Developing your job search skills is vital to having a successful job search. BC Career Services is happy to make available Perfect Interview and Resume Writer to help our students and alumni get ready for the job search.

Resume Writing

Do you have a current resume that is tailored to your current job target. The ideal way to manage your resume is to have a Word document saved on your computer or a removable drive. When you are ready to send it to an employer be sure and target it specifically to that job. If you've got 50 copies of a generic resume; toss them into recycling. That kind of resume is rarely effective.

For students, we are always happy to look at your resume and make suggestions. Email Sara for more details.

RESUMECREATOR is a new program we have for the benefit of our students and alumni. You can use Resume Writer to create a resume easily online. You'll have an online account where you can create more than one resume if needed. A great bonus to this program is that you can save your resume to a Word document that you can continue to edit as needed.

Hints for a Great Resume

Your resume should address the needs of the potential employer, NOT be your autobiography.  The employer should be thinking "wow, this person has exactly what I am looking for" as they read your resume.

Make your resume easy to read.  A potential employer will spend approximately 20 seconds scanning each of the resumes in front of them.  An easy-to-read format enables them to read your whole resume rather than a small portion in those 20 seconds.

Write a resume with substance & depth. Don't summarize, water-down, and oversimplify your job responsibilities and accomplishments. 

Be bold but honest throughout your resume.  An employer will interview only the 3-5 strongest candidates.  Modesty will cause you to lose the interview.

Prioritize the information that the employer seeks and simplify or omit information of minimal interest to the employer.  The most significant accomplishments and jobs need to be at the beginning of the resume, not buried further down the page.

Proofread your resume to eliminate spelling errors, grammatical errors, and formatting inconsistencies.  A potential employer will say "a person presenting them self this poorly on paper will likely poorly represent our company."

Interviewing

It's time to make a great impression and you need to make it in the first 5 to 10 seconds. Here are a some good youtube videos about making a positive impression.

Dressing for Success not to Impress

Second Most Important Quality

You can find more of these great interview tips and more at Collegegrad.com.

Perfect Inteview

Nothing can take the place of being prepared. Know yourself and know the organization that you will be interviewing with. Do your research. To help you practice be sure to check out Perfect Interview. You pick a type of interview. You'll see an interviewer ask questions. You have to option to type your answers for review. See what the coach has to say. Then see what how the interviewee responds.