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March 6, 2006 at 12:56 am #21998gossipingraeMember
I’m seeking some help from some of the members in the professional field (read: someone who is older and in the working field, or someone about to graduate college soon).
I’ve been searching for jobs left and right, online, at my school’s career development center, friends of parents, etc. I keep getting turned down left and right 🙁 It’s frustrating, but I’m keeping my head up about it. My mom says that it is still a little early to be looking for jobs. Is this true? I’ll be happy to post my resume for all to see, I just need a little help with how to do that.
Thanks for your help.
March 6, 2006 at 5:18 am #139511EEDOKMemberWhat’s your target market?
What’s your credentials?
How is your market right now?Seeing your resume may help as well.
Another question is, have you been doing cover letters?
March 6, 2006 at 6:59 am #139513TigerbladeParticipantWell… I’m about to graduate, and I’m in the same position as you are. (how long til you’re done?) Sometimes it’s just that we have such little experience that employers are hesitant to hire someone fresh out of college. But no, it’s never too early to start looking. it might hurt in that they dont have anything available right now, or might not be willing to hold open a position until you graduate, but it might help your standing if they remember that you took the initiative to look for jobs as early as you can.
Also, your resume is all that the employer gets to see of you, so it has to REALLY catch their attention. I had to take a 1credit ‘career information’ class last semester on how to write an effective resume… the basic idea is that you should never send out a generalized resume to anyone. always custom-tailor a resume for each job you apply for. And as EEDOK said, cover letters help immensely.
March 6, 2006 at 12:30 pm #139509OreoMemberWell, getting that first job out of university can be a real PITA. It may take six months or more after you have graduated to find it! It’s never too early to start thinking about it. If you have done any internships or any sort of volunteer work make sure that is VERY obvious on your resume’. Also, you have mentioned that you have a job (Waiting tables right?) If you have kept that same job for a number of years, it will show “job loyalty” and any skills you have picked up there, i.e. Customer Service you might want to mention in your cover letter. It’s early for me today….I might add more as it comes to me. 🙂
March 6, 2006 at 2:33 pm #139515gossipingraeMemberRachel
P. O. Box 494 ▪ PA 18210 ▪ [email protected]EDUCATION
Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, PA
Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies, May 2006
Concentration in Organizational Communication
Minor in MarketingRELATED COURSES
Special Topics in Marketing, Bloomsburg University-Spring 2006
American Advertising Federation National Student Advertising Competition
Active participant in a group of seven in charge of creating an advertising campaign for Postal Vault
Conducted many hours of research on identity theft, secure mailboxes, and nontraditional advertising
Formulated a plans book to submit for group presentation at national competition in New York CityCorporate Communication, Bloomsburg University-Spring 2005
Operative member in a group of three in charge of designing, formulating, and running a business
Executed hours of research in business, management, and marketing
Created a 50-page business plan which included Executive Summary, Business Overview, Financial Plan, and other categoriesEXPERIENCE
American Marketing Association, Bloomsburg University
Secretary, 2005-2006 academic years; General Member 2004-2006
Filed records and maintained minutes of each Executive Board and General Meeting
Active contributor of ten-person team that developed comprehensive advertising and marketing plan for Speech Pathology/Audiology Department at Bloomsburg University
Participated in International Collegiate Conference in Orlando, Florida to present Chapter PlanCollege Republicans, Bloomsburg University
Treasurer, 2005-2006 academic years; Member 2004-2006
Preserved organization’s finances and bookkeeping, including membership dues
Participated in Bush/Cheney 2004 campaign
Attended Pennsylvania College Republican Convention 2006 in Millersville, PAHomecoming Committee, Bloomsburg University
Co-chairperson, 2005 academic year
Organized and coordinated numerous activities involving thousands of students, alumni, faculty, parents and community members
Conducted weekly meetings to delegate responsibilities, ensure completion of tasks and resolve a variety of issues and concerns instrumental to a successful event
Selected as co-chair, recruiting volunteers and overseeing a committee of fifty
Worked closely with Director of Student Activities, Town Police, University Police, and University PresidentOTHER RELEVANT INFORMATION
Knowledge of German language and American Sign Language; Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Adobe PageMakerOkay here is my resume. I copied and pasted, so sorry if it looks all out of whack. The question marks are supposed to be bullets, but you get the idea. I’ve been working with my career development center for a while now. I think it’s pretty good. Constructive criticism is welcome 😀
March 6, 2006 at 3:54 pm #139508Jeff HesterKeymasterWhat kind of business do you want to work for? Think about the size, the location, the culture and business climate. Would you prefer a large corporation, or a small startup? Would you relocate? Where? Do you want to work for a marketing firm, or in the marketing arm of a company in another business?
Try to sort out what you’d like, what’s kind of important and what is really important, and it will help you short-list some companies for you to “interview.”
Turn it around… you are not being interviewed. You are interviewing them!
March 6, 2006 at 4:12 pm #139512EEDOKMember1. What position would you like?
2. Who needs ?
3. What skills are important to ?
4. How well versed are your skills in ?
5. Why would want you over the other qualified individuals?
I see you have a background of marketing, well just think of a resume/cover letter combination as an advertisement of yourself. You should rearrange your resume for each business you apply at, putting the skills the business would use higher than skills they may not find so useful. Always create a new cover letter for each business you apply at. Also remember to apply, apply, apply, apply, even if they’re not hiring throw in a resume anyways as some companies will archive them and may hire you if they need someone instead of putting out a now hiring sign.
Quote:What kind of business do you want to work for? Think about the size, the location, the culture and business climate. Would you prefer a large corporation, or a small startup? Would you relocate? Where? Do you want to work for a marketing firm, or in the marketing arm of a company in another business?Try to sort out what you’d like, what’s kind of important and what is really important, and it will help you short-list some companies for you to “interview.”
Turn it around… you are not being interviewed. You are interviewing them!
If you’re not willing to relocate this may be a problem if your current job market has more workers than jobs, if it’s not a workers market you may not have the priveledge of being able to choose your business. It’s normally not a good idea to depend on this.
March 7, 2006 at 1:59 pm #139516gossipingraeMemberI know exactly what I want to go for. I want to get into the field of Public Relations. Any type of PR job will do, but I’m interested in Special Events Planning. Like big parties, galas, weddings, etc. I found a special events society online and about 200 wedding planners. I’ve been sending them my resume and cover letter.
I am qualified for many things in the marketing field, I’d just rather be somewhere else. I know that PR is difficult, but wedding planning is SOO hard to get into.
Thanks for everyone’s help! I’ll keep coming back.
March 8, 2006 at 5:34 pm #139514neo_ny_23MemberHey Rachel,
looks like you are in the same situation as my room-mate who is in MIS. I got lucky and I am currently doing my internship-coop. I have been through those mess and trust me, it does really get frustrating. But have patience and confidence.
About the resume, you know, if I were in your shoes, I would like to re-word and re-construct my resume. I will email you my resume some time if you want it, and you can see the construction of my email and see how you can change yours. Offcourse we are in different majors, so yours doesn’t have to be exactly like mine, but what appeals the employers first is the formatting style. Then they read those the resume. So choosing appropriate words and headers are very important. Also, as far as I know, most of the employers who interviewed me, they wanted me to limit the resume to one page only. So its better if we dont include a lot of details.
I dont have much experience in the field, you are looking for a job, but still, all I can say is, just have patience, and confidence. Once, you get a slight lead or find a job which really appeals you and you think you can do it, persist over and over again. Thats how I got my last 3 jobs. Persistence is very important. On the other hand, my room-mate is not very social and he tries to refrain from persisting the employers, and as a result, his resume even if its better than other applicants, gets over looked. Ultimately it only adds to his own frustration but he never changes his strategy, no matter how much I convince him.
Talking about persistence, dont be over persistent because it annoys a lot of employers.
Also use your contacts as much as possible. If you know some one who is involved in something you like, talk to him/her. give him/her your resume. I am sure many people here wont agree with me but frankly, I think getting a job these days is more based on how many contacts or friends you have working in that dept and office than how much hard work you did in your college. Internships and co-ops are just becoming more and more FBES (Friend-Based Employement System).
I will post something more important and relevant later. Good luck in your job search!
March 8, 2006 at 6:39 pm #139510OreoMemberHee hee hee….I do special events planning and I never thought I would be doing this! If we were a bigger place I would have you apply here…but this is pretty much a one person show when it comes to Special Events Planning….THOUGH….I would contact nice sized museums and art museums. Places like that are often rented out for special events, think of museums like the Field Museum in Chicago, MOMA, etc…they may already have some one doing it there but if nothing else you could assist, get some experience, then move up. Having a knowledge of German and sign language is a definite plus if you are party planning because that expands your audience.
Have you tried to use the very simple resume template on microsoft word? I am trying to think back to my first resume and I think I stayed away from classes as much as I could and highlighted other things.
Also, rather than listing out all the programs you can do, maybe say “Computer literate” and include a couple of things. I know now you are trying to find things to roudn out our resume. But in not too long you are going to have to find ways to get things on there and in a VERY straight forward way.
In general, and I imagine in the line of work you are seeking, people don’t want a drawn out list of what you can do, they want the BIG, FLASHY highlights. You have to make them see how yuo stand out over other people and why they shouldlook at you further and talk to you. I hope that’s useful in some way.March 8, 2006 at 9:22 pm #139517gossipingraeMemberthe resume i copied and pasted looks like crap because, well i copied and pasted it. it looks MUCH nicer and a lot more neat and clean on paper. if anyone is really interested in seeing it, i’ll send it in a MS word attachment.
oreo, you went to college. you know homecoming is a big deal. well, it is here. i planned the ENTIRE homecoming..flowers, judges, parade, theme, EVERYTHING. that is most closely related to special events planning. i figured that would impress people, but it seems everyone is just brushing it off.
i just got back from my career development center where i re-worded and formatted everything. the women in the department said it looked wonderful, i’m just wondering why nobody else sees it the way i do 🙁
i’m actually just looking for a place to assist someone. i’ve also applied to a bunch of hotels (marriot, hilton, etc)
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