Resumes & Your Future EGRE 101 Laura Lemza, MBA, M.Ed. Assistant Director, Career & Industry Advising lemzala@vcu.edu EGRE 101

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Today’s Presentation Preparing Yourself for a Great Future Career Services and You Career Fair Resumes – What’s on Yours?

Prepare For Your Future How do you create a great resume? Plan backwards. Start now. Good grades Student Organizations (IEEE, FIRST) Research with a Professor Work in a Lab VIP Team – Sophomore year and beyond Part-time work Internships, Co-op What do employers want? Certain skills, work experience, decent grades. Top 2? Work experience and skills/grades. Get involved. Develop your skills.

Today’s Presentation Preparing Yourself for a Great Future Career Services and You Career Fair Resumes – What’s on Yours?

Engineering Career Services Explore. Info Sessions, Site Visits, LIFE Talks Prepare. Workshops, ENGR 395, Career Advising 1:1 Connect. Employers How does Engineering Career Services help? Please use our center, not the main career center.

Today’s Presentation Preparing Yourself for a Great Future Career Services and You Career Fair Resumes – What’s on Yours?

Wed, Sept 20th : The Fair Location: East Hall and Snead Hall – all First Floor Best time to come: Early! Start at 10 am if you can. Why? Learn about the local companies. Compete for an internship.

Companies Coming Expect more than 70 companies at Engineering Fair

CareerFair+ Overview

Volunteer Be a Career Fair Volunteer! Get a special nametag Lunch with employers in employer lounge Sign up on our website Click on Career Fair Icon, then Volunteering

Today’s Presentation Preparing Yourself for a Great Future Career Services and You Career Fair Resumes – What’s on Yours?

Pop Quiz - Resumes 1. What is a resume? A work history A comprehensive list of skills, experience and other qualifications A marketing document Answer → C Representative, not comprehensive Strategic A personal marketing tool to sell your relevant experience, education, skills, accomplishments and qualifications to potential employers To see the format, verb list, and a skills list, go to HireVCURams Resource Library.

Resume Exercise Pair up 2 minutes to review a resume Find the errors (what not to do) Share with each other what you see What stands out on the resume? Can you tell what this person is good at? Share with the class

Resume Appearance Legible and easy to read Resume is 1 page* Margins 0.5 inch to 1 inch Font is 10 - 12 point Consistency – all periods or no periods The word “I” is not used Don’t use a template Your name is larger than the rest of the resume

Name & Contact Information Consistent across resume, cover letter, references list Consistent name – Choose your professional name! One phone number, One address? It depends…. Jamie T. Student 907 Floyd Avenue ▪ Richmond, VA 23284 ▪ 804.123.4567 ▪ studentjt@vcu.edu ________________________________________________________________________________ Current Address: 907 Floyd Avenue ▪ Richmond, VA 23284 Permanent Address: 123 Lovely Lane ▪ Fairfax, VA 32145 804.123.4567 ▪ studentjt@vcu.edu Use a professional email address What else could be added in this section? ■ LinkedIn Page ■ Personal Website

Resume Format Name & Contact Info Objective Education Relevant Courses Skills Relevant Experience Academic Projects Independent Projects Other Work Experience Honors & Activities This is one example of typical headings. Headings can change and should be tailored to your needs!

Objective Keep it simple – one line should do it Focus on how the employer would benefit, not on what you will gain Electrical Engineering Sophomore who offers circuit design experience and programming in C/C++ skills seeking a part-time internship for Fall 2017.

Education VCU Comes First High School – Freshmen can list this Community College – it depends GPA – List 3.0 or higher Relevant Courses – list by name, not number; select most relevant or highest level GPA Debate – general guidance is that if your GPA is 3.0 or higher, list it on the resume; If GPA is below 3.0, don’t list it

Skills Computer Skills Programming Skills Design Skills Lab Skills Technical Skills Languages Exercise: Break into groups by majors and create a list of skills you have. Share with the class. Language Proficiency: In the US, an influential proficiency measure is the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale, developed by the US State Department. It identifies five levels of language proficiency: Level 1 – Elementary – Can fulfill the basic needs in a language, such as ordering meals, asking time, and asking for directions. Level 2 – Limited Working Proficiency – Can fulfill routine social demands, such as small talk about one’s self, one’s family, and current events. Level 3 – Professional Working Proficiency – Can discuss a variety of topics with ease and almost completely understand what others are saying. Level 4 – Full Professional Proficiency – Can participate in all manners of conversations with ease and only rarely makes grammatical mistakes. Level 5 – Native or Bilingual Proficiency – Can use the language the way an educated native speaker of the language would.

Experience Relevant Experience Academic Projects – Senior Design Independent Projects Other Work

Bullet Points Active verb Quantify, Specify Results, Achievements, Contributions Responsible for newsletter Edited a monthly newsletter in Microsoft Publisher for the department of 50 personnel, streamlining office communication

Bullet Points Give Specific Examples! Do not Generalize. × Utilized excellent oral communication skills Welcomed 600 students and their parents to campus during New Student Orientation. × Ability to work in a team Played varsity soccer as a starter for 2 years, selected as “Best Team Player” by team members

Miscellaneous Student organizations Volunteer work Honors, Awards

Today’s Presentation Preparing Yourself for a Great Future Career Services and You Career Fair Resumes – What’s on Yours?

Questions? Walk-In Hours: Tues & Wed 10:00 am – 12:00 noon Thursdays 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm Make an appointment: HireVCURams Home page, left column Laura Lemza Engineering Career Center West Hall, room 235 804.827.7411 lemzala@vcu.edu