Monday, February 21, 2011

Your Resume

So the placement conferences are coming at us full speed ahead (TPE is only 17 days away!). You've probably sent out some resumes by now and if not it's perfectly ok, there is still plenty of time!

A few tips for your resume:

1) Lose the "Objective"- it takes up space on your resume, you've already told me your objective in your cover letter, and really we all get it that your objective is to get a job. Way too much time and energy is put into perfecting that one sentence summary of why you are applying, and it's perfectly useless. Remove it.

2) Simplify- make your font easy on the eyes and large enough to read comfortably (lots of us employers need reading glasses so don't make it any harder for us to read). Less than 11 point font is too small, which of course depends on the font you choose- some 11pt is smaller than others.

3) Your name should be fairly large, centered, at the top. Don't do anything fancy here- just put your name. A slightly more unique font is just fine, don't go all crazy with the font- you want me to be able to read and remember your name.

4) Your address and contact information should be one line, centered, under your name and in a smaller font. As I've said before you should have an email that is NOT your current work email, and you should NOT use your current work phone number! Don't waste space by stacking your contact information like an address label- it's virtually unimportant but still necessary so don't waste the space. If you are a current grad or in a live-in position consider using a PO box instead of any possible residence hall address. It's easier to forward from a PO box should you receive any mail from employers once your assistantship has ended, and you spare yourself from your (sometimes nosy) mail sorters seeing all your mail from employers as well.

5) I like the dates down the right side of your resume. I get it- not everyone prefers that, and as I've said before all employers have our own preferences. However, having your dates down the right side of your page allows my eye to flow easily and find them all without searching. Don't make me search for information! I am reading hundreds of applications a year, sometimes a hundred in a week- you do the math, if I'm trying to read a hundred applications on top of my regular work load I don't have time to dig deeply to find information, make it easy for me! Tab your dates of employment to the right column and I know where to find them, bury them in lines of text and my brain skips right over them.

6) Get your GPA off your resume- it absolutely does not matter any more. It didn't matter once you got into graduate school and it matters even less now. I can't tell if you will be an amazing area coordinator by your 3.75 gpa in undergrad...and if you don't have a 4.0 in grad school then don't tell me otherwise! Deans list- doesn't matter, Magna Cum Laude- doesn't matter. Sorry to tell you- but get it off your resume and gain back some blank space.

7) Blank space- be sure there is some of it! Too much text, too many bullets, too much bold and italic- curses of the blank space. We all know the trick of shrinking the font and the margins so you can squeeze in one more line- don't do it. I am much more likely to read deeply a resume that allows for breaks for my eyes and my brain.

8) Cut it down- seriously seriously down. We use far too many words to try to tell our story. Resumes that are text heavy hurt my eyes. The ones that are loaded with too much text I have a gut reaction to- pretentious. Who do you think you are to have to cram that much onto a resume- seriously, did you do that much amazing work in grad school or in your first RD position? I doubt it. In fact, I have yet to see a resume from anyone where they loaded it with too much text and I thought "wow, this is a rock star candidate". The best resume's I've seen use a few strong words that capture the experience, skills or competency gained. I'm a wordy person, but not on my resume.

9) Undergrad be gone! Unless you are a current undergraduate student applying for a bachelors level position- your undergraduate experiences have no place on your resume. Get them off- they don't matter any more! Ok- one caveat- you might have done something incredible as an undergrad (internship with the Chancellor, attended ACUHO-I's Stars College or the Student SJTI experience for example) and if so, give it one line of text at the end of your resume somewhere among the awards, presentations, professional involvement section. It should NOT warrant it's own subset of information with multiple bullets. Nothing from undergrad is that great- cut it and show what you've done since.

10) Your resume should be no more than two pages at the very very very most. If you are asked for a Vitae then it can and should be longer, a cover letter and resume package should contain no more than four total pages: cover letter (1 page), resume (no more than 2 pages), references (1 page). The less professional experience you have, the shorter it should be (I have around 20 very full years in student affairs and my resume is still only 2 pages long). I know you think you need to tell us everything about you in your cover letter and resume- not true. Give us a taste, tell us the important things, and then tell us more in your interview.

11) Use strong powerful words- catch my attention. I am often scanning resume's for words that meet our scoring rubric. If you've supervised, advised, developed and implemented, chaired, trained and so on then tell me that first. I am surprised by how many soft sentences are lobbed my way "had the opportunity to collaborate with my peers to supervise 8 student workers". Really?! I see nothing strong there- instead how about "Supervised 8 student employees in a team oriented highly collaborative work environment". Strong words up front.

12) Talk competencies- it's the hot new thing. All the national associations have competency models now- read them, and use that language in your cover letter and resume. We like competencies. It means you are already trained and have some skill in areas we are looking for. It means you'll be able to come in and get right to work without a lot of micromanaging supervision. Tell us that- competent in supervision of a highly diverse staff, competent in student judicial processes including educational sanctioning and peer review boards, competent in admininstrative tasks including room assignments, occupancy, budget management and program tracking. You get the idea, but don't overdo it- every line on your resume shouldn't start with "competent in".

13) Watch the position posting and use their words. Most postings give you clues about what we are looking for. We might do it in the minimum and preferred qualification sections, or the language we use in our summary of the position. Regardless you will see from our language what we prioritize in our candidates. Your job is to tell me how you fulfill them best. I can't read your mind, nor can I assume anything from your materials. If you don't tell me you've done extensive work to develop as a strong advisor, or even that you have experience advising a student organization then well, I can't assume it. If my position listings specifically indicate that candidates with experience supervising full time staff are preferred then you have got to tell me that the Coordinator of Student Activities you supervised was full-time or a graduate student. Spell it out- we give you as many hints as we can as to what we are looking for, it's tragic if you have the skills and experiences but don't tell us.

14) Everyone is looking for people who can work with diversity. This is not news, so whatever you have done, tell us, and tell us up front. Don't bury it at the end- if you've done a lot of trainings and presentations on racism in the LGBT community then you have GOT to put that in your cover letter, not at the end of page 2 in your "presentations" section! We are looking for it, so spell it out for us. If the only thing you have is a class you took, then you'd better tell us how that class impacted your work with students and what you've learned since and what you plan to do about it. (Note to self- if all you can say about your diversity experience is you took a class you are in serious trouble. You'd better think critically about why this is, what opportunities have you missed, how have you maintained your own ignorance to issues of diversity, inclusion, and justice? I can guarantee you'll be asked about it by someone. Do what you can to fix this problem now and in your next few years' of work).

Until next time,

The Employer

2 comments:

  1. Of all the posts you have made, I think this is the one most appropriate for my question. Actual experiences in the work place (regardless of field) are a necessary condition to crafting a quality resume.

    How much do you, as an employer, care about where these experiences happen? It is the case that my undergrad work was in Physics, and while completing that program I was an RA for 4 years. I enjoyed that time greatly, and would like to spend more time in collegiate housing. I graduated (earlier than expected through curriculum loopholes) and had not applied to graduate programs before due dates. I could not get hired in the field of collegiate student affairs because of the unrelated nature of my degree. In an effort to not waste a year (being out of student affairs work and done with undergrad work) I enrolled in a masters program in education so as to be more marketable in the future. Since I was making this decision later than the ideal, I stayed at my first university. Now as my masters draws to a close (and completing an ACUHO-I internship this summer) it has been brought to my attention that a department I have worked for in the past wants to bring me on as a GA.

    How long is too long to stay at one university? If I am working in different capacities and in different departments, does it matter that I am still at the same school? Do employers care about this kind of thing or not so much? Academically my undergrad work and masters work were pretty disconnected, and the potential GA offer is in a department that I have not worked for in a serious capacity before. It is hard to turn down free tuition for another advanced degree, but free degrees will be small comfort if I am not hire able after the fact. Thanks for your insights!

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  2. I tell everyone I can that in student affairs unless they plan to spend the rest of their life at their undergrad or at one institution (and I know several people who are now stuck and unable to move up/on/out), they need to say farewell to the known and get experiences (and degrees) from other colleges and universities.

    We are a profession that must constantly evolve to meet the needs of our changing student population- yet we have people who have worked in their job for years on end. Some of them are amazing and stay current, active, and are constantly learning and growing themselves. Most-not so much- and they implement the same programs in the same ways year after year. It gets harder as you get older, particularly if a partner or family is in your life, to move around much- nor do you want to once you are middle or upper administration. Now is the time, branch out and see what you can learn about higher education and student affairs in other regions, types of institutions, sizes of student body and so on. You need to both learn from new people, and teach a new place what you have to offer.

    If you are wrapping up one Masters' degree- why start another one at the same place? There are plenty of entry-level positions out there that will hire you with a degree in education- find a job and start working, and then in a few years (several years- please give it at least until you are well into or ready to move on from your first entry level job) start looking at PhD programs in Higher Ed. If a second Masters is really what you want, again- go work for a few years first and then apply for a new program somewhere else. There are plenty of Graduate Positions available that will pay for your next degree. Remember what they say about something that comes too easy- is it worth it in the end? It's flattering that they offered you something, but it's also shameful how we in student affairs actually cause harm to our undergraduate and graduate students by making them think they are indispensible Super Star's. I'm sure you are great- now go prove it somewhere else with people who haven't known you your entire young-adult life.

    Best of luck, and if I didn't get to the heart of your question please let me know.

    The Employer

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