Day 4 of the Career Champions Challenge
Welcome to Day 4 of the Career Champions Challenge! Today’s topic is supporting students with resume and cover letter writing.
Getting an internship or job can be challenging but writing a resume or cover letter for the first time can be especially daunting! According to the Harvard Business Review, job recruiters on average take only about 7 seconds to scan a resume before deciding on a potential candidate.
Resume Best Practice Suggestions
While there is a plethora of information on the internet about writing a good resume, here are some suggestions that we often provide to our students at the Office of Career & Professional Development:
Tailor the Resume
- Many students think that a resume is a “one and done” type document that can be used for every position, but we all know this is not the case. We need to teach students how to tailor a resume. Of course, there are students who are still developing in their experiences so tailoring may not be as feasible. However, as students gain more experiences to put on their resume, as faculty and staff, we can make this tailoring concept a bit more concrete.
- For example, we can share with students that they can first create a “master” resume where ALL of their experiences can be listed. Students can then copy from their “master” version to create another resume where the experiences that are most targeted toward the specific job or internship opportunity can be left in, and the rest of the “master” information be omitted.
Keep it to a Page (most of the time)
For most undergraduates and recent college graduates, their resumes should be one page in length as they’re still developing their experiences. Students get confused as to when they can have a 2+ page resume. We share with students that the exceptions typically are when they’re applying to graduate school, for federal government opportunities (such as the Peace Corps), for STEM related fields (also known as technical resumes), or as they get more work experience (5-10+ years). Particularly for underclassmen students who bring in a 2+ page resume when they are still developing their experiences, a good place to help “slim” down their resume is with formatting. Formatting suggestions that we provide can be found here.
More than just Internships or Jobs
Remind your students there are lot of different opportunities they can put on a resume in addition to internships and part-time jobs! Brainstorm other experiences such as volunteer positions, leadership roles, sports and extracurricular activities, study abroad experiences, research positions, foreign language proficiency, digital proficiency, certifications & trainings, and much more.
Avoid Templates
With resume templates readily available, it is an easy option for students to use, especially when they’re unsure of how to start one. However, do encourage them to create one using a plain google doc. It has been said that Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) do have a hard time reading columns and tables, which templates typically have.
Spellcheck is Not Enough
Remind students to find an “extra set of eyes” to look over their final resume to catch any remaining grammatical, spelling, or formatting mistakes. Please refer your students to the Office of Career & Professional Development anytime and have your student make an “Undergraduate or Graduate Student Resume Review” appointment!
References
While this may be common practice in CVs, remind students to list their references in a separate document for a resume.
Cover Letter Best Practice Suggestions
In addition to providing resume help to your students, they may also come to you for advice about cover letters because they’re scared of the prospect of writing one or are not clear on its purpose. Please first encourage your students that they’re not alone in feeling dread in writing a cover letter, we’ve all been there ourselves! Second, ask if they have a concrete job posting that is asking for a cover letter, as it will be much easier to guide them if they do.
If they do have the job posting, it will help in going through it together, and asking the student which 2-3 keywords from the posting they could best highlight themselves.
Remind students that writing a cover letter is an opportunity for them to persuade a recruiter why they are a good fit for a job! This is particularly important when a student’s resume is not a perfect “match” for a job description. Don’t forget to share that this also demonstrates their strong writing skills.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Resume and Cover Letter Development
It can be very tempting for students to use AI to craft entire resumes or cover letter from scratch, however, this can lead to “hallucinations” where fake and/or inaccurate material is presented or student resumes lose their authenticity and uniqueness while seeming very generic. The more content a student provides an AI to start with, the better the resulting product, which applies to both resumes and cover letters. Automation of cover letter and resumes creation (and the application process) can also lead to potential compromise of private or confidential information. It is recommended to avoid bulk resume application services and to avoid any use of identifying or confidential information when using AI to refine your resume or cover letter content (e.g., names, contact information and addresses).
The best uses of AI for resume development are to help align a resume towards a specific job description with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) keywords, skills and experience searches as well as to refine specific bullet points to use stronger action verbs, quantifiable data or better incorporation of keywords. AI is also an excellent tool for proofreading any common grammar/spelling errors and format suggestions for clarity, conciseness, and readability. It can also be used to help develop a professional summary.
Meanwhile, for cover letters, AI can be used to help identify what experiences are the most relevant to highlight based on a review of a resume and job description. It can help identify the most relevant skills or expertise needed for a position and how it compares to what is currently listed on the resume. AI can also be used to help provide background on the company being applied to (e.g., it can summarize recent company news, its mission or values), which can be used to highlight alignment with students’ personal goals and objectives. However, due to the potential for AI to cite non-accurate sources or generate false content, it is recommended to verify this information.
In all cases of AI usage, it is important for students to recognize that they are responsible for final review and oversight of resume and cover letter content produced to ensure accuracy, reliability, and authenticity. It is also important to realize that AI is limited based on the knowledge it is provided or is available to it, and ultimately, only the students themselves are most aware of their own career journeys and how to best represent them.
Incorporating Resumes or Cover Letters in a class
As faculty and staff, if you’d like to introduce resume or cover letter writing as an assignment in your class, you have several options:
- Request a workshop for our staff to come present in your class.
- Assign students to watch our videos on how to write resumes and cover letters.
- Give bonus points to students who make an appointment in EAB/Navigate to get their resume or cover letter reviewed with our office!
- Create a Resume Review assignment that requires your students to create a resume and get it reviewed by one of our Peer Career Advisors.
- You can contact the Office of Career & Professional Development to discuss other ideas.
To answer today’s quiz successfully, please be sure to do the following:
Review the Resume Outline example that we provide to all UAlbany students
You need to take all 8 quizzes to receive your certificate of completion. Thank you again for participating in the challenge. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at career@albany.edu.
Today’s Resources
NACE Career Readiness Competencies
How to Get Your Resume Noticed (And Out of the Trash Bin)
Technical Resume Outline for STEM Majors Example
How I Used ChatGPT to Update my Resume
Office of Career & Professional Development Workshop Request Form
