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LECTURE 3
HUNTING FOR JOBS
Business Lexis
entry-level work – work appropriate for or accessible to one who is inexperienced in a field;
gap – space between points of experience; demotion – reduction in rank, status;
Business Lexis
job-hopping – the practice of changing jobs frequently, especially as a means of quick financial gain or career advancement;
bulleted list – a list with heavy dot ( · ) used to highlight a particular passage;
What Employers Want
Employers want youth. They want our newness, optimism, and promise.
Employers want us to be curious and to care about what we are doing.
Employers want relevant experience – partly because it suggests that we really want to do this kind of work.
Employers want flexibility, our willingness to start at the bottom for not very much money.
Employers want us to have a good attitude – even about doing entry-level work that isn’t very exciting.
Employers want us to be able to cope with failure and to keep working even when things are tough. Employers want us to be reliable.
Résumé
A résumé is a persuasive summary of our qualifications for employment. If we are on the job market, having a résumé makes us look well organized and prepared.
Kinds of Résumé
There are two kinds of résumés: chronological résumé; skills résumé.
Chronological Résumé
Our education and experience are a logical preparation for the position for which we’re applying.
We have impressive job titles, offices, or honors.
Skills Résumé
Our education and experience are not the usual route to the position for which we’re applying.
We want to combine experience from paid jobs, activities or volunteer work and courses to show the extent of our experience in administration, finance, speaking, and so on.
We lack impressive job titles, offices, or honors.
Our recent work history may create the wrong impression (for example, it has gaps, shows a demotion, job-hopping and so on).
Résumés commonly contain the following information:
Name, Address, and Phone Number Career Objective, Education, Experience Honors Activities References
For most people, the disadvantages of using a photo outweigh the advantages:
Research shows that attractive-looking women are perceived to be less qualified than plainer women or men with the same credentials.
The interviewer may be subconsciously disappointed when you don’t look like your picture (few people do).
Most people seem more attractive in person than they appear in a still photograph, and unattractive people – of either sex – are likely to be judged negatively and paid less.
Résumé Format
Our Photo
Our Contact Information First, Last Name Street Address City, Zip, State Phone (Cell/Home) Email Address
What do you want to do? If we include this section it should be a sentence or two about our employment goals. A customized objective that describes why we are the perfect candidate for the job can help our résumé stand out from the competition.
Objective (optional)
A customized section of our résumé that lists key achievements, skills, traits, and experience relevant to the position for which we are applying can serve dual purposes.
Career Highlights/Qualifications (optional)
It highlights our relevant experience and lets the prospective employer know that we have taken the time to create a résumé that shows how we are qualified for the job.
Experience
This section of our résumé includes our work history. We should list the companies we worked for, dates of employment, the positions we held and a bulleted list of responsibilities and achievements.
Company #1City, State
Dates Worked Job Title
Responsibilities/AchievementsResponsibilities/Achievements
Company # 2City, State
Dates Worked Job Title
Responsibilities/AchievementsResponsibilities/Achievements
Education
In the education section of our résumé, we should list the colleges we attended, the degrees we attained, and any special awards and honors we earned.
College, DegreeAwards, Honors
We should include skills related to the position/career field that we are applying for (for example, computer skills, language skills).
Skills
References Available upon Request
There is no need to include references in our résumé. Rather, we’d have a separate list of references to give to employers upon request.
How to Customize Our Résumé
In all cases, we should be sure to personalize and customize our résumé, so, it reflects our skills and abilities, and connects them with the jobs we are applying for.
Emphasizing the things we’ve done that:
are most relevant to the position to which we’re applying;
show our superiority to other applicants: promotions, honors, and achievements, experience with computers or other relevant equipment, foreign languages, and so on.
are recent. Focus on achievements in the last three to five years.
Describing the aspects of the job we did:
Too vague: Sales Manager, The Daily Collegian, University Park, PA, 1994-95. Supervised staff; promoted ad sales.
Good details: Sales Manager, The Daily Collegian, University Park, PA, 1994-95. Supervised 22-member sales staff; helped
recruit, interview, and select staff; assigned duties and scheduled work; recommended best performer for promotion. Motivated staff to increase paid ad inches 10% over previous year’s sales.
Verbs or gerunds create a more dynamic image of us than do nouns
Nouns: Chair, Income Tax Assistance Committee, Winnipeg, MB, 1994-95. Responsibilities: recruitment of volunteers; flyer design, writing, and distribution for promotion of program; speeches to various community groups and nursing homes to advertise the service.
Verbs or gerunds create a more dynamic image of us than do nouns
Verbs: Chair, Income Tax Assistance Committee, Winnipeg, MB, 1994-95. Recruited volunteers for the program. Designed, wrote, and distributed a flyer to promote the program; spoke to various community groups and nursing homes to advertise the service.
A one-page résumé is sufficient, but we should fill the page. Less than a full page suggests that we do not have very much to say for ourselves.
If we use more than one page, the second page should have at least 11 – 12 lines.
When we use a second sheet, we should staple it to the first so that readers will see the staple and know that there is more.
We should leave less important information for the second page and put our name and Page 2 or Cont. on the page.
A three-page résumé for someone who is 19 – 22 looks pretentious.
If we have done a great many things, it is better to combine similar small items and omit less important items to keep our résumé to two pages.
Curriculum Vitae
A CV is an account of our entire education and employment history. The term curriculum vitae is translated as “course of life” and it really is that – a record of our working life so far.
It is far more detailed than a résumé from which elements are often excluded
Curriculum Vitae
if they are considered irrelevant. A CV should include everything we have ever done, listed in reverse chronological order, to make it easier to prioritize more recent information. As a result, a CV is longer than a résumé, although its length can be strongly recommended by the company we would like to join as an employee.
Curriculum Vitae
Information in a CV is arranged according to subheadings, to make it easier for the reader to quickly skim through and find the information he or she needs.
Our CV is intended to let perspective employers find out about us in hope that
Curriculum Vitae
they will offer us a job, so it is in our interest to make easy to understand!The sections of a CV may include the following, although many sections can be moved up or down depending on what information is relevant for the specific job:
CV Sections
Profile/Objectives – a short statement. Tailored to fit the requirements of the prospective employer.
Education/Qualifications – a list of institutions and courses, with grades awarded and dates attended.
CV Sections
Skills/Competencies – any skills or achievements that are relevant to the job.
Career Summary – the most detailed part, it can be moved higher up the document if necessary. Each job should have a short description of the skills we used and our achievements within the
CV Sections
role. A few bullet points are sufficient, with more detailed accounts of more recent/relevant positions.
Curriculum Vitae Format
Our Contact Information First, Last NameStreet AddressCity (comma), Zip, StatePhone (Cell/Home)Email Address
Our Photo
Personal Information
Date of BirthPlace of BirthCitizenshipVisa StatusGender
Optional Personal Information
Marital StatusSpouse’s NameChildren
Employment History
We should list it in chronological order starting from the recent employment, and we should include position details and datesWork HistoryAcademic PositionsResearch and Training
Education
We should include dates, majors, and details of degrees, training and certification
Post-Doctoral Training
Graduate School
University
High School
Professional Qualifications
Certifications and Accreditations Computer Skills Awards Publications Professional Memberships Interests
Difference between a CV and a Résumé
Different purposes: CV acts as a complete record of our professional history, while a résumé is a short, targeted list of transferable skills and accomplishments, intended to show how we can be of specific benefit to the
Difference between a CV and a Résumé
particular company to which we are applying.
The CV is the standard format for job applications. In the US, résumés are more common, but CVs are reserved almost completely for jobs in academia or when applying for grants.
Difference between a CV and a Résumé
Different length: Our résumé should be shorter that our CV. A CV is expected to have a length of 2 or more pages. A résumé should be less that 2 pages. A résumé cab be even shorter than one full page.
Difference between a CV and a Résumé
Similar sections: Both a CV and a résumé should include our name, address, contact information, education, work experience, and skills.
Different sections. A CV can and should include awards, teaching experience,
Difference between a CV and a Résumé
hobbies, referees, grants and fellowships, diplomas, computer skills, work related skills, courses completed and any other relevant information. If we add a lot of irrelevant information in a lengthy CV, our CV may be discarded.
Difference between a CV and a Résumé
Underlining principles: In both cases, we should write events in a chronological order to make it easier for understanding. Our skills, experience, and education are the most important aspects, that is why we should design our CV or résumé around them.
