How To Target Your Resume
A targeted resume highlights your education and experience and focuses on matching these skills to the position to which you are applying. When reviewing resumes I usually meet with two kinds of students: one who feels they do not have enough information to put on their resume, and the other who feels they can't bring their resume to less than 3 pages.
As college students your resume should be kept to one page whenever possible. Unless you have extensive lab experience or presentations/publications/exhibitions you have done or participated in, a one page resume should suffice in most instances.
By focusing your resume on the skills and accomplishments that are relevant to the position, you are providing the employer with all of the information they need to know in relation to your experience to do the job. Of course, you may have done a number of jobs like waitressing, lawn care, or babysitting; but if you are applying an internship in finance, these probably wouldn't be the kind of experiences an employer would be looking for.
It's important to gear your resume (and cover letter) to include relevant experience like coursework, internships, jobs, or volunteer experiences that require the skills you need to successfully complete the internship or job.
On the other hand, if you are a first year or sophomore student who doesn't have a lot of relevant experience; you will want to include all of the experiences you have completed so far, whether they are relevant or not. You can definitely include experiences from high school at this point as well as courses you have completed in college. The important thing is to be sure to get some relevant experience by doing internships while in college so that you will have a strong resume when you're ready to graduate.
How do I break into the Employment Specialist field? What kind of coursework would you suggest?
I would recommend getting into a sales position for a few years. I started my career in Sales which opened up the door for a position in the education and employment industry. Sales, coupled with a Bachelor's degree should allow you to get your foot in the door as an employment specialist.
Is it possible to be too specific in my targeting? And what if I am a 5th year senior in high school? I would like to break in ibanking, hedge funds, or private equity. Since they are all basically the same thing, how do you suggest I research more about these positions?
You can never be too specific when targeting your resume. The goal is to incorporate as many keywords from the job posting as possible. Scattering these keywords throughout your resume will allow you to rank higher than other candidates during the pre-screening process. I would recommend researching positions you are interested in, then taking the time to target each resume and cover letter accordingly. Hiring managers are able to determine candidates who have taken the time to properly target their resume, from those who are submitting a general resume and cover letter. I would try to find a common theme among ibanking, hedge funds and private equity. There should be some consistency among these three areas that you will notice once you start doing more research. Let me know if you have any additional questions. Take care!
Hi, welcome to WSO! I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciated this help! Your advice was insightful and your conclusions were definitely NOT the kind of thing we would have just come up with on our own anyway. Pretty interesting how the people who know how to give the best advice don't just rattle off common sense intuition and base-level knowledge that people should know anyway, so truly, thank you.
Additionally, I also had a quick question which I hope you could help me with. As I start my career, I will probably want to speak to some kind of job consultant. I need someone who is specifically a career specialist, someone whose knowledge is concentrated on employment. I apologize, I realize you probably don't know anyone who fits this description, but I just don't know where to look, please advise!
So to recap..
1) Don't list waitress/waiting jobs 2) List internships 3) If you don't have on internships, it's ok to list waitress/waiting jobs
WOW, you are a huge fucking help.
Dude, think about it-
Say you are looking for an SA gig. You worked a summer at a Dunkin Donuts and acquired the skill of "getting people coffee". This is something employers will love to see as "getting people coffee" is one of the most important jobs of an intern. It's that simple.
If getting coffee is considered your only "skill"... it's safe to say you're fucked.
If detecting sarcasm is considered one of your skills...it's safe to say you're fucked.
For those wondering, I did change my user name from Employment Specialist to Employment Guru. Just to make sure there is no confusion. Thank all of you for your responses. I look forward to assisting you in any way that I can. Take Care!
Is this comparable to Pikachu evolving into Raichu?
If there comes a time that you need assistance please feel free to let me know. Thank you for your time.
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