Job Descriptions: Find The Right Words for Resumes, Cover Letters and Interviews

What did I do on my last job? What were my hard skills and soft skills? The best way to find the right words to describe your work is from a job description. For example, let's look at three job descriptions from Seattle Goodwill:

Material Handler

Production Associate

Retail Sales Associate

These job descriptions are useful because:

• you can cut and paste this information into your cover letter and/or resume (though you may want to edit)

• you can study your former job descriptions to prepare for a job interview

It's also a good idea to look at job descriptions in the same field, especially for companies you'd like to work for in the future. We did a google search on three similar jobs, and Google revealed some interesting comparisons, as you'll see below:

Warehouse Worker, Amazon

Production/Packaging Associate, botanicaSEATTLE

Obviously, some of these jobs aren't local, but you can look at these jobs and compare them to your job descriptions. Think about how the job descriptions are similar to your own experience and skills.

Last, check out websites like O*Net OnLine and My Next Move to find generic job descriptions to add to your resume and cover letters

Assignment #2: Find company job descriptions for your last two jobs, Read them carefully to find similarities and differences to your own experience.

Assignment #4: Review the standard targeted resume examples article.