're hiring for Burger King or some you need to be able to lie about how much you care about things so. That the customers don't understand. How annoyed. You are yeah. If you're just gonna be like yeah. I don't really care about your day. What do you want to buy then that's not good you're showing a little bit of your ability to like put icing onto nonsense and beyond just. That showing that you care. More about a job. Than just the money. That it's gonna give.

You is important for yourself and your own pride so. You do not actually care about increasing the quarterly sales of Burger King incorporated which you probably don't the attitude. You bring to those jobs those early jobs. You know the burger-flipping jobs or the lawn mowing jobs or whatever. That attitude translates to your work ethic and the way. You handle yourself in your later jobs so. You should never go into a job simply thinking I just want to get money from this you should be thinking I want to prove myself I want to better myself at least in terms of work ethic. Nothing else and I want to use. This as a stepping stone to my next thing and I'm gonna do.

That by coming into work every single day with a smile on my face and with the intention to do my best job yeah and if. You never say boy oh boy I'm just really passionate about putting together flame-broiled burgers like they're going to hire. Because you look like. Somebody who is going to take the job seriously. Whereas you are literally blunt and honest about I just want money it's just like you're showing nothing but a sell fish desire well you're also saying I will do the bare minimum required to earn said money. Because I have no other external or internal desires yeah that's true yeah so never never just say I'm in it for the money like.

Everybody knows. You want money. Everybody knows. That at least be in it to show. That you're a good worker. You know at least be an ax to develop a little bit professionally. If not for the passion of the burger work the passion of the burger that's a weird movie beautiful okay so let's just like go through the sections of the resume. You know stage by stage and just comment on some of the things. You might want to see in here and you actually have yours up like yeah real. One okay yeah yeah. I didn't like handle Dutton your paper.

One is kind of a joke yeah. That may be a leftover from. Another video. That is true actually yeah people who are listening to this they probably saw. It in a video potentially okay so the first thing that I have on my resume is the education and I guess. One question is like. What do you put first your work experience or your education. I guess I had education at the top yeah brannad. This I had just graduated so. I feel like. That well I guess. That depends on the job. That someday the work experience may trump. That and go first. I feel like education becomes less and less important as. You like the CEO of Google. I don't really care.

He graduated he's the CEO of Google. You know and yeah that's more important to me yeah but yeah at this time education went up front hmm that's where - - and well. I have to say like. I don't really foresee myself using my resume ever again in my life because of the path I've chosen but you know so. This is kind of a reflection of you know. I was as a student actually looking for full-time employment but I think. You and I are. Now five years out of college. We are probably to the point. It would make sense to put work experience first. Because like. Now have a five year career. Now have a career. That is longer. Than the time. You spent in college well not. Because you were in college he's getting close. Though but you're getting close I'm well past. It I've been out of college for longer. I was ever in college so at this point. I would put work experience first again. You have a well formative resume. I don't think.

This is gonna matter. Because you know within the first like four inches from the top of the sheet of paper. You can see a nice big headline. That says education and a nice big headline. That says work experience and by the way I'm gonna have my resume in the show notes my resumes been public on my personal website for years as an example for people so we'll have a link to that and you guys can go look at it as an example. You want and I'm hoping that we're gonna have. Some more examples in our resume blog post. That I mentioned earlier so in the education section. I list my University. I went to the location of it my major and then my GPA as well. I also have two majors listed so I've got my major GPA and my normal GPA the reason. That I decided to list. Both is because my major GPA was a 40 out of 40.

That does some worth mentioning yeah and so. I will clarify. That this resume was created. This particular copy was created before. I graduated so. I don't think. I got straight A's in literally every single major class. Because during senior year. More concerned with Entrepreneurship perfect grades as. I should have been but when. I created this I had a 40 perfect GPA in the major so a major GPA is basically. Any class that is in your your specific major track so. If you're in computer science there's probably like a required computer science curriculum at your university and there's probably required electives and required yeah speech in English and stuff like. That all of that would be considered outside of your major so those would contribute to your normal GPA a good rule to mention here is that your major GPA is something that you can list in lieu of your GPA. If your GPA is below like a 32 or a 30 but basically.

You have a GPA below 3 don't list. It on your major or on your resume ok. Because it's just again it's about putting that front foot forward and if the first like. If the foot forward you're putting is I have bad grades then you're not gonna get the interest of the hiring manager. Whereas you leave. It off and you create a resume. That piques their interest in another way and then. You get into the interview and they ask. You about your grades. You can tell them my grades aren't perfect you're not lying but the reason. That my grades aren't perfect are. You know you could say maybe. I had a bad semester. Once but I've been working to build myself back up and you can kind of spin. That into a story about how you've been making concentrated improvements in your life or you could say. You know I'm very passionate about entrepreneurship or I'm very passionate about this volunteer work. That I do so my grades are not my main priority and I think.

That the skills. I build in this volunteer opportunity actually translate better to the role. That you're hiring for then my English Composition class there's always a story. You can tell but you don't get a huge opportunity to tell a story on your resume yeah so. What are your thoughts on the work experience section well mine here is listing the two. Most important and recent jobs at the time for the position so I've had like quite a few jobs. I don't know how. Many and I've got a master list of all my jobs. You never know. It somewhere but for each resume. I pick the two or three. Most important ones. Most impressive for that segment so. If I'm doing desktop support like application. I have a bunch of jobs. That fit that I will get those but for a web development thing which was. What this for what this was for I'm gonna put specifically my web development jobs. Because they don't care anyway and most reason yeah yeah yeah like as long as they're recent enough. That I can talk about them and it's not like.

This was ten years ago. I barely remember. It then I probably wouldn't put. That makes sense yeah but this is fresh stuff. Because I had jobs frequently and switched between them like. I had to at one point in college. Because there was a desktop support and a web dev so yeah why not list the web dev for this mm-hmm yeah so here's a good point. When you're listing your work experience. You want to consider the context of the position you're applying for and then put. That work experience first the work experience. That that best showcases the skills. That that position needs yeah but there is a balancing act so. You know being hired for an IT position. I wouldn't want to put my IT services experience at the University first. Because that job ended in 2011 yeah it's like not recent enough exactly yes so.

They were like oh. You did this seven years ago and what have. You been doing since then like. You never want your resume to bring up a question in the interviewers head of like. What have you been doing you know are your golden years behind. That kind of a thing oh you're past your prime kid get out of here exactly but I'm 23 yep past. It you're benched you're like a figure skater. You peak at 19 that's sad oh no it's sad for it was. That for me. Because I got into. It at like 24 or 25 and then. All the reading I was doing was just like yeah Olympic figure skaters are like 20. I never really had. Any ambitions to do to go to the Olympics for that cuz it's kind of a hobby for me but it was just a little bit it's never nice to hear like it's too late for something yeah yeah yeah. You got into. This but you know the age for peak performance is well past sorry but um my my confidence was restored.

I watched some former Olympians doing routines in their like 30s and 40s and they can still bust out triple axels and stuff so it's not like. I can never learn to do those things. I would just never be yeah. You reach the levels of performance. That the Olympians can do and that's fine. I never intended to do. That in the first place yeah okay so obviously. You want to order your work experience in a balanced way. That showcases your most relevant experience first as long as. It is somewhat recent. If you've been doing something else for like ten years. That isn't quite as relevant put. That first because that's like. You have really crazy yeah and then. You are actually describing your experiences. You want to keep a few things in mind number. One accomplishments over duties so. 

How to Write a Great Resume and Cover Letter 5

If you're just describing what you were expected to do that's not very impressive and it doesn't tell a whole lot to the hiring manager. That tells them is oh. This is what they told. You to do and apparently. You did it well enough to not get fired that's all the information. That provides. Whereas you say. I accomplished. This this and this. You have the opportunity to do. That that actually shows. That you know. You did something specific and it kind of tells a little bit of a story in their head. That makes you look better and it creates. More specificity around. You as a person the other thing is if. You can quantify achievements do.

You can quantify really. Anything about the job. That again crystallizes the picture of it in their head so for example I've got help desk analyst level two on my work experience. This was you know. I was a level to support monkey and my first item here is I. Provided first tier support to a campus wide base of over 30000 users so. I put the word number 30000 in there. Because I wanted to show. That this was a very big base of users. I was working for a very big university yeah. That shows that oh. This isn't just. Some like rinky-dink little support thing that never gets. Any customers. That gets a pretty big deal and maybe. It doesn't actually mean.

That the job was harder. It were for a small university but big numbers still imply greater responsibility yeah. I did the same thing for when. I was an RA. That I was an RA of a hall with 62 students so there was 62 people. I was managing it wasn't like four people. That kind of thing do. You have examples of like achievement based descriptions in your work experience here. Both of these. Because they're for webdev are saying basically. I developed the college info geek responsive free design using here's all the languages. That I used in technologies and then the second. One is debugged improved and redesigned the school nutrition survey website using a bunch of stuff. Either of those examples have numbers but in the past my other things have always been like hundreds of printers yeah I've managed hundreds of servers.

That we're all basically under my management eyerly andI've always included. That computer networking stuff is a great place for big numbers. It really is yeah there were like four hundred thousand miles of cat6 cable under my purvey yeah. How much time did. You spend working with those absolutely zero but you know. I was theoretically managing them yeah. I watched over a harddrive with lots of gigabytes yeah there's like hey. I checked the C Drive had 800. It would buy. It was basically full weight. That makes me look bad why did. You let it get full did. Many redundant backups did. You have I just remembered well that's the stove on sorry yeah. I will note. That you don't have to have numbers in every single.

One of your achievements here just. That numbers make. It very easy to have. More specialized. Everything enough. That you write digits yes but the ones. You just said like created the responsive redesign up the college info geek website using XY and Z technology I'm guessing like PHP CSS yeah XHTML. You know jQuery and frameworks and yeah ASP for one of them it's but it wasn't just like. I was supposed to web develop exactly Duff yeah showing your accomplishments like. You image the opportunity X that's why I wrote them it shows.

You finish things. It often it might actually give them something they can go look at as an example of your work but it also gives a level of specificity. That just describing the duties doesn't give. I will note. That you're not always going to be able to do. These things sometimes. You literally did a job. You just had a duty and the only thing you did at that job was carry. It out yeah. You know sometimes. You got to do. That so I definitely have. Some of that kind of stuff on my resume like is you IT services web developer. I have developed and maintained university websites using PHP X HTML CSS and then.

I documented development procedures and updated the wiki yeah but you have got enough of a description. It you gotta be a little bit of a wordsmith yeah like. I remember I wrote a updated resume description for Quinton's Burger King job listed as Burger technician and I wrote things like interface with coupler with customers over a Kemper account or something like. That I don't know what it was yeah it's not a good. Though the one thing I will note about these these more Duty based descriptions. Than accomplishment based descriptions is I did mention the technologies. I worked with yeah so. This is important. Because a hiring manager is going to be scanning your resume for the skills. You have and if your industry has.

Any sort of you know specific tools. That are often used or specific systems. That are often used. You to be able to have those easily visible on your resume and in fact a lot of IT and programmer kind of people will have a specific skills section. They will put like yeah react je s no DJ s Django. You know Ruby on Rails stuff like. That so it's very easy to find but I will note. That skill sections are on resumes a lot and a lot of people use. That as an opportunity to put things like good communicator or hard worker don't put those on your resume I'm really skilled at being a hard worker again. This is the resume is a really quickly scannable thing that gets your foot in the door and you don't want. It raising questions in the head of the hiring manager about your qualifications or lack thereof so. You have something like hard worker or good communicator in our skill section Hawaiian idiot. That was special yeah my immediate thought is why why do.

You have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find skills for yourself like there should be. Something else and if you're in a field. Where it's not super easy to list specific skills like maybe you're a social worker and your skill is you're literally you're literal skill is sitting and talking with senior citizens and making them feel better like that's fine you're probably going to be able to talk about that in the interview but it doesn't need to be on a resume. You shouldn't put things. That should be assumed it's like the money thing well. We hope you're a hard worker exactly at least. You know enough. That shouldn't be a question demonstrate you're a hard worker through the work experience on your resume and so. This is a big question. I get from freshmen from high school students. I get work experience on my resume. I don't have.

Any work experience right now oh no - catch-22 right it's like chicken and egg. I don't have the resume to go get the work experience so. I get the work experience to put on the resume and the answer to that is your work experience section does not. It doesn't have to be limited to paid experience. It could be volunteer opportunities. It could be. It could honestly be a class project. You had a class project. You had a lot of responsibilities and you put in a lot of effort. You could have. That or experience yeah. I mean the thing is like again. You are giving this resume to a human being and we have the ability to think contextually so. I know that you're a 17 year old and you haven't had the you know life experience. Yet to have a big resume I'm gonna look at a class project on a work experience section and be like oh.

This is great yeah. You know you're looking for opportunities. You can find them. You are a 40 year old person who will put who's putting like a college class project from the 70s I'm gonna be like um. How much gta5 have. You been playing for the last five years bro so always think about the context of what you're putting on your resume but don't don't shortchange yourself you know. You have put in a lot of effort into. Something even. It isn't paid experience put. It on that work experience section. All right do. You have technical skills on yours I do. I have an information technology section. That lists that stuff. I have a languages section and I have a current projects section oh. It was a labor project section yeah at the time. I was running the polyglot my language blog that's right. I was doing web development with. You and I was doing some stuff with mine snacks. They had a little language learning app and yeah.

I used those I also have a leadership experience thing that mentions like the cyber defense competition like a little extracurricular activities okay so my skills are laid out entirely on the right-half in various sections gotcha I've got my technical skills here so I've got the operating systems. I was comfortable working in I put those there. Because I was a support technician so. It wasn't like oh. Where the star button is in Windows so I'm gonna list. It it's like no. I can go into the registry and actually tweak things to make. It work better and I can actually go into the command-line on Linux so. I felt comfortable putting those there. I know a good rule of thumb is given the job. You are applying for if the hiring manager were to ask.

You technical questions about the skill. You are listing would. You be able to talk about it yeah there shouldn't be. Anything on here. That you wouldn't be happy to talk to them about exactly yeah don't misrepresent yourself you do need to sell yourself a little bit. Because you are trying to stand out in a very competitive. You know numbers heavy process but if. You lie it will come back to bite. You most likely so and then I've also got leadership and honors and awards so. These are two separate sections for me on leadership. I do have college info geek down here as a leadership item yeah. That was basically just like things I'm involved in I just mentioned. It as leadership. Because I also have like House treasurer webmaster for the Business Council computer Advisory Committee. That kind of stuff and then. I think I think after. I worked with Adobe and Sony which were. I think was about a year after. I started college info geek. I then moved college info geek up to the work experience section. Because at that point. I was like okay I've got. You know 50 articles I've written I've worked with companies I've been paid. This is now work experience. If it's you know fun little side project and I've made like $50 total I've.

Now worked with brands. All this writing experience. I have by lines and other sites it's work. Now yeah so it's kind of like a fuzzy area. You know you should move. Something from like a little side project to work experience but if. You can justify. It in an interview then. It could go there yeah and then. I also have honors and awards so. This is where you've just list scholarships maybe. Any honor societies you're a part of if you're on the honor roll. Anything like. That basically. These are just things. That differentiate. You all that kind of stuff so a couple of things. I want to mention before. We move on to cover letters.

One thing that you're probably going to be dealing with. You submit your resume to any company. These days especially a big company is applicant tracking systems or what are called ATS systems actually probably not called ATS systems and somewhere in there and is really mad at me right now there are ATM machines Aaron basically. These are programs. That scan the content of your resume and basically filter resumes so the humans have far fewer to go through and these are pretty necessary. These days I think like. I read the statistics back in 2013 Google was getting two million resumes a year like imagine imagine.

You had 10 people like 200 thousand resumes per year. Each that's like a full-time job just looking at resumes and I wouldn't quit. That job yeah yeah I'm pretty efficient. That that would be so exactly yeah. I don't a education or my work experience. I don't care anyway. All basically say the same thing at this point. I can't really oh look. Another Stanford graduate I'll put. That in my you know 15 foot high pile so. What you need to know about these things. That they are scanning the content of your resume looking for keywords so number. If the industry. That you're trying to get into has specific keywords. If the job description mentioned specific keywords and you have experience with those put them on your resume yeah don't just say I'm a web developer say I'm a web developer who works with PHP. I work with Ruby. I work with reactant node and Django and those kinds of things see. What technology they're websites using if. Nothing is specified for the position just be like that's a good idea. You know just yeah.

This looks like. It was built on WordPress or or it's an ASP let. Me tell them I know how to use. That still I think there's a website out there maybe our show notes guy can find it. You can put a URL into. It and it will find the stack. That it's using it'll just scan the code and figure out okay. This is me and run into. That a Linux server it's using WordPress it's using PHP my sequel version. Whatever I can't remember the URL for it so hopefully.

You can find it we'll see but yeah that's a good tip find the stack they're using but definitely pay attention to the job description. They put out and maybe. You could use other job descriptions put out in similar positions. You know and again. You don't want to lie but don't be too general especially with. These kinds of systems. You need to put the keywords on your resume. That they're looking for otherwise. You might get filtered out before you're ever selected for interview or ever. Even cross the desk of a hiring manager the other thing is you want to keep the design clean so. You know that you're in an industry. They value a really creative graphic heavy resume and like graphic design and you're applying at a company. Where your resume is going to go directly to a human probably. Because it's a tiny little startup then keep your resume simple and clean like the Kingdom Hearts song yeah otherwise the ATS is probably going to scan your resumes see the cute picture of a dragon. You put in the corner and be like. I can't read.

This and throw. It away yeah so. You mean you have experience. We went through. What 256 applications which is a pretty small number and it didn't feel small Tom. It felt huge and like with. That many people you're just looking for the tiniest reason to disqualify. Because yeah please make. This easier to sort yeah not. Because you wanted. Us qualify people. Because you don't want. You know you don't want to consider them but it's just like no it's so hard to because I'm just like I'm but I'm so nice and understanding this could be a reason. I can't I can't there are already top contenders and I can yeah. It makes it really tough so that's what I wanted to say about resumes. I don't think. Anything else on here. That are it's really important. I will say that keep. It to one page well yeah. Unless you're like a distinguished professor of emeritus with thousands of PhDs and you have a CV that's like 18 pages long okay. I feel like at that point maybe you're famous and your resume could just say I'm Martin and then they're like there.

You go yeah I've heard of him Veon yeah Martin yeah. You left the last name off it's not. Even necessary. Everybody knows so let's talk about the cover letter here and due to time constraints. I think we're gonna have to breathe. This one a little bit quicker that's okay. Because this is less detail-oriented anyway yeah so the point of a cover letter is not to RESA mirai's your resume and I think. This is this is the the pitfall. That most students find themselves in where. They just write their cover letter as a restatement of everything on the resume hi my name is Mark day. You want this in sentence form. I am currently a sophomore at Iowa State University majoring in Mis and I would like to work for your company. I saw your position blah blah blah like that's so boring and when.

I interviewed Brad Karsch who was a guy who read like 10000 resumes as a advertising agencies hiring director back in the day. He told that yes. I write about 10000 resumes and I read about a hundred cover letters every single other one went to the trash. Because you you take a glance at the first sentence and you see. You I can see. This is going and then. You just throw. It away yeah so. You want to use the cover letter as a way to again take the interest of the hiring manager it's another opportunity to do. It and you got to realize.

That no matter. What you write it's likely. That they're not going to look. It just because they've kind of been conditioned to ignore cover letters which means you're gonna want to be doing other things. You really want. This job like. You know networking or asking somebody who works there out to coffee doing informal interviews things like. That but with your cover letter use. It as an opportunity to maybe tell a story tell them about yourself tell them why you first got interested in this field and what you've done in it so far or maybe tell.

One specific story about a really cool accomplishment. That really ties. Everything back together and has relevance to the position you're applying for yeah. You know you were applying for an IT security position maybe. You would write a cover letter. That literally told the story about when we'll put the password in the general chat and then said lul just kidding lots of lots of life lessons yeah. Because yeah it's like a fun story that's really memorable. I will never forget. That story cuz it's hilarious to me and you could probably parlay.

It into something about how. You have information security experience and you know that really stoked your interest in the field and now. You want to work in it and this company yeah well. You know it we got crushed in that and that thing because of like. One thing that I overlooked near the end and I was still like but that was intense and I learned a lot of stuff so there's a perfect experiment for a cover letter tell the story about will putting the the password in the chat. Because it's funny and it's a good hook and then say but the reason. We actually lost was. Because this mistake and over the past two years I've been learning steadily.

More and more about information security I've learned from my mistakes and now I'm to the point. Where maybe. You came back and you won. It the second year in a row yeah. Something like. That and now. I really want to you know breaking this industry and working for Cisco has been my dream for two years yeah. I feel like. If you're not aware of a mistake. You made with Internet Security or something like. That the answer is that you've made them and you're just not aware like yes. You don't you don't start out incredibly good at that it's too technical yeah. I think secured like the way to get good at security is kind of just like a process of figuring out. You messed up and then fixing it yeah. Whether by you catching it hopefully or by. Somebody hacking you you know and then. You realize. You learn from the school of hard knocks yeah let's see here. What else did. I have on here. I think that was.

That was like the main thing about cover letters is you want to number. One not just summarize your resume and number two use. It as an opportunity to hopefully tell a story but to do. Something that just gets the attention of the recruiting manager yeah it's more it's a little. More personal and then. One thing that ransom does mention in the post. He wrote on how to write a cover letter. Because we do have a whole post on this again is you want to match the tone of the res or the cover letter to the company you're applying with so the example. He gives is slack versus McKinsey Consulting if. You look at selects website.

You can kind of tell. That their culture is very whimsical and fun. I believe that slack used to be a game development company until they've made slack and realize. That that was far. More successful in their games so. You were writing a cover letter for slack. You might take a more fun tone. Whereas you look at Mackenzie's consulting website they're like projecting this very professional powerful image. You might want to be a little bit.

More reserved in your tone and not tell a bunch of jokes yeah so consider the culture of the company. That you're applying for because. They are going to be considering whether or not. You are fit for that culture for better or for worse yeah so. I think that that probably covers. It for resumes and cover letters. I do want to mention at the end here. I think this here is one thing boy. I just can't work today can't words today. I probably didn't get enough caffeine. Because it's caffeinated you're not coffee native tea don't just rely on the cover letter and on the resume. You also have networking at your disposal. You also have your personal brand at your disposal so. That means your online portfolio and your personal website your social media presence.

That kind of stuff your business cards go to events. You know the person who is out there being everywhere meeting people doing all. That kind of stuff is always going to be the person who just shot guns their resume out and calls a day so number. One look at all the avenues. You have for making connections and getting on that short list. Than on they the huge just. Everyone applied here list yeah and then also take. What is called a sniper approach instead of a shotgun approach to applying for jobs much like. You literally made a website for why you wanted to work at flying hippo yep. You didn't just apply with a resume and then move on to the next ever the only place. I applied because yeah.

That and I was like I'm not gonna build the same website for two people at once so. That would feel really dumb yeah. You know and maybe. They didn't hire. You you know but that was still a more compelling way to apply. Than the normal way of just making a resume and a cover letter and it would have been good experience and I can guarantee. If they didn't hire. You they would have been considering you more closely. They would have otherwise yeah so yes it's more effort and yes. It is a pain but I think. That you should take. You know put. More effort into the application process. Than the average person would and you're eventually gonna get hired probably at the company. You want to work at cool so. This is episode two zero nine so.

You can find the show notes for it at CI G podcastcom slash 2:09 or if you're watching this on youtube the link will be in the description below as always as. We mentioned. We have full articles on how to write a resume. How to write a cover letter and we also have articles and like networking there's actually a pretty good suite of career development articles on the site. Now mostly due to ransom he's been doing a very good job making career articles so we'll have. Some of those linked up in the show notes definitely the resume and cover letter.

One as well as. Some other ones. That I think are relevant so check those out thank you so much for listening if. You want to find our favorite apps and gear and tools book recommendations things. That you should bring to college. You are moving to college move into a dorm or an apartment. You can find all. That good stuff over at college info geek comm slash resources so check. That out thanks for listening and we'll see. You in next week's episode thank you.