COMM 202 Tutorial 4T23 & T30

Agenda

1. Course timeline2. Personal branding3. Resumes and cover letters4. Action items

Course timeline

Week 6 Week 7 Week 8

• Reading week!• But you should

work on your resume & CL

• Tutorial: resume and cover letter building

• Skills matrix due Friday, February 10 11:59pm

• Tutorial: resume and cover letter peer review

• Resume and cover letter draft due

What is Your Brand?

Describe these brands

Describe these brands

What about you?

What’s the purpose of branding?

• Being a memorable, standout candidate• Complimenting the job & company• Knowing your strengths & weaknesses• Permeate your brand through all your documents• Your personal brand can change

Resumes and Cover Letters

What’s the difference?

Cover letter is about YOUR EMPLOYER

Resume is about YOU

CANWANT

FIT

CAN / WANT / FIT

Can you do the job? Do you have the relevant skills and experience they’re looking for?

Do you want the job? Are you passionate about the job, the company, the industry?

Would you get along with the people at this company? Does their culture align with your values and personality?

CAN

WANT

FIT

Breakdown of a Resume

Profile or Key Competencies

Education

Work & Volunteer Experience

Personal

Formatting

Branding

Formatting

Be ConsistentFont size, font style, spacing, bulletpoints, alignment, punctuation, date & abbreviation format, hyphens vs dashes

First ImpressionPick a colour scheme(if you don’t want black-and-white, which is also fine) and use white space wisely. Be concise with your resume page count

Third PersonAlways speak in third person and maintain a professional tone. No slang or personal pronouns (he, she, we, I).

ProofreadNo grammar mistakes, typos, spelling errors - proofread then proofread again.

Formatting

What to include in your header:

• Name (preferred name with given name in brackets)

• Email• Phone• LinkdeIn URL• Address (optional)• Social media handles (optional)

Profile / Key Competencies

What It IsSummary of what to expect in your resume in max 4 lines

What to IncludeYour strengthsPast experiencesInterestsLanguagesTechnical skills

Key QuestionsDoes it match the job posting(multiple references)?Does it provide a clear, convincing link to the rest of the resume aka is there proof?

Profile / Key Competencies

Education

What It IsSummary of your schooling journey

What to IncludeDegree (write it out fully) and specializationGPA if necessary, indicate school scaleRelevant courses (not a laundry list)Awards, scholarships (eg. Honour Roll)Exchange semesterExpected date of completionDon’t include high school stuff unless you’re still in first year!

Key QuestionsDoes it match the job description?Is there any ambiguity with the info provided?

Education

Work / Volunteer Experience

What It IsCollection of relevant experiences - the real meat

What to IncludeAccomplishment statements as bullet pointsBrief descriptions of organization if necessaryReverse chronological order by end dateLimit to one sentence (ideal length: two lines) and get rid of filler words

Key QuestionsAre they achievement based?Do numbers quantify achievements when appropriate?Does language indicate familiarity with industry or company? Does it match the job description?

STAR to RATS

from STAR stories to RATS statements

Employers don’t want to read your story on your resume, they want to read your accomplishments

Flip it!

Result

Action

Task

Situation

Result

ATTAINED EXCEEDED

ELIMINATEDINCREASED

DECREASED MAXIMIZEDMINIMIZEDREDUCED

SAVEDSURPASSEDIMPROVEDCREATED

GENERATEDENHANCEDOPTIMIZED

ESTABLISHED

Result

Qualitative• **Be descriptive

• Positive feedback received

• Promotion

• Increase in Responsibilities

• Implementation

• Awards

Quantitative• How much?

• How many?

• Numbers

• Percentages

• Rates

Action

Do your results match up with your actions?

Are those skills relevant to the job?

What skills did you see?

Situation and Task

What was the challenge?

Paint the setting (who, what, where?)

Describe the context

Duty-based vs. Accomplishment Statements

Duty-based

Responsible for contacting corporate clients and organizing a tournament

Accomplishment

Achieved 85% client retention rate by establishing relationships with key corporate clients and providing a well organized, personally tailored tournament experience

vs.

Accomplishment statement example

Achieved 85% client retention rate by establishing relationships with key corporate clients and providing a well organized, personally tailored tournament experience

RESULT

Accomplishment statement example

Achieved 85% client retention rate by establishing relationships with key corporate clients and providing a well organized, personally tailored tournament experience

ACTION + TASK

Accomplishment statement example

Achieved 85% client retention rate by establishing relationships with key corporate clients and providing a well organized, personally tailored tournament experience

SITUATION

More examples

Removed ambiguity from taxation budget by correctly coding over 250 invoices, through the research of taxation legislation and analysis of archived invoices for the cost control department’s budget report

Qualitative:

Reduced stress among new BCom students by providing academic support and mentorship, through the creation of individualized exam preparation schedules during one-on-one coaching sessions.

Quantitative:

Doubled previous year’s number of appointments with new BCom students by creating individualized exam preparation schedules and building authentic, trust-based relationships during one-on-one coaching sessions

Interests

Are you catering to your audience?

GOAL:Showcase personality &

differentiate yourself!

How do you want to be remembered?

Interests

• Do the interests show personality? Are they specific? Are they relevant to the job (not always necessary)?

• Do they differentiate the candidate? Are they memorable?

• Be fun! And appropriate

* Be able to speak about these interests extensively!

Interests

Branding

Does this reflect yourpersonal brand?

If the employer were to describe you based on your resume or cover letter, would they perceive you the way you want to be perceived?

Does this align with your employer’s brand?

Investment banks will look for different personal brands from advertising agencies. Are you tailoring the best and most applicable parts of yourself to the company?

An Intro to Cover Letters

Breakdown of a cover letter

Opening

Skills Matching

ClosingForm

atting

Branding

Integration

Openings

A Bad OpeningCan be applied to any job, company or industry“Dear ____, I am applyingfor ____.”

A Killer OpeningIncludes a “hook”Genuine, personal, memorableTailored to the employerName drop where applicableClear expression of the relevant skills/experiences

This is where you get to demonstrate WANT & FIT!

Openings

Openings

Action items

• Final Skills Matrix is due on Friday, February 10 @ 11:59PM on Turnitin

T23 course code: 14513969, password: t23partyT30 course code: 14514011, password: t30party* Sign up for the right class!

• Bring 2 copies of your resume, CL, and job posting to next tutorial for peer review

Questions?TUTORIAL next week!