Career Services: Cover Letters & Resume Building

What is a resume?

Your resume is a way of marketing yourself for the job you apply for. You want to show your employer how your skills and experiences can add value to their organization! Learn more by looking through the examples and templates listed here and watching the video below!

What if I have no experience?

It can be difficult to write a resume and cover letter without a lot of prior experience in the workforce - how can you get experience without any prior experience!

But don't worry - you DO have experience! Think creatively about your time here at Park University, and leverage your experience on your resume and cover letter. Consider...

• Internships or Practicums 
  • Even if you did not receive compensation for your internship or practicum, this is still work experience! Think about the projects you worked on and the assignments you were given from your supervisor. Try to quantify your work as much as possible: ie: Created 12 social media posts and increased social media engagement by 10%
• Volunteer Experiences
  • Did you work on a team? Did you manage or lead a project? Did you design a project from start to finish? Were you a reliable member of the team that showed up and worked hard? These are all soft skills your employer wants to know!
• Clubs or Student Organizations
  • Were you Student Body President or Treasurer of Psi Chi? Talk about the role you played in advancing your organization and the leadership skills you developed from that experience.
• Athletics or Sports Teams (College or Intramural)
  • Employers are looking for someone who can be a leader AND a team-player. Your experience on a sports team is important and valuable! Discuss how you problem-solved when conflict arose and how you worked together.
• Leadership Positions or Team Leaders
  • Any kind of leadership position will be valuable to an employer if you can articulate WHY these experiences are valuable to your future employment. You can talk about leadership skills you've developed and how you've learned to work with people you might not see eye to eye with!
     

There's no hiding the fact that you are a new graduate or in the middle of your degree - but that doesn't mean you have NO experience!

Need help translating your college experiences into something you can talk about with a potential employer? Contact the Career Development Center! We're here to help! careerdevelopment@park.edu

What Is a Cover Letter?

A cover letter introduces you and your resume to potential employers or organizations you seek to join (non-profits, educational institutions, etc). It is the first document an employer sees, so it is often the first impression you will make. Take advantage of this important first impression and prepare the reader for your application, stating why you are writing, why you are a good match for the job and the organization, and when you will contact him or her.

Cover letters do more than introduce your resume, though. A cover letter's importance also includes its ability to:

• Explain your experiences in a story-like format that works with the information provided in your resume
• Allow you to go in-depth about important experiences/skills and relate them to job requirements
• Show the employer that you are individualizing (tailoring) this job application
• Provide a sample of your written communication skills

The following resources are a compilation of tips and strategies to guide you throughout the writing of your cover letter. Please refer to the sample cover letters for a picture of the finished product.

Good luck writing!

Via Pudue Online Writing Lab