Career Readiness – NoFilterCareerAdvice.com

[*High School. If you don’t know these things by the time you graduate college, whooo boy. You better get it together – FAST.]

In December 2018, I was reflecting on how I might better serve my students at Rochester High School by teaching them employ-ability and soft skills. I coined this, “What you should know before you graduate!” I promptly went on Facebook and asked for industry feedback. Four key points came up repeatedly. Here they are.

1. Spreadsheet Management

It was interesting to find the sheer emphasis on spreadsheet management. Excel is KING of the software, in many industries and a prerequisite in college. Specifically, you should know:

How to design a spreadsheet with, borders, shading and page breaks and print options to one page.
Basic functions – (sum, average, max, min)
Pivot tables
Conditional formatting
How to create a graph
Mail merge data from Excel into Word.

If this sounds like a foreign language, I strongly encourage you to follow some YouTube videos, or even better, get a computer skills class under your belt before you graduate.

2. Communication skills

When you talk to people, you need to look them in the eye and be prepared and confident in your delivery. This includes talking on the phone. You need to plan and be prepared for the meeting, telephone conversation or even a water cooler interaction. Being distracted by your phone or using it as a crutch will not get you a salary increase or promotion.

The people you work with want to know that you are engaged, eager to learn and a participating member of the team. I heavily encourage taking a note book and pen with you when you meet with people, so you look poised, interested and ready to learn or follow a directive. (See our blog on the Importance of Writing it Down.) Also it’s an excellent way to reference the interaction and make sure you are doing what has been asked of you, before you forget the details. If you realize later that you need more information, you can go back and say, “I wrote down [x,y,z], could you clarify….”

3. The mundane and small things.

Ok, guys, let’s get real. Some of you (you know who you are) have the attention span of a goldfish and speed of a sloth. I ask sometimes for my students to hole punch, cut paper with a paper cutter, collate papers, type data into a spreadsheet and nine times out of ten, you mess up. (And it’s not just MY experience – again, this is what I repeatedly heard from your more experienced colleagues.) Instead of learning, being open minded and taking some direction, you throw your hands up in the air like a spoiled toddler and declare give up!

For the love of all that is holy, PLEASE take pride in your work and be persistent enough to learn a basic skills so the outcome is clear, concise and quality work! I use this analogy about many tasks kids mess up:

Mastering basic tasks is like kissing: The first time it’s messy and awkward but with time and practice, it turns out to be quite good.”
– Karen Malsbury

Now if that doesn’t make you smile, lighten up!

4. Email and business letter etiquette.

Business letter writing has been around for decades. So why do I continually see mistakes and lack of attention to detail? Writing a business letter is simple. See attachment, here:

standard-business-letter.doc Download

It should be one page, formal, typed, left-justified and three paragraphs max for the main body of the letter. Please see this perfect example of a business cover letter for a job application. Make sure you have the key details before you start, whom you are writing to, their tile and their address in block format, Write a compelling body with perfect grammar, spelling and punctuation and then end with “Sincerely,” [your first and last name] because you are yet to be acquainted.

As for email, please adhere to the following Etiquette. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/272780

Do have a clear subject line. …
Don’t forget your signature. …
Do use a professional salutation. …
Don’t use humor. …
Do proofread your message. …
Don’t assume the recipient knows what you are talking about. …
Do reply to all emails. …
Don’t shoot from the hip…
Do keep private material confidential…
Don’t! overuse exclamation points!!!!! (Annoying and unprofessional.)

Sidebar on emailing teachers/professors about grades: Make sure your argument is valid. Also, please don’t go in for the punch until you have made an attempt to set the scene. As a teacher, there is nothing worse than trying to explain yourself to 140 adolescents when a) The student hasn’t even seen the assignment in question — the one that I spent time correcting and b) I have no idea what assignment you are talking about because that was before spring break and I can hardly remember what I did yesterday. Give me a break, people!

Emails need to be concise and to the point. If you really need to write an epic novel, STOP yourself and pick up the phone. Also remember any email or text that is sent could be used in a court of law. Love this meme. Hahaha!

So, that’s about it, people! Four little things that can get you to the next step. At the end of the day it’s all about a good attitude, listening, acting on constructive criticism, dedication, perseverance and willingness to learn something, even if it doesn’t come naturally.

This is a two-part post on how to build your resume, first from a Content standpoint and then from a Design standpoint.

We see A LOT of resumes and after a while, they all start to visually look the same.

That isn’t necessarily bad: A potential employer will want to be able to easily find the information they are looking for, like your education and experience. But you want to be sure your resume stands out in a GOOD way (with easy-to-find info), not in a BAD way.

In presenting your key information, in general, I suggest:

NAME
CONTACT INFO
EDUCATION (If you were most recently a student)*
EXPERIENCE
SKILLS/ACTIVITIES/AWARDS

*If you held a job AFTER college, or if your college internship work was particularly relevant to the job you are seeking, you can definitely list experience BEFORE education, with the goal of displaying the most compelling information first.

Resume “Objective” or… “Headline”/”Intro”

Traditional resume “Objective” is out of fashion. They tend to be boring, unhelpful and not differentiating, e.g. “I’m seeking a job at your company just like everyone else, so that I offer my skills to your company, just like everyone else, see?) Worse, an objective could be potentially limiting at this stage in your career. Sometimes, its helpful just to get started in any position at a company you want to work for and you can learn the ropes and switch your role eventually. (It goes without saying that you shouldn’t take position doing something you KNOW you won’t like, just to get in, duh.)

Instead of an objective, we recommend a headline or intro paragraph, much like the top section(s) of your LinkedIn profile. See our post on LinkedIn here, (or feel free to stalk Kim’s LinkedIn profile, here.

Basic Resume Design

Your name should be big and bold at the top so I can see it clearly if I am looking for it in a stack of resumes. Then contact information. When designing it, don’t be overly cute or clever. Think function over form: Keep it simple and easy to read. An over-designed resume is distracting and annoying. Remember, I need to easily find the info I’m looking for, but consider separating or emphasizing different sections with graphics, lines, icons or color blocks, whatever. Type font must be legible font (e.g. standard 10-12 pt size). Use bullet points or short phrases, vs. big paragraphs and long sentences which are harder to read/skim.

Here’s a great example of a beautiful, simple resume template. (Thanks to Anna Maria for this one.)

Color:

Remember that resumes are often printed in black and white only, so don’t rely on color. If you use it, that’s fine, but be sure to stick with black text (or something close to black for contrast) and only one additional color for design accent. If you use color, print it out in black and white to make sure it still looks good. Again, #1 priority is EASY TO READ.

Education:

Again, if you are currently a student, or just graduated, Karen recommends putting your education first. I could go either way on this, education at top or after experience, depending on which you have done most recently (e.g. if you are a student, education at the top). If you have substantial experience (considering your life stage), list it first. Importantly, consider briefly highlighting relevant coursework or big projects, esp. with “real” clients. (More on this in Resume Content Basics.)

Experience:

In chronological order, any (ideally, relevant) work experience, paid or unpaid; volunteer experience. List your accomplishments and responsibilities. Use “active” words like: created, designed, managed, coordinated, lead, organized, initiated, executed, wrote…etc.

Interests/Activities/Awards

Sports, clubs, organizations, memberships, committees, acknowledgements, including the dates (by year, e.g. 2010-2011) of participation. Maybe passions and something interesting about you but nothing that might be seen as oversharing or polarizing.

Photo?

Hmmm. Probably not, unless you’re sure it’s just a classy, professional headshot. If you’re just using a photo because you think you’re more likely to get hired because you’re really good looking, just don’t.

But, if you strongly believe that a photo helps make you more memorable (supposedly this works with real estate agents, which is why they all have photos on EVERYTHING), go ahead, and consider matching it to your LinkedIn profile picture.

Length of Resume: ONE PAGE per 10 Years’ Experience

This is a rule. Someone might tell you that this rule doesn’t apply anymore, but I am here to tell you IT DOES. I cannot imagine what you have done in 10 years that you can’t keep to one page and I’m more likely to think that you cannot edit yourself. Also, it could come across as arrogant or disrespectful to make someone look through two pages. Unless I am looking at senior level resumes, I personally disregard 2 page resumes.

One last suggestion:

Look at other resumes. Ask a relative, teacher, mentor employer if you can see examples of good resumes they’ve received. Ask that same person if they will look at yours and offer feedback.

Worried that you don’t have ENOUGH on your resume? No problem – we will talk about building content in our next post, Resume Basics – Content.

Watch our vlog on how to design a resume.

Tag: Career Readiness

Four Things to Know Before you Graduate*

Resume Basics – Design