February 6th: Resume Workshop Recap

Workshop Category: Professional Practice

Workshop Student Development Outcomes: Goal Setting

Workshop Facilitators: Katie Ness & Erica Tealey, CLA Career Services

Click Here to view the PowerPoint Presentation from this workshop!

The resume (and cover letter) are the tools necessary in one’s search for a job or internship.  These two documents represent you “on paper.”

The idea is IF these documents are good enough, they will advance you to the next stage of the process – typically, the interview phase.

When you are assembling these documents, ask yourself…

• What do I have to offer (in terms of education, skills, and experience) that would distinguish me from the competition, and be a good match for their company?
• Use key words found in the vacancy announcement, job posting, or from their website.
• Descriptive action verbs  are essential in highlighting skills to a potential employer.
• Is the resume formatted consistently, and is it easy to read and understand?  (If your resume doesn’t look good, it doesn’t matter how well qualified you are.  Employers won’t read it.)

Employers tend to evaluate candidates based on RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE.  Knowing that means

1. Internships are critical.  Do more than one if possible.
2. Part-time and summer jobs are viewed as favorable too.
3. For some jobs, research experience is just as good (maybe even better) than paid work.

Another thing to recognize is how highly regarded LEADERSHIP SKILLS are to an employer.

Therefore, I always emphasize the 3 E’s on a resume.

1. Education

• Don’t forget to include your expected graduation date,
• Your degree (BA or BS) and major/minor
• Your GPA (many employers pre-screen based on GPA)

2. Experience

• Separate out relevant (and “other”) work experience
• Internships might deserve their own section on your resume

3. Extra-curricular activities that highlight leadership. Here are a few examples…

• Welcome Week Leader
• Ambassador
• Campus Tour Guide
• Officer in a club or organization
• Community Involvement, etc.

Another thing to note:  more employers are viewing social media sites to view applicants.  What is your presence on social media?  Is there anything there that you would be embarrassed about?  I would encourage you to establish yourself on LinkedIn.  The 3 E’s can be highlighted there as well, along with recommendations and endorsements, and a professional head shot and summary section.

How Can I Rock My Next Interview?

How can I rock my next interview?

Written by: Katy Hinz, Program Coordinator

From a company standpoint, an initial interview should answer four basic questions:

• Is the candidate ABLE to do the job effectively?
• Is the candidate WILLING to put forth the effort required to be successful in the position?
• Is the candidate MANAGABLE?
• Is the candidate a good FIT for the organization?

Following these tips for what to do before, during, and after your interview will help to make sure an employer answers YES to these four basic questions.

Image source: pixgood.com

Before the interview

Research yourself:

• Know what skills, strengths, and experiences you have that make you stand out. You are in luck because your student job has helped you to develop many transferrable skills you can apply in your chosen profession. In fact, many of the top skills employers seek you already have! Use this list to help you determine what those skills are that you feel the most confident in.
• Know your resume inside and out: be able to expand on what is on your resume.
• Find out the basic information about the company (services, products, and mission). You can find this information through their Website, their Linkedin Page, a Google News Search, and by talking to people at the organization. Get more tips and tools for researching companies here.

Practice Interviewing:

• The more you prepare the less nervous you will be! You can practice interviewing through a free resource offered at the U of M called InterviewStream or by setting up a practice interview with your career center.
• Practice responses to interview questions. Click here to learn strategies for how to answer different types of interview questions. One of the best ways to prepare is to think about experiences (clubs, jobs, courses, volunteer work) that demonstrate the skills the employer is seeking and then practice talking about them out loud. Use the job description as your guide, for example, if they are seeking someone with great communication skills then make sure you have an example that demonstrates your communication skills. Use the STAR (Situation/Task, Action, Result) method to format your responses, learn more about this technique here.
• Have several questions prepared for the interviewer. Some examples are,
  • What do you enjoy most about working here?
  • I saw XYZ on your website, can you tell me more about…..
  • What are the characteristics of someone that is successful in this role?
  • Get a full list of questions here.

Logistics:

• Print copies of your resume & bring with you.
• Map out the location of the interview and plan for how you will get to your interview on time (10-15 min. early).
• Plan out a professional outfit,  get ideas here and here of what to wear.

During the Interview

• First impressions are important, be sure to engage the interviewer right away by smiling, making eye contact, and showing an interest in them, the position, and the organization.
• The interviewer will ask you a series of questions, depending on the interviewer’s style this could be very conversational or it could be a Q&A. Follow the lead of the interviewer.
• You will be given the opportunity to ask questions, be sure to prepare these questions in advance, use these suggested questions as a guide!
• At the end of the interview often the interviewer will discuss the next stage of the process, if they don’t give you a timeline, ask! Be sure to end on a courteous note and thank the interviewer for the opportunity.

After the Interview

• Reflect on what went well in the interview and what you want to improve on.
• Reflect on what your overall impression is of the organization and the position.
• Within 48 hours send a Thank you note! Email is an acceptable method, especially if you know they are making a quick decision. Be sure to mention something that will remind them of you and your particular interview, be as specific as possible.

• Be sure to follow up with the organization if you are still interested in the position. If they said they would contact you by a certain date and you haven’t heard from them, be sure to contact them!

 

How to Deal with a Bad Performance Review?

SELP Help

How to Deal with a Bad Performance Review?

Author: Catherine Cantieri, SELP Training Coordinator

Dealing with positive performance reviews is always an easy task. But what do you do if the review involves more constructive criticism than you had hoped? Feedback (positive or negative) from your supervisor can be very helpful when developing your skills and knowledge within your job position. However, this doesn’t always make it easier to deal with criticism.  If you ever find yourself having to deal with criticism from your supervisor, here a few tips that will make the process a little smoother, and help you focus on the chance this criticism gives you to develop your skills.

• Make sure you understand your supervisors concerns. It is important that you completely understand why your review was poor because then you will be able to address your supervisor’s concerns properly.
• Ask for clarification on points or issues you do not understand. However, try not to use this as an opportunity to argue the points your supervisor is making. Keep your mind in the future, rather than starting a debate about situations of the past. Ask for clarification on your supervisor’s points so that you know how to accurately address them in the future.
• If this bad performance review was a complete surprise to you, make sure to ask your supervisor for performance reviews more frequently. This will help you to be able to address performance problems quickly after they have occurred.
• Come out of the meeting with clear expectations from your supervisor. Ask your supervisor to clearly state his or her expectations so that you know what is needed from you.
• Develop a plan for your future next steps. After you’ve done so it may be best to ask your supervisor look them over so that you know you both are on the same page.
• Keep an open mind. Think of the opportunity to get feedback as a chance to grow your knowledge, skills, and abilities.
• Thank your supervisor for the feedback. Believe it or not, they are only trying to help you succeed. Thanking your supervisor for their constructive criticism shows him or her that you understand where they are coming from, and plan to make a change.
• Remember that nobody’s perfect. Everyone is prone to make at least one or two mistakes. Don’t let this negative review define your outlook of your entire job performance. Take this feedback as an opportunity to better your performance in the future, rather than to dwell on the past.

Resume Workshop – Last Workshop in Fall 2014!

Workshop Category: Professional Practice

Workshop Student Development Outcomes: Goal Setting

Workshop Facilitators: Katie Ness & Erica Tealey, CLA Career Services

Click Here to view the PowerPoint Presentation from this workshop!

The resume (and cover letter) are the tools necessary in one’s search for a job or internship.  These two documents represent you “on paper.”

The idea is IF these documents are good enough, they will advance you to the next stage of the process – typically, the interview phase.

When you are assembling these documents, ask yourself…

• What do I have to offer (in terms of education, skills, and experience) that would distinguish me from the competition, and be a good match for their company?
• Use key words found in the vacancy announcement, job posting, or from their website.
• Descriptive action verbs  are essential in highlighting skills to a potential employer.
• Is the resume formatted consistently, and is it easy to read and understand?  (If your resume doesn’t look good, it doesn’t matter how well qualified you are.  Employers won’t read it.)

Employers tend to evaluate candidates based on RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE.  Knowing that means

1. Internships are critical.  Do more than one if possible.
2. Part-time and summer jobs are viewed as favorable too.
3. For some jobs, research experience is just as good (maybe even better) than paid work.

Another thing to recognize is how highly regarded LEADERSHIP SKILLS are to an employer.

Therefore, I always emphasize the 3 E’s on a resume.

1. Education

• Don’t forget to include your expected graduation date,
• Your degree (BA or BS) and major/minor
• Your GPA (many employers pre-screen based on GPA)

2. Experience

• Separate out relevant (and “other”) work experience
• Internships might deserve their own section on your resume

3. Extra-curricular activities that highlight leadership. Here are a few examples…

• Welcome Week Leader
• Ambassador
• Campus Tour Guide
• Officer in a club or organization
• Community Involvement, etc.

Another thing to note:  more employers are viewing social media sites to view applicants.  What is your presence on social media?  Is there anything there that you would be embarrassed about?  I would encourage you to establish yourself on LinkedIn.  The 3 E’s can be highlighted there as well, along with recommendations and endorsements, and a professional head shot and summary section.

Use Your Top 5 to be more Self-Aware

Use Your Top 5 to be more Self-Aware

Blog Writer: Jane Sitter, Student Employee, CLA 1001 course

December SDO: Self-Awareness

When you think about “Self-Awareness” it can be a little hard to come up with a concrete definition about how this idea can be helpful for you. However, if you break it down from the word itself, you can tell that it is all about ‘you,’ and being aware, or knowledgeable, of yourself!

One way to think of it could be, instead of talking with a future employer and simply saying, “You should hire me because I’m great,” with self-awareness you are able to fully identify and explain your strengths and weaknesses, you are able to give the ‘why’ behind your greatness.

Image Source: http://quotes.lifehack.org/quote/billie-jean-king/i-think-self-awareness-is-probably-the-most/

I increased my self-awareness after finding out my top 5 Strengths. Before taking the StrengthsFinder assessment I had a general idea of what I was good at and what I was not so good at. I knew in high school I really enjoyed languages, speaking, and writing and I considered those to be my strong subjects. After receiving my top 5 Strengths I remember being really confused. What did Strategic, Input, Ideation, Communication, and WOO mean for me?

The longer I spent time at the University I was able to develop self-awareness by understanding how my Strengths can help me in my student employment.

After considering my Strengths, reading through the explanations provided in the results, and attending Strengths Coaching, I felt like I could really understand how my Strengths fit me.

Remember how I said I knew I always enjoyed language, speaking, and writing? Well those Strengths tie directly to my Communication and WOO strengths. I am aware that I value high quality communication, so in my student employment when I need to communicate with other coworkers, I put in my best effort to be clear and concise in my communication and I know I am better able to complete the necessary tasks for my work when I receive good communication from my coworkers of what they need from me. Additionally, in my student employment, my awareness of my Ideation Strength enables me to be able to think of creative ideas for programs to implement in our work.

With Self-Awareness I am able to understand what my strengths and weaknesses are, and with that understanding I can focus on improving my Strengths and sharing what I do best with my coworkers in my student employment. Self-awareness has made my job easier and more fun! I recommend taking time to reflect on what you feel your strengths are, whether you identify with your ‘top 5’ or other strengths, by being aware of your strengths you will be able to succeed by fully being able to articulate what you do best!

Using Your Strengths to Achieve Your Goals

Using Your Strengths to Achieve Your Goals

Blog Writer: Katy Hinz, Program Coordinator, Office for Student Engagement

November SDO: Goal Orientation

Goal setting comes more naturally to some people than it does for others. For example, if you have Strengths in the Executing Leadership Domain, chances are that setting goals is second nature to you. Not sure what Leadership Domains your Strength fall into? Take a look at this chart to find out!

Source: http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/113338/what-makes-great-leadership-team.aspx

Goal setting is an important skill to learn as it will help you reach your professional aspirations. Here are tips for goal setting based on your dominant Leadership Domains:

Executing: How these Strengths will help you: Having Strengths in the Executing domain will enable you to take steps to achieve your goals and the goals of any team you are a part of. Make detailed plans and timelines for your goals and set up reminders on your calendar, you will likely enjoy being reminded because you like to get things done! Watch out for: Sometimes with these Strengths you may become too focused on a goal and are unwilling to adapt or change your goal even if your original goal isn’t serving you. Talk to a friend or mentor with Strategic Thinking Strengths, they may help you define your goals in the context of the larger picture and ask you some good questions to bring your most important goals into focus.

Influencing: How these Strengths will help you: Having Strengths in the Influencing domain will help you to articulate your goals and your team’s goals clearly, as well as give you the confidence to know you can achieve them. Use these Strengths to help you navigate what resources you need to be successful, as well as how you can get other people on board with your goals. Watch out for: When you are creating goals for a team make sure that you are getting other people’s input. Partner with someone with Relationship Building Strengths to ensure you aren’t burning any bridges with others when it comes to the goal setting process for a team.

Relationship Building: How these Strengths will help you: Having Strengths in the Relationship domain will help you to create goals that will have a positive impact on the lives of others. When it comes to setting goals for a team, you will help to ensure that the goals are meeting the overall needs of the team, while satisfying the individuals on the team. Your Strengths may also help to keep the team motivated to make the goals a reality. Watch out for: Be aware that it may be easy for you to let the goals of others trump your own goals. Remember that your personal goals are important and should not be ignored. Talking to someone with Strategic Thinking Strengths may be helpful to you when you are feeling conflicted between your goals and the goals of others as they may be able to help you find a creative way to satisfy both sets of goals.

Strategic Thinking: How these Strengths will help you: Having Strengths in the Strategic Thinking domain will help you to create goals with the big picture in mind. You naturally like to think about the possibilities in life so you probably have a lot of ideas about your future. Use your ability to envision tomorrow to keep you motivated to achieve your goals. Watch out for: Although it may be easy for you to think of what your goals are, and even what some of the steps are to get there, you may find it difficult to follow through to make these goals happen. Consider partnering with someone with Executing Strengths to help to make sure you are taking both the small and big steps needed to achieve your goals.

LinkedIn Lab Recap

Workshop Category: Professional Practice

Workshop Student Development Outcomes: Goal Orientation

Workshop Facilitators: Catherine Cantieri, & Katy Hinz

In this day and age, with more and more of the hiring process being transferred to online processes, it has become very important that you create, update, and maintain a LinkedIn profile.  Linkedin is used by employers as both a screening tool as well as a verification of skills and accomplishments.

With that being said, don’t look at LinkedIn as this big scary thing on your to-do list. Instead, look at it as an opportunity to market your skills and accomplishments to the world. With over 60 million members in more than 200 countries and territories around the world; there isn’t a better way to market yourself to a multitude of companies/organizations at one time than by creating a LinkedIn profile.

The true beauty behind LinkedIn is that it gives you access to CEOs, recruiters and other employees at almost any company you would like to work for. There are members of every fortune 500 company on LinkedIn and many of them love to see young people reach out to them and ask questions. You’d be amazed how a simple message about someone’s experience working at your favorite company can turn into landing you a job at that company. Just be sure to keep your profile updated and looking professional as you are reaching out.

A few things to do when building your profile:

• Put on a nice shirt (ladies) button-up (men), fix your hair and make sure you are looking your best. Then have someone take a nice head shot photo of you for you.
• Get your resume critiqued by career services. This is a SELP requirement!
• Once your resume is ready, transfer the information from it directly to your profile.
• Have someone help you write an objective for your resume and then put that into the summary box on your LinkedIn page.
• Add all experience (work and volunteer), skills, the degree you are obtaining, and any other relevant information/accomplishments that makes you stand out.
• Add connections, join groups, ask for recommendations and be active on your profile.
• If you are completing the SELP program be sure you meet all the Linkedin requirements outlined here.

For more helpful tips, connect to the Student Employment Leadership Program on LinkedIn! Also, please feel free to reach out to us and ask more questions about LinkedIn or the professional world in general.

Motivation Workshop Recap

Workshop Category: You

Workshop Student Development Outcomes: Self Awareness & Appreciation of Differences

Workshop Facilitator: Katy Hinz, SELP

• Overview of Motivation and why it is important to know your motivation style, your supervisor’s style, and your co-workers’ style.
• Completed the Motivation Inventory to discover individual motivation style.
• Described the six motives:
  • Achievement: Like challenge and wants to feel a sense of accomplishment.
  • Autonomy: Enjoy freedom, creativity, and making decisions.
  • Power/Influence: Prefer to lead and guide the action of others.
  • Relationship: Like to be part of a team and seek out collaboration.
  • Security: Enjoy steady tasks, structure, and consistency.
  • Balance/Comfort: Strive for a comfortable, well-balanced work and home environment.
  • In small and large groups discussed the pros and cons of each motivation type and how to best work with people with different motivation types.
  • Watched Daniel Pink’s video called The Surprising Truth of what Motivates Us.

NEXT STEPS: STUDENTS

• Discuss your motivation style with your supervisor. Give them feedback on the positive ways they have motivated you.

NEXT STEPS: SUPERVISORS

• Find out what your motivation style is by completing the Motivation Inventory .
• Ask your student staff to complete the inventory (if they haven’t already), discuss the results and how you can better work together and motivate one another. There are tips for how to work with people with each motivation type you can find here.
• Learn more about motivation by watching Daniel Pink’s video called The Surprising Truth of what Motivates Us.

Time Management Workshop Recap

Workshop Category: You

Workshop Student Development Outcomes: Goal Orientation and Responsibility and Accountability

Workshop Facilitator: Nicole Park, University Counseling and Consulting Services

College students are so busy with class, homework, projects, studying, relaxing, relationships, student organizations, sports, and jobs. How do you fit all of that into a 7-day week? Time management can be a helpful and important skill in navigating and balancing your multiple responsibilities.

Time management is:

• Scheduling what is going to be worked on and in what order
• Goal setting
• Prioritizing
• Not a thing to be done – it’s an opportunity to identify what will bring you a sense of satisfaction and/or accomplishment for the day.
• About choices and choice-making

In the workshop, participants:

• Completed a weekly planner

• Reviewed important time managing skills
  • The ability to say “no”
  • Spacing things out – stopping procrastination
  • Using social and free time wisely
  • Prioritizing and reprioritizing constantly
  • Remembering to eat well, sleep well, and exercise

• Reviewed time savers
  •  Finding a study space
  • Studying at the best times of day for you
  • Switching subject areas and studying one subject for only one hour at a time
  • Doing difficulty assignments and studying difficult subjects first
  • Break down overwhelmingly large tasks into manageable parts to accomplish a little each day
  • Scheduling your entire semester to get a sense of when your assignments are due and when your time is going to feel more “crunched.”

SELP Help: How do I create a 1 page resume?

Author: Catherine Cantieri, SELP Training Coordinator

Resumes can be one of the most important parts of your first impression when applying for a job! Trying to have the perfect resume is an ongoing task that requires a lot of revision. One thing that seems to be a common theme among recruiters for entry level positions is that they tend to prefer one-page resumes compared to a two-page resume. However, it can be difficult to cram all of your information, skills, past positions, etc. on to one page! Here are my 5 tips for how to keep your resume to one page:

1. Design your resume around a job posting

This is very important when applying to any job – no matter if you have a 1-page resume or 3-page resume! Look for key words in the job posting and try to mimic them on your resume (note: only do this if you have the skill or experience they are seeking, remember you never want to lie or exaggerate on your resume). When trying to shorten your resume something that might be helpful is to look for skills and abilities you currently have on your resume that are not related to the job posting and remove them. The more you can tailor your resume to each specific job the more successful your job search will be.

2. Do you need an objective/summary?

Sometimes an objective can hurt more than it helps. When listing an objective on a resume it is essential to be extremely specific to the job you are applying for and to be concise. This is not an easy task, and if not done correctly it can hurt your resume more than it can help. If an employer reads an objective statement and it is not specific enough to the job that they posted, they may completely disregard your resume. Also, often when you apply for a job you need to include a cover letter, which basically is a longer version of an objective statement, in that case an objective statement isn’t necessary to include. Bottom line: if it is not a well written objective statement than it is just a waste of space!

3. Repeating points

Look for repeating ideas in your bullet points. The bullet point listed under each position should demonstrate different accomplishments, abilities, and skills you have. You may find that a bullet point under one position exhibits the same skill that you’ve listed in a different bullet point under another position. If this is the case – remove one of the two bullet points! When working with such a small space you need to be selective with all the information you include on your resumeand can’t afford to have repeated ideas. If you need help differentiating skills and abilities, here is a list of action verbs that you can use on your resume.

4. Formatting is your friend

This should be the last step when looking at your resume. If you have tried all the aforementioned tips, try re-formatting your resume. This can be as simple as changing a 12 pt. font to a 10 pt. font (it is advised to never go under a 10 pt. font size), or changing the margin sizes. This can also mean making bigger changes like rearranging your header or re-formatting your sections. CLA Career Services website has some great tips when thinking about formatting your resume differently and there is also an online resume workshop you can watch. Just remember, the goal with formatting is that your resume should look clean and consistent, and be easy to read.

5. Should you stay within 1-page… Ask your career center!

The one-page standard is usually preferred for entry-level jobs. If you are applying for an upper level position, maybe a two-page resume would be more appropriate. However, if you are in fact applying for an entry level job and have considered all of these tips and still are having trouble fitting your resume onto one page, having a two-page resume may be most appropriate. Visiting your career center will be most helpful when asking yourself these questions about your specific experiences and career path. So stop by your career center and get a resume critique! Fill out this resume critique form when you do and turn it into selp@umn.edu in order to fulfill your resume critique requirement for SELP!