Career Development Team, Schar School of Policy and Government

4 Tips for Enhancing Your Resume

Anonymous — Fri, 04 May 2018 15:43:28 +0000

4 Tips for Enhancing Your Resume Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 05/04/2018 - 11:43

As a Schar School graduate student, you should have a solid resume that showcases your previous educational experience, professional work, and involvement. As you progress through your degree program, it is important to continue to add to your resume as you have new experiences.

When meeting with Schar School graduate students during career consult appointments, I like to describe resumes as living documents; they should be constantly changing depending on your place in your career path. If you’re looking to add an extra boost to your resume, here are four of my top tips:

Remove an objective statement and include an executive summary/ highlights section.
Objectives can be obvious, redundant, and take up valuable space on the top a resume. If you’re applying for a position, you probably are interested in obtaining that position. A better use of the space at the beginning of your resume is to have an executive summary and/or highlights section. This gives you the opportunity to show off your greatest accomplishments and most relevant skills in a few brief bullet points. This information allows recruiters and employers to be primed with the most important information about you as they scan the rest of your resume.
Include major projects and research in your education section.
Your graduate degree is extremely valuable, and it is useful to demonstrate to employers how you are applying the knowledge you are gaining from your degree program. Beyond including your actual degree on your resume, it is important to include any major projects or research work you are involved in. This shows what type of skills you’ve developed and enhanced. I would caution you not to include every single paper or project from your coursework. Wisely choose your best work or the substantial work product that is similar to what you’d be creating on the job.
Evaluate the importance of your previous work and involvement experiences.
As you progress in your career path, you may find that previous jobs you’ve held or your involvement in organizations may not be as relevant to the field you’re hoping to work in. Take inventory of the experiences you have on your resume and determine what type of purpose they have. Are they important to show your complete employment history? Do they demonstrate transferrable skills? If you feel like an older experience isn’t as relevant anymore, feel free to remove it. You can also pare it down and include only a couple of bullet points, rather than larger in-depth description, which will create more room on your resume for more relevant experiences.
Use the right words in your bullet points.
Make sure the bullet points you use to describe your work experiences are powerful and descriptive of your responsibilities. It is important to demonstrate your impact and quantify your achievements in your roles. Avoid vague phrases like “responsible for” or “duties include.” Be clear and descriptive. Additionally, make sure you are using the correct language for your industry. Generally, employers are looking for specific keywords on your resume. Make sure you are incorporating these types of words. You may have the skills needed for the job but simply need to tweak how you are explaining them on your resume.

The take-away?
Remember, your resume gets you the interview, and then your interview gets you the job. It is important to make sure you are constantly adding to your resume to illustrate that you are a strong candidate to potential employers. Follow these four simple steps, and that alone will make a big difference in how you resume is interpreted by recruiters.

Topics

Schar School of Policy and Government

How to Be Successful in a “Last Minute” Internship Search

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 15:43:40 +0000

How to Be Successful in a “Last Minute” Internship Search Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 04/27/2018 - 11:43

Picture this: after a hectic start, the semester is winding down, and after trudging through midterms and preparing for finals, you realize you’ve neglected that big goal you set for yourself—securing an internship.

Sound familiar? If so, don’t fret! It’s not too late to land a resume-building internship experience.

Before you kick it into high gear to close out the end of the semester, take some intentional steps to make your internship search as painless and productive as possible.

1) Connect with the Handshake Career Portal

Register for Handshake, the Schar School graduate level online recruitment system. Ensure that your profile is up to date and you have your materials uploaded. Before uploading your documents, it is recommended you chat with a career advisor from the Schar School Career Development team to review your materials and ensure they are in tiptop shape.
Review the weekly Friday job email from the Schar School Career Development team. It is directly connected to Handshake, where all of the posts are listed. The most recently added jobs, internships, and fellowships are always included, along with school and local events that could be of interest to Schar School graduate students. If a job posting catches your eye, make sure you check it out through Handshake to learn more and do be sure to make note of the closing date.

2) Polish Your Materials

Ensure your resume is up-to-date with your graduate school information. Many students neglect their resume once they begin classes. Your resume should be a living document, meaning it is always adapting and changing. Important items to include on your resume are: your graduate degree (in progress), relevant coursework, and major projects and organizations you’ve joined since you started your graduate program.
Prepare and review your cover letter(s). Make sure your cover letters aren’t just lists of your accomplishments. Many times, you’ll hear the phrase “show not tell” regarding cover letters. It’s important to provide a few examples that demonstrate the impact of your previous experiences, rather than squeezing in as many accomplishments as can fit on the page. You want to center your cover letter around what you would bring to the organization, rather than what an internship at the organization would do for you.

3) Visit the Career Center

Set up an appointment with the Career Development team to get some additional eyes on your internship search materials. The Career Development Office advisors can assist with formatting, proofreading, and more.
Schedule a mock interview with the Career Development team. Interviewing is scary and can be particularly intimidating if you haven’t done it recently. Reviewing behavioral interview questions and practicing your responses with us will help you feel more confident when you have a phone or in-person interview.

4) Focus Your Search

Identify organizations that are your ideal or dream organizations to work for.
Set up search agents/email notifications on job boards and websites for upcoming opportunities for those organizations.
Don’t limit your search to your ideal organizations. Make sure you are researching other organizations in the same field that would able provide similar internship opportunities.
Network with individuals in those organizations and with those working in your desired field. Look to connect through LinkedIn, a professional organization, or through the Schar School Alumni Association. Take advantage of your interactions with your classmates, professors, and alumni in the Schar School to build your circle while you are earning your degree.

Connecting with Schar School resources, polishing your materials, and building out your network will ensure you’re successful in an internship search. It’s not too late; employers are still posting summer opportunities and looking for the right talent. Stay on top of your search, keep pushing out high-quality applications, be patient in the process, and you’ll be sure to secure your desired opportunity this summer!

Topics

Schar School of Policy and Government

Top 5 Tips to Ace Any Interview

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 18:50:12 +0000

Top 5 Tips to Ace Any Interview Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 03/05/2018 - 13:50

Interviews are generally high stress situations for most people, but, unfortunately, interviewing is a mandatory part of the job search process that eventually gets the candidate the job. Many people feel uncomfortable talking about themselves or nervous with the spotlight on them. With a slight change in mindset and some intentional preparation, anyone can be successful in an interview situation. Even though it may not feel that way in the moment, interviews are an opportunity for the organization to get to know the candidate’s abilities better and, in return, an opportunity for the candidate to determine if the position is a good fit for them.

Topics and questions covered may vary by the type of industry and organization, but regardless of the position, the following five tips will help you successfully prepare for and thrive in any type of interview setting.

1) Understand Behavioral Interviewing

Many organizations will use behavioral based questions during their interview process (generally the classic “tell me about a time when…” prompt). These questions are used because your past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior, or realistically, how you’d act in the workplace if they hired you. There isn’t necessarily a correct answer for these questions, but it’s more or less about getting to the root of what those questions are really asking. Are you a team player? What is your leadership style? Do you have customer service experiences? How do you react under stress? Whatever the question, make sure you hit those points in your answers.

2) Reflect and Make Notes About Your Past Experiences

A great way to feel comfortable answering many behavioral based questions is to pull a variety of situations from your life and experiences that assist you in answering the interview questions. Taking time to identify significant scenarios from your work or educational background that help make your case in answering the behavioral questions is very important. You may also want to write down some notes about the scenarios you want to talk about and take the time to practice how you want to speak about them. Familiarizing yourself with specific examples will allow you to feel more confident and prevent you from getting tongue-tied when answering in front of an interviewing committee.

3) Face the Classic ‘First Question’ Head-On

Prepare and practice your answer to the standard “So tell us about yourself?” question to help your interview start out on the right foot. Nailing the first question will increase your confidence and help you ease into the interview. Make sure you don’t go into too much detail – share just enough to give a taste of your background to set yourself to provide more information throughout the rest of the interview.

4) Do Your Research and Confirm Details

Make sure you are familiar with the organization you are interviewing with. This background research helps you determine if the position will be a good fit for your personality and career goals. Becoming familiar with the organization involves checking out information provided on the website, examining its mission or strategic plan as well as finding out about any recent noteworthy events. This information will also assist you in formulating questions for your interviews when they (hopefully) give you an opportunity to ask those questions at the end of the interview. Additionally, it is also a great time to ensure you are familiar with all of the details you will need for the upcoming interview, (location, time, agenda, etc.) Confirming the small but crucial details will help prevent any errors that could contribute to a negative first impression and set your mind at ease.

5) Decompress the Night Before

Don’t spend hours upon hours the night before the interview practicing a long list of questions and scouring the internet. Take a specific amount to time to put your thoughts together and take the notes you need to prepare. Then, spend some time doing something you enjoy, such as catching up on your favorite TV show or enjoying some dessert. Spend your evening wisely so you can head to bed feeling relaxed yet prepared to interview the next morning.

Topics

Schar School of Policy and Government