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Section objectives
After finishing this session, you will ■Understand networking and its importance■Get familiar with resume writing process ■Identify the common mistakes you should avoid in
your resume■Understand who to target in your resumes and
cover letters■Gain practical information about cover letters
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First things in career building
■Get organized. Keep all the details and make sure it is easily accessible, so that you don’t miss opportunities or make mistakes
■Start now and stick to it. Even if you are a year or more away from graduation, nowis not too early to get started with some of the essential research and planning tasks.
■Networking and a working CV are good places to start from
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Networking ■ Networking is the process of making informal
connections with mutually beneficial business contacts■ Networking etiquette
– Remember that networking is about people helping each other, not just about other people helping you
– Try to learn something about the people you want to connect with
– Don’t overwhelm others with too many messages or requests,
– Be brief in all your communication efforts, – Don’t give out other people’s names and contact
information without their permission – Never email your résumé to complete strangers– Remember to say thank you every time someone helps
you
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Networking tools■ Social media (Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter…)■ Your classmates ■ identifying people with similar interests in your target
professions, industries, and companies■ Reading news sites, blogs, and other online sources,
following industry leaders ■ Following individual executives at your target companies■ Visiting trade shows to learn about various industries and
rub shoulders with people who work in those industries■ Volunteering and internships
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■ Probably the best known business networking channel with around 500 million users
■ In class activity: let us create Linkedin profiles and add each other
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Common mistakes you should avoid in your career search
■ Not catching mistakes in your resume,■ Misspelling the name of a manager (means no
dear sir/madam anymore) you’re writing to■ Showing up late for an interview■ Leaving embarrassing images or messages open to
public view on your social media accounts■ Failing to complete application forms correctly■ Asking for information that you can easily find
online■ Making any other error that could flag you as
someone who is careless, clueless, or disrespectful.
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Resume writing■Why do you write a resume?
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Resume writing ■you will create many messages during your career
search, your resume will be among the most important ones
■Writing a resume is one of those projects that really benefits from multiple planning, writing, and completing sessions spread out over several days or weeks.
■You are trying to summarize a complex subject (yourself!) and present a compelling story to complete strangers in a brief document
■The objective of a resume is to get an interview not necessarily a job
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Resume writing process
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Target your specific audience ■ Like other business messages,
resumes are written for specific audiences
■ Take the effort to learn about your audiences and tailor your resume to catch their attention
■ You can do that through the job ads, phone calls, social media accounts of the hiring team and etc.
■ After all the purpose of a resume is creating interest
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Build your resume around your strengths■ Show that your are the best fit to the job opening ■ What if you have weaknesses? ■ In class activity: suppose that you are an employment agent
and your candidates suffer from the following weaknesses? Suggest what they should do– Alan has a record of frequent job changes. The jobs are
quite similar though – Andi has a 6 month gap in his employment history where
he took the time to recover from a serious illness – Sana who is a UKH and LBS alumna (Bsc Accounting and
MBA ) with 5 years of relevant experience is seemingly overqualified for a junior accountant at Xal co. Yet she very much would like to apply for the job, because her dear friend is working there too.
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Organization of your resume ■Three common organization types:
– Chronological resume– Functional resume– The combination resume
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Chronological resumes ■In a chronological resume, the work experience
section dominates and is placed immediately after your contact information and introductory statement.
■The chronological approach is the most common way to organize a resume
■Many employers prefer this format because it presents your professional history in a clear, easy-to-follow arrangement
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The chronological resume■List your job experiences in a reverse order,
giving more importance to the most recent one■Specify your title, the organization, important
dates, the tasks you performed as a part of your job
■Show your achievements as a part of every job you have done
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The functional resume ■ A functional resume, sometimes called a skills resume,
emphasizes your skills and capabilities, identifying employers and academic experience in subordinate sections.
■ This arrangement stresses individual areas of competence rather than job history.
■ The functional approach has three advantages:– (1) Without having to read through job descriptions,
employers can see what you can do for them,– (2) you can emphasize earlier job experience, – (3) you can deemphasize any lengthy
unemployment or lack of career progress.
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The functional resume
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The combination resume
■A combination resume meshes the skills focus of the functional format with the job history focus of the chronological format
■The chief advantage of this format is that it allows you to focus attention on your capabilities when you don’t have a long or steady employment history, without raising concerns that you might be hiding something about your past.
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The combination resume
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Writing a cover letter ■ A cover letter is a single-page letter that should be part of
any job application, unless the job ad clearly says otherwise
■ “If your cover letter doesn’t impress, I won’t even look at your resume” says Lauren Nelson; Marketing Manager at crowdSPRING
■ Purposes of a cover letter– Introduce you– Mention the job (or kind of job) you're applying for (or
looking for) – Match your KSA’s with the KSA’s required by the job – Encourage the reader to read your resume – Finish with a call to action (e.g., requesting an
interview or asking to meet)
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Customize your cover letter 1. Find out about who you are writing to: If not specified
in the ad, call the employer or recruitment agency (don't email them) and ask who to send the application to
2. Find out about the job: questions you can ask (same phone call):
■ What can you tell me about the job?■ What can you tell me about the ideal candidate for the job?■ Is there a position description I can look at? (if not included
in the ad)3. Find out more about the company
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Traditional cover letter■Put your basic details on the top ■Next, write the receiver’s own details ■It is attached with the resume, whether handed,
mailed or emailed
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Email cover letters
■ Write your name and the job title in the email subject line (e.g., " Aza Ali- Application for Administration Assistant role")
■ Remember you still need to use the name of the person you're writing to
■ Avoid formatting the body of the email like a traditional letter go straight to the "Dear XXXX" part.
■ End the email with a professional signature that includes your phone number
■ Always send the email from a professional looking email address
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Cover letter tipsInclude ■ The name of the job you
are applying for■ A list of your relevant
KSA’s, you can use the job ad and job description to choose the list
■ A summary of why you're right for the job/ position
■ Finish by asking the reader to look at your resume. Also ask them to contact you about an interview
Avoid ■ Typos and factual errors
(double check everything on your cover letter)
■ Your entire resume (you have the resume to do that for you)
■ Repetitive statements and clichés
■ Mentioning your other applications
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Hands-on activity In groups of 3-4 students:■Choose one of the job ads
provided by the lecturer ■Write a well structured, double
checked one page cover letter as if you are applying to the job
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References used
■ Bovee, C. and Thill, J. (2013). Business communication essentials (1st ed.). US: Boston: Prentice Hall.
■ Freeiworktemplates.com. Retrieved 6 December 2016, from https://www.freeiworktemplates.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/cover_letter_example.png
■ How to Write a Cover Letter. (2016). Youth Central. Retrieved 6 December 2016, from http://www.youthcentral.vic.gov.au/jobs-careers/applying-for-jobs/how-to-write-a-cover-letter
■ Nelson, L. (2014). Why I Care More About Your Cover Letter Than Your Resume. www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 7 December 2016, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140921144232-77324480-why-i-care-more-about-your-cover-letter-than-your-resume?trk=pulse-det-nav_art&trk=pulse-det-nav_art
