1 Who Cares About Your Resume? A Career Development Webinar Massachusetts Clean Energy Center Summer Internship Opportunity Program November 17, :00-3:30 pm Kevin Doyle Principal, Green Economy NECEC Workforce Lead

2 The Council’s membership includes hundreds of employers with a wide range of workforce development, education and training needs

3 To meet the need for real-world learning opportunities for college students and recent graduates, the Council’s workforce development program assisted the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center in the launching of the CEC’s Clean Energy Summer Internship Program. Service Need: Provide opportunities for trainees to get real world OJT expereince

4 Over 800 students applied to be paid MA Clean Energy Interns in the program’s first year. Ultimately, over 100 exceptionally talented people were selected for internships at 70 different clean energy companies in the state. Students from engineering, scientific, and technical fields were selected most often by the participating employers.

5 Students selected for internships were from dozens of colleges and universities Alfred LehighWisconsin Babson (5)LynchburgWellesley Bentley (5)ManhattanWentworth Boston College (2)Mass MaritimeWestfield State Boston University (5)MiddleburyWheaton Brandeis (2)MIT (6)WPI (7) Clark (4)Northeastern (7)Yale Connecticut CollegeNYU EmersonPomona Olin (5)Suffolk Greenfield CC (3)Tufts (7) Harvard (3)UMass (27)

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8 What is a resume? What is it for? A resume is a tool used in your marketing/sales campaign. The purpose of the marketing and sales campaign is to increase the probability that you will either: (a) receive an interview for a job you’re interested in, or (b) be considered positively for other opportunities/referrals. A resume is not primarily an objective biography of your professional experience, education and activities to date.

9 An inconvenient truth about resumes The things that you do before and after submitting your resume are usually much more important than the resume itself. The power of the resume alone is limited. More about this later, but now….

10 Welcome to Karen’s resume! It includes her contact information and a 1-page description of her education, professional experience, campus leadership and activities, volunteer experience, and computer skills.

11 Karen’s Educational Background

12 Karen’s Professional Experience

13 Karen’s Campus Leadership and Activities, Volunteer Experience and Computer Skills

14 Junior Business Systems Analyst – Job # Position Description The Business Systems Analyst will work with functional managers to improve EnviroBusiness profitability. He/she will determine, describe and document exactly how existing systems function, what they cost to operate and to describe and quantify the value of all benefits that the systems provide. More importantly, the Business Systems Analyst will identify alternatives for improving or adding to systems and will provide well quantified analyses of all functionality, their costs and their benefits. This work will be based on a complete understanding and support of EnviroBusiness' business plan. The BSA will then determine, document, communicate and lead implementation of well defined plans and pathways for acquiring and implementing new and improved systems and to ensure that all stakeholders are actively and completely knowledgeable and supportive of all systems analysis work being done and planned. For assigned projects, the Business Systems Analyst will work with the EBI user group to define the scope of work and a timeline for deliverables. The Business Systems Analyst will participate in all aspects of the project, including, requirements gathering, documentation, testing and deployment. The Business Systems Analyst will provide user support with the assistance of Technology staff for various EBI systems

15 Responsibilities Project analysis – outline scope of project requirements, identify and document requirements through interaction with users, review requirements with users and development team. Remain involved with users and development team through project completion. System testing – write test scripts and perform testing, ensuring that all components of system are covered; coordinate end user/user acceptance testing. Provide level 2 support for the application(s), handling calls that cannot be resolved by the Help Desk. Create new user accounts related to PTS. Skills Required Strong attention to detail, flexible and motivated Organized with the ability to work on several projects concurrently Experience with relational database structure and SQL queries Excellent communication skills, both written and oral Experience writing project scope and requirements documents Experience conducting interviews and requirements workshops 2-5 years experience Able to work independently with minimal supervision Education Requirements Bachelor’s Degree in MIS or Business

16 Benefits EBI offers competitive compensation, bonus opportunities, group medical & dental insurance, 401k plan with employer contribution, tuition reimbursement, paid vacation, and progressive career opportunities. EOE M/W/D/V Submittal Please submit a resume and cover letter in Word or PDF format via to You must include the following information: Reference job #, job title and resource Brief summary of past related experience (highlight your experience as it relates to our need & industry) List of your education credentials and professional registrations Salary history We look forward to hearing from you!

17 EBI Consulting’s Analysis of Resume: 1 Q: What response would you have to Karen’s resume for this position? A: While Karen Baltimore’s resume is impressive, and would be of interest to a hiring manager for the right position, it does not hit the mark for the position for which she applied. The most important thing a candidate can do is carefully read the job skill requirements, and respond directly to those. For instance, the Business Systems Analyst position requires, among other things: Experience with relational database structure and SQL series, a BA in MIS or Business Experience writing project scope and requirements documents. I do not see any evidence of any of those skills on her resume. While there are many jobs within our environmental consulting company that would be a closer fit for Karen’s experience and field of academic study, the BSA is clearly not one of them. She has targeted the wrong position, and as such, her resume would most likely end up in the unused pile.

18 EBI Consulting’s Resume Review - 2 Q: What you would be looking for in a good resume for this posting? A: An ideal resume would address each one of the position description bullets to which the candidate can respond. (A cover letter highlighting this as well is always helpful.) Read the job description VERY carefully and tailor your resume to THAT position. The extra time and work involved could pay off with an interview.

19 EBI Consulting Resume Review - 3 Q: What suggestions would you have for this candidate in terms of both needed skills/experience and how that's presented? A: At first glance, the resume is a little bit “busy”. While it is important to see that Karen is very involved in volunteer and extracurricular activities, I would prefer that she omit some of the details, as they do not relate to the job requirements. This would make the resume easier to read, and would focus more attention on the more relevant Education and Professional Experience, which is what we really care about. On the other hand, I would dedicate more space to her Honors, which speak to intelligence and hard work – qualities which every company is looking for. Perhaps a separate bullet for each of these, in place of the bullets under Volunteer Experience would be useful. I would also put Computer Skills above the Campus Leadership and Volunteer Experience, as it is more relevant to the BSA position.

20 Think Like a Hiring Manager When hiring, managers generally want to: (a) Minimize the possibility of making a bad decision (b) Maximize the possibility that the person will be “a good fit” (c) Minimize the time that it will take the person to become a productive member of the staff – generating more in perceived results than s/he costs in perceived time, attention and money. (d) Imagine using the new person quickly on already identified short and medium-term project needs.

21 Two kinds of competitive candidates  A person who has successful experience, good skills, and good references in a job much like the one being filled and who is likely to be happy with the salary, benefits and work terms being offered.  A person who has good basic skills, meets the minimum requirements, has a great attitude and good references, shows a genuine interest or passion for the work, has demonstrated that they can learn new skills quickly, and comes recommended by a trusted friend or colleague.

22 What does successful career development look like?  Gain an understanding of the public, private and nonprofit industry sectors you’re interested in, and the employers in those sectors.  Gain an understanding of the skills, experience, knowledge, network and attitude needed to compete for the jobs you’re interested in.  Make good decisions to increase the probability that you will develop those specific skills, experiences, knowledge, networks and attitudes.  Try to do a superior job in everything that you do. Reputation is all.  Learn how to use referrals appropriately and effectively.

23 A Good Job Search Scenario (1) You are actively studying, living, volunteering and working in a community of interest that you’ve identified. (2) A person in your community tells you about a job opening. (3) You research the job and determine that you’re competitive. (4) You screen your network and identify people inside that employer who you know, or outside of that employer who know people on the inside. (5) You research the employer and the job opening, including using referrals to get in-person meetings when possible. (6) An appropriate hiring manager or recruiter urges you to apply and possibly shares some useful information that you can use in tailoring your resume and cover letter.

24 So where does the resume come in? A resume is a document that provides written verification that the candidate: (a) shouldn’t be screened out yet (b) might be worthy of a phone or in-person interview

25 Resume Tips and Tactics Review 1. Mine the job description for critical headers related to skills, experience, education and personal qualities 2. Create bullet points from your experience demonstrating your qualifications related to those bullet points. 3. If at all possible, find a way for someone reliable on “the inside” to review your resume before submission. 4. Consider a “two-page” resume, with the first page based on the style above and the second page more like a bio.

26 Let’s keep talking… Kevin Doyle Principal, Green Economy Workforce Program Lead, New England Clean Energy Council 10 High Street, Suite 610 Boston, MA (office) (mobile) Visit the Council online at View MA training directory at