Provided for Illinois State University Finance students by
Christina M. Konieczka, Vice President, LaSalle Bank
College Relations Manager
Rodney A. Murray, Senior Vice President, LaSalle Bank
ISU Graduate, BS Organizational Management 1989
The following information is provided by Christina Konieczka and Rod Murray, both officers at LaSalle Bank in Chicago. Christina, who is the bank's senior college recruiter, is a Connecticut native and a 1995 Finance and German graduate of Valparaiso University; she also holds an MBA from Northwestern University. Rod is originally from Wyoming, Illinois and is a 1989 Illinois State University College of Business graduate. He currently manages one of LaSalle's commercial lending divisions.
The two have offered the following insights at a series of presentations to Illinois State's student chapter of the Financial Management Association in recent semesters.
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The resume (and accompanying cover letter) and interview are the graduating student's primary means of communicating with potential employers. Preparing an effective resume and developing the ability to interview well therefore are two of the most important aspects of a successful job search. The following information is not a complete list of essential “dos and don'ts,” and the best course of action can sometimes differ with the circumstances. The advice we provide below, which addresses many of the key issues that generally arise in the context of resumes and interviews, can help you to avoid some of the biggest mistakes that job-seeking students have been known to make.
Build Effective Resumes and Cover Letters: Be Careful Using Objective Statements
A commonly held view among college students is that a resume must begin with an “objective.” Sometimes a stated objective is not even needed, and it is certainly the case that a poorly chosen objective statement is worse than no objective statement. For example, “to obtain a position in ABC Company's Rotational Management Training Program” is perhaps too narrow an objective statement, in that it would reduce the chances that ABC would consider you for other positions the company's recruiters might find you well suited for. It might also seem artificial, in that it suggests you would consider jobs only with ABC, whereas the people at ABC know that you are seeking interviews with other firms as well.
At the other end of the continuum, “to obtain an exciting job with a progressive company that will make use of my communication and leadership skills” is too broad and uninformative, and even a bit silly. After all, the opposite could never be true; no one would seek a dull job with a regressive firm that would ignore their key skills. Why state something so obvious?
A good objective statement is one that:
- provides the reader with useful information,
- is targeted to a specific job or group of jobs,
- helps the reader understand your targeted industry and/or type of job, and
- narrows the reader's focus to jobs that are the most suitable for you.
An example of an informative and appropriately targeted objective statement would be “to obtain an entry-level position in the financial services industry that utilizes my finance and accounting education.”
Finally, one size does not fit all; you should have a different objective statement for each type of job you are considering.
One Resume May Not Fit All Jobs You Seek
Just as with the objective statement, you might want to target other sections of your resume, or at least rearrange the order in which some things are presented, to better fit specific types of jobs. For example, depending on the type of job you might wish to give greater emphasis to your education, work experience, student leadership activities, or even volunteer work (if the targeted job is with a not-for-profit organization, for example).
Keep Your Resume to One Page
Senior executives seeking higher level managerial jobs typically have multi-page resumes that reflect their long experience, but as a college senior you should keep your resume to one page. Anything longer is likely to include unimportant details that readers will see as a waste of resume space, and a waste of their time.
Pamper the Reader
- Do not use ultra-small font, and be sure to have margins of at least ½ inch. This practice not only assists the reader's vision, but also reduces the chance that important information could be lost if the company digitally scans resumes.
- Explain the nature of Greek-letter organizations you are affiliated with (social, honorary, professional); there are so many such groups that no one could know what all of them represent.
- In listing your work experience, explain what each company did and what each job involved.
- Be sure that all contact information is easy to find and read. It is best to provide both school and home contact information so that an employer can contact you even during school break periods.
- Make sure you have a simple, businesslike message on your apartment answering machine; nothing “cutesy” or potentially offensive. And use an e-mail account that is businesslike as well; save partymaniac@zzz.com for corresponding with friends.
Present Work Experience Based on Skills, Not Tasks
Avoid describing your work experience based on tasks you performed:
- “Maintained filing system.”
- “Worked as assistant to department manager.”
Stress instead the skills you developed by doing the work:
- “Learned accounts payable and receivable procedures.”
- “Gained experience in preparing, analyzing, and distributing monthly reports.”
Focusing on skills helps the reader to envision how experience gained in student jobs or summer internships could apply to a professional workplace setting. And listing tasks completed in some types of student jobs (fast food, store clerk) would be a waste of space that you could devote to more important information.
Be Cautious in Using Acronyms and Other Jargon
Think carefully before describing your internship or other work experience in a manner such as:
“Consulted with VP-RO to resolve discrepancies in RFPs to implement CCA software package across company.”
Unless this terminology is commonly used by people in the industry, and you are sure that the likely readers of your resume will understand the meaning, you should spell words and ideas out clearly.
Highlight Your Achievements
- Leadership in student clubs or other organizations
- Self-financing of your education
- Volunteer work completed
- Scholarships or academic recognition earned
- Grade point average (GPA)
It is usually a good idea to show a GPA. You can not easily sweep a low GPA under the rug; if you make no reference to your GPA the reader will assume that it is not very high, or at least not high enough to meet the reader's expressed preference. It can be acceptable to list your overall GPA, your major GPA, or even a GPA computed for a group of relevant courses (such as GPA in Finance and Accounting Course Work), but if the figure you show is not your overall GPA you should clearly describe what it is. Misrepresenting anything about your achievements, or even stating things in a misleading way, will cause the reader to question your honesty and integrity; your resume will be placed immediately on the “reject” pile.
Have References Ready
- Do not list references on your resume; have the individuals' names and contact information available on a separate sheet.
- Do not offer the sheet to an interviewer, but be prepared to provide it if asked.
There are two benefits to waiting until the interviewer asks you for your references list. First, it tells you that you are on the company's “short list” of preferred candidates (a busy recruiter will not bother checking references on someone the company has no interest in hiring). Second, it lets you notify your references so they can anticipate being contacted, and can be prepared to discuss your strengths in relation to the job in question.
Proofread Your Document
- Triple-check your contact information, especially your phone number and e-mail address.
- Read each word carefully; spell check does not always save you (worked vs. wormed).
- Ask a friend to proofread the resume; someone looking with a fresh set of eyes may catch mistakes that you, the writer, missed.
Make Sensible Use of Cover Letters
- Do not waste a reader's time by repeating, in your cover letter, points already noted in your resume.
- In fact, a cover letter is not always needed; if a particular employer is recruiting at Illinois State only for internal auditor positions it may add little value to include a letter with your resume that states, “I am interested in the internal auditor position.”
- If it does make sense to include a cover letter, definitely keep it to one page.
- Target your cover letter; make specific mention of how your education and skills have prepared you to work at the firm in question and its industry.
- No reader is favorably impressed with the “ultimate form letter.” Every recruiter at EFG Company has received a cover letter stating, “I view XYZ Company as a leader in its field.” Proofread, spell check, and use the find/replace function to make sure your cover letter does not include the name of the company you applied to yesterday.
Be Prepared for Interviews
- Do your homework – learn about the employer by getting information from its web site (including the most recent annual report, if the employer is a publicly-traded corporation), and by reading any recent news stories involving the employer or its industry.
- Be prepared to answer standard interview questions. Interviewers do not always ask candidates the same things, but questions often center on knowing yourself, your interests, and your abilities. Examples: your strengths and weaknesses; favorite courses; projects completed in school or at work; a time when you showed leadership, enjoyed a success, took responsibility for a mistake or failure, made a difference in someone's life.
- Be prepared to talk about why you want to work for the company.
- Leave home early so that you allow for delays in getting to the interview location; saying that you arrived late because of traffic may cause you to seem better at making excuses than at getting the job done. Go to the interview room a few minutes before your scheduled interview time; doing so shows the interviewer that you are organized and interested, and lets you become comfortable with the surroundings.
- Dress appropriately. Showing up in a shirt and tie but no jacket, or in jeans with a shirt and tie and sport coat, is likely to be fatal to your quest for a professional job with that employer. It may also leave the interviewer with a bad impression about the university and its ways of preparing students for the job search process.
- Offer a firm handshake, speak clearly and confidently, and show a sincere desire to become part of the employer's team.
- Never speak unfavorably about a former employer. While it would be improper to say that a bad workplace experience had been a good one (remember that the interviewer might contact the former employer), you can express appreciation for having had the chance to earn and learn – which even unhappy work experiences usually provide.
- When you go to a job fair, have a well-rehearsed “30-second speech” that highlights your background and interests.
- Things that generally are acceptable to ask about during an interview:
- Typical career path: what you can expect in the first year, three years
- Company support for school toward professional certification, graduate degree
- How, and how frequently, performance is evaluated
- Why the interviewer chose to work for the organization he/she represents
- What the next steps in the recruiting process are, and how/when you will be notified of a decision
• Things that generally are not acceptable to ask about:
- Salary
- How long you “have” to stay in the job before moving to another one
