Resume & Cover Letters

Resumes and cover letters are your first chance to impress a future employer. These documents work together to secure you an interview.

Resume
Impress employers before you ever shake their hands by creating a flawless resume. Market your skills and experience so your potential employer can quickly see what you could bring to their organization.

The Basics
Your resume is the first impression employers get of you. Employers only take 10-30 seconds to review your résumé. The more concise your resume is, the easier employers will be able to tell whether or not you are the right fit for their company.
Start by reviewing the job description you want to apply for or one within your field. This will give you a good idea of what employers are looking for in their perfect candidate and will help you focus on the skills you possess that will impress them.

Writing Your Resume
Start your resume by looking at examples. Examples will give you plenty of ideas for content and formatting ideas. Choose a style and format that you think will best showcase your experiences in a professional light.
Make your best effort to summarize your experiences in a way that shows your specific responsibilities and the level of your impact on each.
In writing your resume, you will hear many preferences on how to write and format this document. Take in all the information and feedback. You need to decide on the information that is most helpful and best presents your information.
Be sure there are no grammatical or spelling errors. Nothing says “unprofessional” or “I don’t pay attention to detail” like having an error on your resume.

Review & Revise
Once you have a solid draft, submit it via email to the Career Services office at careerservices@polk.edu for review. Emailing your resume draft helps to expedite the review process. A Career Services representative will then contact you and provide you with feedback.

Cover Letters
Cover letters are to introduce yourself and explain your interest in an open position and are sent to employers along with your resume. They give you an opportunity to offer employers insight to your personality through your writing style and communication skills.
If you are applying for multiple positions, each cover letter should be written specifically for each individual organization.
Also, if you’re sending in your resume through email, be sure to use the body of the email as your cover letter and attach your resume to the email.

Resources
▪ Monster Resume Help provides you with expert advice along with tricks and tips that will help you write a successful resume.
▪ Handshake has a section to help you navigate through creating your resume, including keywords that are sure to get you noticed.