Hà Triệu Cường
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New Member
How College Students Make
The Hunt for Work Harder
By JOANN S. LUBLIN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
When my 20-year-old nephew, Marc Jay Weinreich, asked me to critique his resume, I figured I wouldn't have to fix much.
The college sophomore had drafted the document with extensive help from a guidebook and his campus career-services center. But his resume had plenty of problems. It played down certain strengths. He forgot to mention that he covers men's basketball for his school paper -- even though he was using the resume to try to snag an internship this summer with the National Basketball Association.
As graduation and summer loom, college students face poor prospects for permanent and seasonal jobs. Yet many hurt their chances by submitting flawed resumes. They underestimate the importance of this personal marketing tool.
Brad Karsh got more than 10,000 student resumes while director of talent acquisition for Leo Burnett USA, a big Chicago advertising agency that heavily recruits fresh grads. He ignored half of the resumes because they "were outright bad or unreadable,'' he recalls. Nearly all of the rest needed improvement because the students "weren't bringing themselves to life,'' he adds.
Mr. Karsh quit last fall to launch JobBound, which primarily helps college students write resumes and prepare for interviews. The Chicago start-up joined the burgeoning array of career services for young adults.
Here are common mistakes that he and other coaches have noticed in student resumes -- and possible remedies:
They lack a clear objective.
The objective summary is a brief statement at the top of a resume that states why a job seeker is the perfect candidate. But students generally aren't savvy enough to tailor the summary to a company's specific needs.
Leo Burnett officials "want to read resumes that say, 'I want to work at Leo Burnett,' " Mr. Karsh explains. Instead, he frequently sees resumes with vague, fluffy objectives like this one: "To work in the field in which I am striving to earn a degree, advertising."
An objective summary that requests "an entry-level position" can be equally damaging because the phrase accentuates a student's scant experience. "Why belabor the obvious?" asks Barbara Marchilonis, director of DBM Real World 101, a career-counseling program for recent graduates run by DBM, a New York human-resources consultancy. "Employers may get the impression they have to train this individual in every area of work.''
Students list generic job descriptions that omit their tangible accomplishments.
Hiring managers "want to know what you made happen" rather than see the usual duties of, say, a waiter, says Skip R. Sturman, career-services director at Dartmouth College. So, a student with waitress experience should "highlight things that would not be so obvious from the title," such as "five-star restaurant with demanding clientele,'' he recommends.
"If what is written in a resume can be written by the person who did the job before, with or after you, then you haven't done yourself justice,'' concurs Mr. Karsh. He persuaded University of Illinois senior Michael Ronkoske that his resume should cite his rapid advancement at a local bar where the advertising major works part time. "Promoted faster than any other student," it now reads.
Students sell short other assets.
At Mr. Karsh's suggestion, Michael lumped his extracurricular activities with his work history -- and placed his fraternity presidency ahead of an internship. A hiring manager at Starcom Media, a Chicago media buyer, commented during his job interview that "she liked how everything was listed under "Experience," the student remembers. He starts work there once he graduates May 18.
Omission of cutting-edge skills is another common weakness. My nephew produced and directed a short film. Yet his resume didn't identify the editing software he used because it's not a popular one.
Student resumes are often in reverse chronological order, so their best stuff may be last. Thus, employers overlook significant experiences because they typically scan a resume for just 15 seconds.
Students cram resumes with extraneous information.
They frequently fill two pages, twice the optimum length, with such unnecessary information as "references available upon request.'' It's also a waste to divulge height, weight -- and low grade-point average.
Nor does listing widely held computer skills offer any advantage. Joanna Giordano, a Dartmouth linguistics major seeking a marketing or public-relations internship, states on her resume that she's familiar with Microsoft Word. "Putting down that you know how to do Microsoft Word is a bit like putting down how many words per minute you can type,'' quips Mr. Karsh.
Even a great student resume doesn't always suffice. Polishing his resume was one reason my nephew finally obtained an NBA internship. He also gave his resume to a key contact; the hiring manager is a family friend.
The Hunt for Work Harder
By JOANN S. LUBLIN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
When my 20-year-old nephew, Marc Jay Weinreich, asked me to critique his resume, I figured I wouldn't have to fix much.
The college sophomore had drafted the document with extensive help from a guidebook and his campus career-services center. But his resume had plenty of problems. It played down certain strengths. He forgot to mention that he covers men's basketball for his school paper -- even though he was using the resume to try to snag an internship this summer with the National Basketball Association.
As graduation and summer loom, college students face poor prospects for permanent and seasonal jobs. Yet many hurt their chances by submitting flawed resumes. They underestimate the importance of this personal marketing tool.
Brad Karsh got more than 10,000 student resumes while director of talent acquisition for Leo Burnett USA, a big Chicago advertising agency that heavily recruits fresh grads. He ignored half of the resumes because they "were outright bad or unreadable,'' he recalls. Nearly all of the rest needed improvement because the students "weren't bringing themselves to life,'' he adds.
Mr. Karsh quit last fall to launch JobBound, which primarily helps college students write resumes and prepare for interviews. The Chicago start-up joined the burgeoning array of career services for young adults.
Here are common mistakes that he and other coaches have noticed in student resumes -- and possible remedies:
They lack a clear objective.
The objective summary is a brief statement at the top of a resume that states why a job seeker is the perfect candidate. But students generally aren't savvy enough to tailor the summary to a company's specific needs.
Leo Burnett officials "want to read resumes that say, 'I want to work at Leo Burnett,' " Mr. Karsh explains. Instead, he frequently sees resumes with vague, fluffy objectives like this one: "To work in the field in which I am striving to earn a degree, advertising."
An objective summary that requests "an entry-level position" can be equally damaging because the phrase accentuates a student's scant experience. "Why belabor the obvious?" asks Barbara Marchilonis, director of DBM Real World 101, a career-counseling program for recent graduates run by DBM, a New York human-resources consultancy. "Employers may get the impression they have to train this individual in every area of work.''
Students list generic job descriptions that omit their tangible accomplishments.
Hiring managers "want to know what you made happen" rather than see the usual duties of, say, a waiter, says Skip R. Sturman, career-services director at Dartmouth College. So, a student with waitress experience should "highlight things that would not be so obvious from the title," such as "five-star restaurant with demanding clientele,'' he recommends.
"If what is written in a resume can be written by the person who did the job before, with or after you, then you haven't done yourself justice,'' concurs Mr. Karsh. He persuaded University of Illinois senior Michael Ronkoske that his resume should cite his rapid advancement at a local bar where the advertising major works part time. "Promoted faster than any other student," it now reads.
Students sell short other assets.
At Mr. Karsh's suggestion, Michael lumped his extracurricular activities with his work history -- and placed his fraternity presidency ahead of an internship. A hiring manager at Starcom Media, a Chicago media buyer, commented during his job interview that "she liked how everything was listed under "Experience," the student remembers. He starts work there once he graduates May 18.
Omission of cutting-edge skills is another common weakness. My nephew produced and directed a short film. Yet his resume didn't identify the editing software he used because it's not a popular one.
Student resumes are often in reverse chronological order, so their best stuff may be last. Thus, employers overlook significant experiences because they typically scan a resume for just 15 seconds.
Students cram resumes with extraneous information.
They frequently fill two pages, twice the optimum length, with such unnecessary information as "references available upon request.'' It's also a waste to divulge height, weight -- and low grade-point average.
Nor does listing widely held computer skills offer any advantage. Joanna Giordano, a Dartmouth linguistics major seeking a marketing or public-relations internship, states on her resume that she's familiar with Microsoft Word. "Putting down that you know how to do Microsoft Word is a bit like putting down how many words per minute you can type,'' quips Mr. Karsh.
Even a great student resume doesn't always suffice. Polishing his resume was one reason my nephew finally obtained an NBA internship. He also gave his resume to a key contact; the hiring manager is a family friend.