Hubbard Center for Student Engagement Guides + Forms

Career Development

Hubbard Guide Videos

Click the links below to watch our presentations on various career development topics:

Resumes

What is a resume? A brief review of personal, educational, and professional qualifications used to apply for job positions.

What is its purpose? Its purpose is to market your skills, abilities, and accomplishments to employers.

Applicant Tracking System: ATS is a software program companies can use to quickly sift through and eliminate resumes by looking for keywords and phrases.

How do you know if a company uses ATS? There is no sure way to know. Industries such as healthcare, technology, and government organizations, or companies that employ more than 100 people, are more likely to use ATS.

How do I make sure my resume is ATS-friendly? Use clear formatting, relevant keywords pulled from the job description, and concise language that is easy for both bots and recruiters to read.

Creating your content

Headline & Contact Info:

- Begin with your full name (biggest font on your page), but do not use a header/footer. ATS can not read text in these areas.
- Include a professional email address and telephone number. Physical address and LinkedIn are optional.

Education:

- Start with most recent degree.
  - Only include high school if you are in your first year of undergraduate school.
- Include degree & major (e.g. Bachelor of Arts in Sociology), institution name and location, graduation date or expected graduation date, GPA (if 3.0 or above), and academic honors or awards. Relative course work is optional and should have minimal details.

Experiences:

- List relevant experiences in reverse-chronological order.
  - May include undergraduate research, internships, part-time jobs, off-campus studies, community service, volunteering, or leadership positions.
- Be consistent is listing of position, organization, locations, and time frame (month/year).
- 2-5 bullet points, sometimes called accomplishment statements, per experience. Use action verbs and keywords found in the job posting description.
  - Helpful formula: Strong skill verb + qualifier (how, what, why) + quantifier (results or purpose)

Skills:

- Relevant hard skills (specific, taught abilities that can be defined and measured). Avoid soft skills (personal qualities) as they are less tangible.
- May include skills like languages with qualifiers, computer skills, lab skills, and software programs.
- It is more effective to describe how you can use your skill in your accomplishment statements than to list them separately.

Tailored Section Headings:

- Use tailored section headings to quickly demonstrate relevant experiences (e.g. "Research Experiences," "Leadership Experiences," etc.).
- An experience doesn't always have to be paid. Any relevant experiences you have completed should be included.

Finishing Touches

Margins & Formatting:

- Should not exceed 1 page in length
- Margins can be set as low as 0.75 inches. Keep margins constant on all four sides.
- Use formatting tools like spacing and white space to make your resume scannable and easy to read.
- Be wary of using a template or text boxes because many ATS are not compatible or able to read the information.

Choosing Font Style & Size:

- Serif typeface (Times New Roman, Georgia, or Baskerville)
- Sans-serif fonts (Arial, Helvetica, or Verdana)
  - These are considered the safer choice for ATS readability.
- Keep font size 10-12, with a font size of 14-18 for your name. Tools like italics and bolding can be used to create variety.

Additional Tips:

- Proofread, proofread, proofread!
- DO NOT include ethnicity, photos, questionable language, interests, or religious affiliations.
- Work with a Hubbard Center adviser to create the most competitive resume you can.

Sample Resume:

Cover Letters

What is a cover letter? It's used to introduce yourself to the employer. It should change for every application.

What is its purpose? A cover letter is used to introduce you and your qualifications to a potential employer through a more personable format.

What should I include in my cover letter? Look at the skills desired and show that you have them. Incorporate the company culture. In one page, the cover letter should convey your specific knowledge of the employer and position, highlight relevant skills and experiences, and demonstrate your genuine enthusiasm.

Letter Structure

A well-written cover letter is professional, concise and focused on the needs of the employer.

Heading/Date

Use the same header you have for your resume. Be sure to also include your contact information, the date, and the company contact information.

Greeting

Find out the recruiter's name via LinkedIn or the company website and greet them with a professional tone. When all else fails, you can use a general professional title (e.g. Dear Hiring Manager).

Body

A cover letter contains three kinds of paragraphs:

Introduction - Think about your audience and make your content and writing appealing to that individual. You should include:
- Why you are writing
- Where you saw the job posting or who referred you
- What makes you the perfect candidate
- What about the company/organization excited you

Middle - Prove the skills you mentioned in your first paragraph. Think about the job description and company culture, then describe why your experiences make you more than capable of fulfilling the responsibilities and working well with your co-workers.
- Use the STAR (Situation, Task, Actions, Results) method to describe accomplishments. This creates an excellent framework to tell a story.

Conclusion - Thank them for their time and consideration, reiterate why they should hire you, and emphasize that you would like to meet them in person.

Emailing a Cover letter

Some job postings require applicants to email their resume and cover letter.

In the subject line, include the job title and your name.
Paste the cover letter into the email body.
Attach a copy of the cover letter to the email in PDF format so the employer can easily print it out for review.
- Be sure to include your name in the file name.

Cover Letter Example:

Interviews

What is an interview for? An interview is to discuss why you are the best candidate and helps you determine if the position is what you want.

Common Interview Types

Career Fairs - Consider these a screening interview. Be brief and to the point, ask good questions, and have your elevator pitch ready.
Pre-Recorded - An interview where you will answer questions on your screen in a video format. Typically, you are allotted 30 seconds to 3 minutes to answer each question.
Phone/Skype - Usually an initial interview used to screen applicants for the next, more in-depth round. Reserve an interview room in the Hubbard Center for a private space.
Panel - Where there are multiple people asking you questions.
Group - Where multiple candidates answer questions together.
Behavior-Based - Questions posed that will ask you to discuss your previous experience to indicate your habits, personality, and how you would fit in the organization.
Case Study - Assesses your problem-solving skills and lets you demonstrate your ability to solve complex problems.

Visit the Hubbard Center for help understanding how to prepare and practice with some mock interviews.

Prepare for Interview Success

For each type of interview, you will need to do extensive research on the company to do well and impress the committee.

You can use a variety of resources:

Organization's Website- Study the Homepage, About Us and Contact Us sections. Know the company mission, locations and officers. Know the products and services it provides. Read press releases. Review annual and quarterly reports.
LinkedIn- Look at employees. What career paths have they followed? Read the organization news. Follow the company.
Search Engines- Search the organization's name and products. Look for good and bad news and the reasons for it. Who are the major customers and competitors? Create a Google alert.
Additional Web Resources- Search for leaders' presentations and watch them. What connections do you have to them? Hometown, college, etc. Visit Glassdoor and Yahoo Finance for additional information.

Prepare to Tell Your Story

Your interview is the opportunity for you to discuss your education and experience to detail why the organization should hire you.

Using the STAR format will help you answer questions thoroughly, build rapport with your interviewer and demonstrate past results to show your fit for the organization. You should prepare your STAR responses before an interview by reflecting on and preparing to discuss examples that best highlight your experiences and skills that you would be using in the position you seek.

Situation: The context, such as where you were.

Task: What did you need to complete or achieve? What was the problem that needed to be solved?

Action: What did you do to accomplish the task? Focus on your actions, not the group's actions.

Result: What happened? Did you meet, fall short, exceed expectations? What did you learn?

Common Interview Questions

Tell me about yourself. This is your opportunity to explain your background. Be sure to focus on elements and experiences that are relevant to the position.
Why do you want to work here? Research is key for answering this question. You should discuss the field of work, including the company's products, services or business. Demonstrate your knowledge of the industry.
What relevant experience do you have? Your answer can demonstrate your understanding of the day-to-day work in the field. Detail any transferable experiences you have that can give some insight into the knowledge you have of the position.
What is your greatest strength? Explain your awareness of what makes you unique. Provide details about how you can use your strengths to benefit the position you are seeking.
What is your greatest weakness? Answer with a skill (not a character trait) you have been improving, with examples of how you have learned from experience. Questions such as this provide the employer perspective on how you handle difficult questions and moments.
Do you have any questions for me? This is an important time to have any lingering questions answered. By having legitimate, well considered questions to ask, you will demonstrate that you have put serious thought into what this position would mean for you. You can also demonstrate your research by asking detailed questions about the business.

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