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Creating an Action Resume, Body Language and Cover Letter

Contact info/ Header

Full Name: _____________________ Phone: ( ) _____ - ______

Address: ______________________ City: _________ State: _______

Zip: _____E-mail address: _____________________

Work Phone (if applicable): _________________

Career Objective: (Your objective should be related to the position you are applying for. State specific job title if possible)

________________________________________________

Special Skills / Qualifications

______________________________________________Education:

School Name: _______________City, State: ___________________

Degree: _______ Major: _______________ Minor: _____Year Graduated: _______

Action Resume FormatThe main function of your resume is to interest the hiring

company’s personnel staff to grant you a face to face interview. Your resume needs to pique interest in you by showing not only your abilities but accomplishments you made at previous positions.

Follow this format for an attention getting resume.

Work Experience: Current or most recent job: Name of Employer: _______________________________________

City, State: _____________________________________________

Date Started: __________ Date Ended (or present)_____________

Job Title: _______________________________________________

Job Description: ( What did you do? Instead of just listing duties, what did you do that was unique or admired by your co-workers? Be clear and concise, and emphasize results and accomplishments! Use numbers and percentages where possible.)

Next most recent job: (List positions in reverse chronological order)

Special Skills / Technical Skills, etc.

Awards, Honors and Achievements:

_________________________________________________

Personal Information: _(should relate to job being sought)______________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

Are you a member of a professional organization or club? List here_________________________________________________

Resumes for Career

ChangersAfter your resume’s introductory paragraph that

outlines your commitment, goals, traits, and skills, and following your areas of expertise/core competencies, include the section (either “education and credentials” or “professional experience”) that is the most applicable to your desired career. For example, if you have more relevant education than experience, list education and credentials first. However, if your post-secondary education was geared toward a different field, yet you have at least some related hands-on experience that correlates with the job your are applying for, then list the experience first. If you do not have relevant education or experience, put the education and credentials section first, and try to strengthen your introductory paragraph instead.

Tune your body postureDuring your job interview try to adopt a posture that shows interest but still comes across as being relaxed. You can do this by sitting up

straight in your chair at the beginning of the interview, with your back against the back of the chair. If you slouch or hang sideways in your

chair, it might give the impression that you are not that interested in the job. However, sitting on the edge of your chair can come across as being a little tense and might give the impression that you feel uncomfortable.

You can change your body posture a little during the interview. For example, when someone says something it is good to turn a little with your shoulders towards this person and to lean forward a little.

This shows an interest in what the other person is saying. You can emphasize this by tilting your head a little. It is also important to pay attention to the posture of your interview partners. In some cases you can achieve mutual tuning by adopting the same posture as the other

person.

Before a word has even been spoken, your Body Language will have already given people their first impression of you

Nodding your head while speaking is a good way of supporting your words or adding meaning to them. Hand movements can also help to liven up the interview. The fact that you dare to make movements with your hands during an interview might indicate that you feel at ease quickly. In most cases it is better not to make too many hand movements at the start of the interview but add them slowly throughout the interview. As regards this, pay attention to your interview partners as well: if they use their hands a lot to make things clear, you can definitely do this as well. When they don't make many movements, it is better if you don't either. Just the same as with body posture, it is important to tune your movements to those of the other person. Also pay attention to inadvertent movements that you may make sometimes due to nervousness. For example, shuffling with your feet or kicking against the leg of a table can be very irritating for other people. Drumming with your fingers or clicking with a pen also won't be a great contribution to the interview. So pay attention!

Don’t Use a TemplateOne of the biggest mistakes job seekers make when creating their cover letters is making them too generic. There are so many cover

letter templates online that it’s pretty easy to use one and just fill in the blanks with your information. While there is nothing wrong with getting basic ideas from templates, that’s as far as it should go. Your

cover letter should be extremely personal to who you are, what you’ve accomplished and what you hope to accomplish in the future.

Never Undersell Your TalentsSometimes you can write your cover letter thinking that you’re giving

enough information about yourself and your accomplishments; however, you could find yourself underselling your talents. This

happens because you’re simply not used to thinking of descriptive ways to talk about your skills and accomplishments.

For instance, you may have been in charge of maintaining office files. However, if you described the action simply as “maintained office

files”, you’re underselling yourself. Don’t be afraid to dig deeper by talking about the types of files you maintained, what types of filing systems they were maintained in, how often they were maintained, who they were maintained for, how many files you estimate where

maintained and so on. Give yourself the credit you deserve – you’ve earned it.

Cover Letter No-No's

Avoid Focusing Only On YouThe purpose of writing a cover letter is to help you expand on the

information that you presented in your resume, and add even more that couldn’t be included. It’s your chance to express passion, dedication, and

desire.

Remember that everything you’re presenting is done in an effort to show your interest in the position. So you’re expressing your passion in starting or

continuing in the industry you love, you’re showing dedication to previous employers (and potentially to the new one) as well as skill level by noting

your accomplishments, and you’re presenting a desire to passionately dedicate yourself to this new company and position. If you talk about me, me,

me without saying what you want to do for them, you’re missing the point, and maybe a great opportunity.

Some other no-no’s to avoid include starting with a weak opening paragraph, rather than one that grabs the reader’s attention, trying to be witty to a fault,

omitting your contact information and failing to edit. If you avoid these mistakes waiting to happen when writing your cover letter, you’ll be in a

much better position to secure the job you really want.

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