Cover Letter Review
I used the pronoun, "I," way too much in my cover letter. It sounds less professional that way, Juan Whiting told me. He was a good tutor to have for this project.
Here's the basic layout of what I learned should go into a good cover letter.
After addressing the specific person in the salutation, then:
1. State My Purpose
Tell them I'm applying for the job.
2. Hook
Something to grab their attention.
3. Claim
This is the thesis of the cover letter. Here, I tell my qualifications and state that they meet the needs of the company.
Something to the effect of, "I am the person for the job because of X,Y, and Z."
4. Supporting evidence
This goes in the body paragraph and explains how I'm qualified. This should back up the thesis statement.
5. Reiterate and Close
Say again I want the job and thank the recipient for his/her time to read my materials.
Here's the basic layout of what I learned should go into a good cover letter.
After addressing the specific person in the salutation, then:
1. State My Purpose
Tell them I'm applying for the job.
2. Hook
Something to grab their attention.
3. Claim
This is the thesis of the cover letter. Here, I tell my qualifications and state that they meet the needs of the company.
Something to the effect of, "I am the person for the job because of X,Y, and Z."
4. Supporting evidence
This goes in the body paragraph and explains how I'm qualified. This should back up the thesis statement.
5. Reiterate and Close
Say again I want the job and thank the recipient for his/her time to read my materials.
Mock Interview
Key insights from the mock interview process
I've always thought myself as a strong interviewer, but I think I was a little too optimistic going into this interview. I started out a little weak, but as the interview went on things got better. It was overall a great learning experience. Here's the top things I learned:
1. Have a strong "Me in 30 seconds." I need to re-work this so it's not so much about general information about me and gets into more specific things, like how I will be an asset to their company.
2. "Break the interview." I just made that name up, but to "break" an interview just means that you get out of rigid interview mode and turn it into a conversation. The way I did this was to ask the interviewer questions in return and engage him as well. Our walls both came down and I felt way more comfortable communicating.
3. Turn weaknesses into strengths- when asked a question about "What is your biggest weakness," or, "when is a time that your actions didn't align to the goals of your organization?" You take a question like that, answer it, and then say how you have improved or are improving in that area. This leads me into my next point:
4. 3 steps to "WOW" the interviewer: 1) Tell them the answer 2) tell them the story 3) why the story and what you said before is applicable in the job you're applying for.
5. "Any questions for me?" if an interviewer asks this question, I will be better prepared to answer with a question that relates to them. For instance, "What do you like best about working for this company?"
I've always thought myself as a strong interviewer, but I think I was a little too optimistic going into this interview. I started out a little weak, but as the interview went on things got better. It was overall a great learning experience. Here's the top things I learned:
1. Have a strong "Me in 30 seconds." I need to re-work this so it's not so much about general information about me and gets into more specific things, like how I will be an asset to their company.
2. "Break the interview." I just made that name up, but to "break" an interview just means that you get out of rigid interview mode and turn it into a conversation. The way I did this was to ask the interviewer questions in return and engage him as well. Our walls both came down and I felt way more comfortable communicating.
3. Turn weaknesses into strengths- when asked a question about "What is your biggest weakness," or, "when is a time that your actions didn't align to the goals of your organization?" You take a question like that, answer it, and then say how you have improved or are improving in that area. This leads me into my next point:
4. 3 steps to "WOW" the interviewer: 1) Tell them the answer 2) tell them the story 3) why the story and what you said before is applicable in the job you're applying for.
5. "Any questions for me?" if an interviewer asks this question, I will be better prepared to answer with a question that relates to them. For instance, "What do you like best about working for this company?"
Resume Review
Key insights from the Resume Review process.
Juan Whiting helped me review my resume. He suggested, for something like a dental school application, to do what's called a "skills based resume." This is where I would list 3 or 4 skills, and then give the job experience that backed those up. For instance: Leadership, communication, and business acumen. That way, they could see if my skills are the skills they are most interested in. They won't have to search through my resume to find it. I'm going to rework my resume to be more appealing.
Overall, the resume review, cover letter review, and the mock interview were eye openers to me. I can practice and think I'm the man at home, but when someone else sees my work it's not always the way I saw or heard it. It was good to be given constructive criticism and I will be definitely taking advantage of the academic discovery center career tutors again in the future.
Juan Whiting helped me review my resume. He suggested, for something like a dental school application, to do what's called a "skills based resume." This is where I would list 3 or 4 skills, and then give the job experience that backed those up. For instance: Leadership, communication, and business acumen. That way, they could see if my skills are the skills they are most interested in. They won't have to search through my resume to find it. I'm going to rework my resume to be more appealing.
Overall, the resume review, cover letter review, and the mock interview were eye openers to me. I can practice and think I'm the man at home, but when someone else sees my work it's not always the way I saw or heard it. It was good to be given constructive criticism and I will be definitely taking advantage of the academic discovery center career tutors again in the future.
Career Workshop in Review
The Career Workshop helped me to see where I am at. I was able to go through my skill set and identify what my strengths are. It was also a good exercise to reflect on my major life accomplishments. I feel like this will be a great document to review throughout the years, especially before interviews.
The “Me in 30 Seconds” assignment I felt was very relevant. I remember doing this a while ago with my dad, but haven’t tried it as of late. So it was good to refresh what I would say about myself if someone asked me to take a minute to introduce myself.
I was also able to identify my values, which helped focus what my vision is, or why I am getting an education in the first place. Vision is the long-term goal, the thing I strive for. Other goals are the stepping-stones to realize my vision.
The “Me in 30 Seconds” assignment I felt was very relevant. I remember doing this a while ago with my dad, but haven’t tried it as of late. So it was good to refresh what I would say about myself if someone asked me to take a minute to introduce myself.
I was also able to identify my values, which helped focus what my vision is, or why I am getting an education in the first place. Vision is the long-term goal, the thing I strive for. Other goals are the stepping-stones to realize my vision.
Power Statements and Interviewing
Power Statements
A power statement is a brief, few sentence response to use in an interview type setting. They usually make a statement about an important character trait that you have, and then support the statement with an example. Here's a couple that I came up with:
I'm an opportunity seeker and I get things done. When I was helping a small events company get off the ground, we needed a graphic designer to make posters and flyers. I had no experience in Adobe Illustrator, but I wanted to learn so I bought the CS5 creative suite and learned how to use Photoshop and Illustrator. I quickly learned and within weeks I had turned over my first few flyers and posters for our events.
I'm a relationship builder. I get along well with others. I remember people's names and people see value in good relationships. I have never had to go out to look for and apply to a job because I've been able to talk to friends, family, or associates, and have been referred by them for a position. I feel that's because people see value in me and it's that same value that I want to add to your company.
I also learned some interviewing tips from the Career workshop and other sources. Here's some of the questions from the Career Workshop and the answers I came up with. I think this will be a great thing to revisit before I go into my next interview:
If we called your last employer or previous business, what would they say about you? They would tell you lies. Nah, just kidding. I believe they would say good things. You see, relationships are important to me and I feel I get along well with just about anybody. I also suspect that they would recommend my work and commitment to a job.
Tell me about a time you made a major sacrifice to achieve a business goal or were able to build team spirit in a time of low morale. Well, I think attitude and morale isn’t a quick fix thing, it’s a deeper thing. See, as I’ve gone through life, I’ve noticed a difference in motivators: there is intrinsic motivation and external motivators. Sustained results require sustained behavior and a character, who we really are, brings out our consistent behaviors. I’ve always tried to be consistent in the projects I undertake and those people I’ve worked around seemed to have done the same.
What are some of your strengths? My right bicep. Ha! Creativity, team worker, leader, friend, open door policy, relationship driven, duty driven, fun lovin.
Why should I give you a business loan? Why should I use your service or company? Track record.
I’ve interviewed people with more experience than you. Why should I hire you? Have you ever read Good to Great? It talks about this very thing in there. It goes back to the character of a person. You can train someone how to use a computer or to run a snow cone shack, but you can’t train someone’s character. They bring that with them.
How would you evaluate your present or last business opportunity? What do you think of your present or last company? I loved working for the recycling center. I was able to gain experience and learn from mistakes. I didn’t walk into a perfect company, nor do I think there is one. We were able to adjust over the 5 months I was there and really improve things. I was also able to provide valuable input from my past jobs, which is funny because I didn’t think that working for a pizza place would convert over to other business. But great business principles are true for wherever you go.
What is your biggest weakness? It’s hard for me to delegate. I want to take everything on my own to make sure that things get done right the first time. I realize by doing that though, that it doesn’t allow other people the same opportunities that I had to make decisions and to sometimes make mistakes. We learn ten times more from our mistakes than we do from our successes.
Your business seems to be struggling. Why should we loan you money? You learn more from your mistakes than your successes. We’ve pulled together all the hard data, here's our best and worst case scenario numbers, and this thing is gonna explode!
From all of this, I learned to have things ready to say that I don't end up with nothing to say. The interviewer gives many opportunities for me to express my skills, and my answers can apply to more than one type of question. I also think it is important to not just say that I believe and live by these principles, but that I actually become something more today to reach my business goals.
A power statement is a brief, few sentence response to use in an interview type setting. They usually make a statement about an important character trait that you have, and then support the statement with an example. Here's a couple that I came up with:
I'm an opportunity seeker and I get things done. When I was helping a small events company get off the ground, we needed a graphic designer to make posters and flyers. I had no experience in Adobe Illustrator, but I wanted to learn so I bought the CS5 creative suite and learned how to use Photoshop and Illustrator. I quickly learned and within weeks I had turned over my first few flyers and posters for our events.
I'm a relationship builder. I get along well with others. I remember people's names and people see value in good relationships. I have never had to go out to look for and apply to a job because I've been able to talk to friends, family, or associates, and have been referred by them for a position. I feel that's because people see value in me and it's that same value that I want to add to your company.
I also learned some interviewing tips from the Career workshop and other sources. Here's some of the questions from the Career Workshop and the answers I came up with. I think this will be a great thing to revisit before I go into my next interview:
If we called your last employer or previous business, what would they say about you? They would tell you lies. Nah, just kidding. I believe they would say good things. You see, relationships are important to me and I feel I get along well with just about anybody. I also suspect that they would recommend my work and commitment to a job.
Tell me about a time you made a major sacrifice to achieve a business goal or were able to build team spirit in a time of low morale. Well, I think attitude and morale isn’t a quick fix thing, it’s a deeper thing. See, as I’ve gone through life, I’ve noticed a difference in motivators: there is intrinsic motivation and external motivators. Sustained results require sustained behavior and a character, who we really are, brings out our consistent behaviors. I’ve always tried to be consistent in the projects I undertake and those people I’ve worked around seemed to have done the same.
What are some of your strengths? My right bicep. Ha! Creativity, team worker, leader, friend, open door policy, relationship driven, duty driven, fun lovin.
Why should I give you a business loan? Why should I use your service or company? Track record.
I’ve interviewed people with more experience than you. Why should I hire you? Have you ever read Good to Great? It talks about this very thing in there. It goes back to the character of a person. You can train someone how to use a computer or to run a snow cone shack, but you can’t train someone’s character. They bring that with them.
How would you evaluate your present or last business opportunity? What do you think of your present or last company? I loved working for the recycling center. I was able to gain experience and learn from mistakes. I didn’t walk into a perfect company, nor do I think there is one. We were able to adjust over the 5 months I was there and really improve things. I was also able to provide valuable input from my past jobs, which is funny because I didn’t think that working for a pizza place would convert over to other business. But great business principles are true for wherever you go.
What is your biggest weakness? It’s hard for me to delegate. I want to take everything on my own to make sure that things get done right the first time. I realize by doing that though, that it doesn’t allow other people the same opportunities that I had to make decisions and to sometimes make mistakes. We learn ten times more from our mistakes than we do from our successes.
Your business seems to be struggling. Why should we loan you money? You learn more from your mistakes than your successes. We’ve pulled together all the hard data, here's our best and worst case scenario numbers, and this thing is gonna explode!
From all of this, I learned to have things ready to say that I don't end up with nothing to say. The interviewer gives many opportunities for me to express my skills, and my answers can apply to more than one type of question. I also think it is important to not just say that I believe and live by these principles, but that I actually become something more today to reach my business goals.