Resume Help from the Pros

Throughout my college career, I’ve struggled with the idea of going to the school career services office to find internships and ask for resume advice.

I had one bad experience sophomore year. To be fair, it wasn’t a bad experience exactly, but I was certainly underwhelmed. I made an appointment to go sit down with career services for resume advice, and ended up sitting with a work study student who told me my resume was in great shape and sent me away with some samples of how I might want to adjust the format. Great!

Needless to say, I have not used career services since. They have a great website that lists all sorts of internships and jobs, which works for some people. I’ve always been one to seek out my own opportunities. For that reason, as I look for a job, I decided it would be better to ask hiring managers for some tips instead of a work study student with comparatively less experience than I have had.

Here is what I learned from the pros:

1. It’s okay to ask someone to review your resume without asking them for a job. Many communications professionals are happy to help, and they know what skills employers are looking for because they hire communications people ALL THE TIME.
2. Use specific headings. Instead of Internship experience, use the header “PR and Marketing Experience”.
3. Don’t sell yourself short. Many sure the biggest names on your resume stand out at the top of the page.
4. DON’T USE ONE BLANKET RESUME- Just because you spent the time making your resume “just right” doesn’t mean that it is just right for the job you are applying for. Do your homework and make sure you use words from the job description in the body of your resume to show that your experience is relatable. If your page is too crammed, it’s even okay to swap out various jobs and activities as necessary.
5.  For an interview, make sure you can come up with at least one takeaway or story that you had with each past experience, from dealing with a difficult customer to seeing a huge project from start to finish. It is certainly impressive to be able to relate a tangible benefit from each of your experiences.

It sounds fool proof to me… fingers crossed!

And the world grows smaller...

The more I work, intern and network, the smaller I realize the world is. One of my coworkers (my original hiring manager) at Dunkin', who is coincidentally a BU College of Communication alum was recently interviewed by marketing expert Brian Solis, who my New Media and PR professor can't say enough great things about. Here's the video:

SUCCESS!

After an eternity of staring at my LinkedIn "profile completeness" percentage and feeling disappointed, I've finally done it. Although I had convinced myself that this was just some ploy to keep people coming back to the website, and that it wasn't actually possible to achieve 100% completeness, I have finally done it. Forget about all my internships, my resume and my business cards... This is the biggest achievement I've made in my professional development in recent history. Time to celebrate!

You're in the business of what, exactly?

On more than one occasion my friends have made fun of me because I never leave the house without my business cards. It's something I have done since my sophomore year of college.

At first, the business cards were simple. I was a peer adviser to incoming freshmen, so the college gave me business cards with my name, major, and class year... From there, things got more serious.

In the middle of my sophomore year, a friend introduced me to Vistaprint.  I ordered my very first custom order business cards... It cost $3.50 for 250 cards. I kept reformatting them for hours, and was unhappy with them from the moment they arrived at my door.

What on earth was I thinking? As soon as I opened the box I realized I had used my university email address... and the title of student didn't make me sound hardworking enough.... but I kept them, and passed them out for a year or so... I even gave them out at the bar on my 21st birthday.


Maybe I was too early for my time. To be fair, I probably should have ignored my friend as a sophomore. He is the same friend who later convinced me that it was fun and easy to become an ordained minister online, so I did. It is still on my to do list to order business cards reflecting my full name: Reverend Erin E. Caron. But in all honesty, having those business cards as a sophomore really impressed people when I went for interviews.




After coming back from London though, it was time for a change. I was going to be a senior in college... definitely time for a new look, and certainly no longer too premature to be a professional... And so I ordered these:

I am still made fun of relentlessly for having business cards. One of the other interns in my office this summer was so amused by them that he ordered his own with the job title "professional lady lover" and assorted pick up lines. But some people are finally getting it and ordering legit business cards. In all seriousness, you never know when you might randomly meet somebody that could become a valuable part of your network. Although, I don't recommend handing out business cards at a bar on your birthday... I've now made that mistake 2 years running.

Corporate Culture- Thoughts on the secrets of success...

Today I had the great pleasure of sitting down to talk company culture with the CEO of a large Boston area non-profit organization devoted to providing food and supplies to children and families that cannot afford them otherwise.


I must admit that I have never left a meeting feeling more inspired to do good. Many of the employees at the organization perform a ton of manual labor for small compensation, but they all just seemed so satisfied. It is such a unique feeling to be able to go to work every day and understand the greater benefit of all you are doing, but just by interacting with people who were so passionate about the organization, I left wanting to donate money and resources in any way that I could.


After my meeting, I ended up in a conversation about corporate culture with my OB professor. I suppose in a non-profit it’s easy to realize the benefit of your work… Just because you went to the office and put in a hard day’s work, hundreds/thousands of hungry people will be able to eat. How then, can this idea be carried over to build a culture in for-profit organizations.


As we spoke, I realized that I have never had a job that I didn’t enjoy. I’ve always been able to feel good about a hard day of work, whether I was 15 years old and working in a gourmet hot dog restaurant (true story) or 19 and working as a pharmacy technician… Or even in my twenties and enjoying a wealth of rewarding and educational internship experiences. How then, can you develop an organization filled with people who love coming to work every day? Is it a matter of positive feedback and customizing your management technique to ensure every person sees that their effort is valued? Or is it a matter of riding the wave of CSR so employees feel that the work they are doing benefits the greater good rather than just drives sales. In many ways I am excited to get out into the real world and find out. I understand that success in this way cannot be bottled- there is no fool proof formula for corporate culture. On the other hand, I believe my generation is uniquely poised to really drive a change here with a combination of social awareness and new skills and resources that may not have been available 5, 10, 15, and 20 years ago.

Drop and Meet us at Fenway!

Twitter is a great and curious networking tool. I was recently sought out on twitter by a company seeking to hire college seniors for a graduate program. I was a bit skeptical, but opted to go with it. And, after a few cold call phone interviews, they invited me to what soon became the strangest and most exciting job interview of my life.

Disclaimer: I LOVE job interviews.

Because I love job interviews I was intrigued when I was told on a Tuesday evening to clear my schedule from 6pm the very next day until 10pm Thursday evening. The only instruction was to report to Fenway park with a photo id. The dress code? “Come as you are.” Part of me wanted to hang up the phone and forget about it, but the another part rationalized that it must be a legitimate program if they can rent out Fenway Park… so I went for it.

After a brief cocktail hour/networking session with company managers, the 20 job candidates were divided into teams, provided with a tool kit, and sent to come up with a project. We had 20 hours to come up with a project that would inspire others and report back to present it. The tool kit contained a camera, a slinky, duct tape, and 5 cans of red bull- what more could we have POSSIBLY required?

As it all transpired, it was a tremendous learning experience. I am fascinated by organizational behavior and the dynamics of teams, so I found the entire ordeal very rewarding and insightful. My team of 4 came up with some great ideas and accomplished a lot in that short period of time. In the end, I wasn’t selected for the next round, but I think it is for the best. I had a ton of fun and learned a lot, but I don’t think the job was the perfect fit for me.

College Bucket List

This is a bit of a fun post. I recently came across this list of 25 things to do before you graduate college. I tackled almost all of them, but I still have a few to cross off by the end of the year! Here’s my status on the 25:

1. Earn a degree – One semester away… Just 3 more classes! 
2. Get involved in an organization you believe in- I’ve been involved in several and have an active role in a BUTV10 political debate show, but I would LOVE to be a part of PRSSA. Unfortunately, there has NEVER been a semester when I didn’t have class during meeting time, but next semester I plan to at least attend some meetings! 
3. Take classes you like. I have LOVED every business class I have ever taken and definitely have a passion for organizational behavior. I think my business minor is the best decision I’ve made in my education. 
4. Study abroad. YES, YES, YES! And it was the best semester of my life. I wish I could go again 
5. Get a letter of recommendation. DONE! I plan to get a few more, but I have received some already. 
6. Pull an all-nighter. I’ve pulled my fair share… probably about once a week this semester. 
7. Network for future employment. This is one you can never cross off because networking requires maintaining those connections. I’ve got my business cards and am working hard to continue expanding my network. 
8. Exercise regularly. This is something I recently took up, and LOVE! I feel so great after a nice work out. 
9. Leave town for Spring Break. This is the year! 
10. Do an internship…. Or 5? Definitely have this one covered 
11. Go to class. I try my best. 
12. Go see a concert. Check! 
13. Thank a professor. Many of my professors have had a profound impact on my life. I’ve thanked a few, but probably not as many as I should have. 
14. Update your resume. This is something I do on a monthly (sometimes weekly) basis. 
15. Take advantage of the student discount. Fire and Ice? Movie Tickets? Student Rush? #BargainShopper. I also recommend the MBTA Charlie card discount… Upper Crust offers a discount if you flash your Charlie Card. 
16. Talk to the guy/gal you’ve been admiring from afar all semester- no comment.
17. Create a LinkedIn profile and get connected. I’ve been LinkedIn for a few years, but I definitely need to start using it more now! 
18. Read a book you want to- Who has the time?! 30+ hour work weeks, being a full time student, and trying to see all my friends make this pretty tough. Maybe it will be my mission for Thanksgiving or Christmas Break. 
19. Turn in an assignment early… like by an hour? 
20. Attend a sports event on campus. Go BU! 
21. Hone your elevator pitch. I think I’ve got it. I know it doesn’t literally mean elevator, but I am that girl that makes friends with strangers on my way up to my 13th floor apartment. 
22. Take a road trip. I dropped everything and drove up to Portland Maine with 4 friends a few weeks ago. It was awesome. More road trips coming soon =) 
23. Kick the procrastination habit… No matter how much I plan, this will never be possible. I work best under pressure. 
24. Learn to communicate effectively… I’ve overcome my fair share of communications disconnects over the past 4 years, but I like to think I am now an extremely effective communicator (or else I’ve wasted $200,000 on a degree in PR) 
25. Establish a personal brand. Got it- Hard worker, reliable, motivated and ambitious. I aspire to be a Chief Communications Officer for a large organization so that I can help build culture internally and also help maintain corporate reputation.