During the second week of classes, students in ENGL 495 Senior Seminar spent some time reading the first third of Lindsey Pollak’s Getting from College to Career (New York: Harper, 2012), and they also received resume-writing advice from Katie Gallagher of Marywood’s Career Services.
We thought it’d be generous of us to share some of the tips we liked most. Here ya go!
- Embrace your stereotype: If people assume you’ll have no chance, ask them for advice instead of feeling defeated
- Tweet! You can use it to build your professional brand and put yourself out there professionally
- When writing a resume, use action verbs!
- Identify the people you admire and what you admire about them, and see how you can relate that to yourself; it can be a way to recognize your good qualities and sell yourself to others
- Always include a cover letter when sending your resume
- Be concise! People don’t spend much time reviewing resumes (usually less than 30 seconds)
- Have the most pertinent information on your resume
- There are jobs and opportunities out there that you haven’t even heard of
- Including quantitative data on your resume is smart (number of people managed, etc)
- Present the info on your resume that is most relevant
- Network by talking with your friends and family
- Use LinkedIn
We have three “Professional Nights” scheduled for the semester, so check back to see what else we take to heart. And please share your own tips in the comments!
–Dr. Laurie McMillan, faculty, on behalf of the ENGL 495 Senior Seminar class
ENGL 495 Senior Seminar is a capstone requirement for all English majors. Students work on independent research projects over the course of the semester while thinking more deeply about their education, from the usefulness of close reading, to the purpose of the humanities, to the changes of the digital age.
Connecting the major to future professions is another important facet of the course that reflects the English major at Marywood and the many doors it can open.
