Lauryn Gray | Nov. 19, 2010
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| Photo by Lauryn Gray |
| Bruce Hetrick of Hetrick Communications gave students tips — and warnings — about resumes during a PRSSA workshop Wednesday. |
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Megan Watt, graduate assistant at the Career Development Center and Arts and Sciences Career Services, and Bruce Hetrick, CEO of Hetrick Communications, spoke to PRSSA members and guests about creating effective resumes.
Watt’s presentation included a Making Your Resume Count! slideshow to demonstrate ways to tailor resumes. She explained the importance of customizing each resume to a specific job. Watt recommended checking out the job description and find out what skills the employer is looking for, then use those skill verbs in your resume.
Watt stressed the importance of highlighting yourself in the best light possible.
“Your resume is your marketing tool. It’s what gets you the interview,” she said.
Watt also spoke about the necessity of transferable skills in a resume. For example, working at Bloomington Bagel can give someone transferable skills such as interpersonal relations and communication skills.
For more information and help on creating resumes, Watt recommended students go to www.IUCareers.com, where students can learn tips on mastering resumes and other job –searching skills. Journalism students should sign up at IUJournalismCareers.com, where they register and then have access to many databases of internship and job leads.
Students also may visit the Career Development Center at 625 N. Jordan Avenue. The center offers drop-in career advising Monday through Friday, 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m., for resume critiques, mock interviews and one-on-one advising sessions.
Like Watt, Hetrick stressed the importance of customizing each resume, and that a resume "absolutely has to be about each and every job you apply for." He warned students not to send resumes to an employer without attaching a personalized cover letter, noting that he personally makes more judgments by a candidate’s cover letter than a resume.
“You need to persuade me that I want to talk to you,” he said. His Indianapolis-based company specializes is marketing, advertising, and public relations.
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| Photo by Lauryn Gray |
| Megan Watt of IU's Career Services explained ways to sharpen resumes. She shows a slideshow, Making Your Resume Count! during the Wednesday event. |
The job-search method Hetrick dislikes most: shotgun resume sending, in which people send as many resumes to as many companies as they possibly can.
Hetrick read aloud several examples of cover letters he has received, many in the form of the “shot-gun” method. Examples included misspellings, poor grammar and vague, generic descriptions. One cover letter included the wrong name of the company; another person’s letter emphasized how “detail-oriented” he or she is, while misspelling the hiring manager’s name.
Students laughed as Hetrick read each poor example of a cover letter and tossed it on to the floor in an effort to show the students the process of choosing applicants.
That is why, he said, it is all about getting your resume to the top of the pile.
“And there is a pile,” he said.
Hetrick talked about the value of internships in landing a job.
“Internships are critical. Internships changed my life. I would not be doing what I’m doing right now without internships,” he said.
Junior Michael Conley was impressed with the resume workshop.
“Usually, they teach you just the basics,” he said. “I learned it’s more than selling yourself. You’ve got to know what the business wants.”
Junior Caitlin Ursini, director of programming for the chapter, said the workshop provided members and guests with new information on creating resumes.
“I think it made people take a step back and reevaluate what is important,” she said. “Everyone has a resume; you’ve got to make yours stand out.”
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