Q TIPS:
Quick and Quintessential Career & Job Tips
Job-hunting tips from the May 24, 2004 issue of
QuintZine.
Among the top criteria employers seek in new graduates, according to a new survey by
CollegeGrad.com are interviewing skills, internship/experience, miscellaneous qualifications,
GPA, the college from which the student graduated, personal appearance, and computer skills.
Tom Tarantelli, director of the Center Development Center of
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute said, "Students in the current
market need to be flexible and seek out what makes them unique." In other words, it is more
important than ever that students link their skills to employment opportunities and be able to answer
the question: "Why am I the best person for the job?"
Internships and other experience ranked highly in the survey and are seen as an important differentiator
both at the entry level and in the job market in general, especially now that college graduates are
competing with experienced individuals who have been laid off.
More information on the survey results along with a list of over 500 of the Top Entry-Level
Employers are posted at CollegeGrad.com.
Reference checks are increasingly common in the hiring process. Senior managers polled by Accountemps, a
staffing service for temporary accounting, finance, and bookkeeping professionals, said they typically speak
with at least three references before considering someone for a position, confirming the value of
a third-party endorsement.
Candidates can increase their chances of being hired by providing the names of people who will offer an accurate
account of their skills and experience." Accountemps offer these tips for candidates on preparing references:
Stack the deck. Develop a list of three to five references. Describe their connection to you (e.g.,
former boss) and the type of information each can provide.
Get permission. Never use a person's name without his or her consent.
Choose wisely. Some references may be more relevant for a position than others.
Provide references with a copy of the job description and your resume. They can put their responses into
context if they know the types of positions you are seeking.
Refresh their memories. To help a reference recollect your strengths, discuss examples of the accomplishments
you made while you both worked together.
Keep them in the loop. As soon as you refer someone, let that person know he or she may receive a call.
Follow up with a thank-you note and a status update
on your job search.
Those Microsoft Word resume wizards and templates are an easy tool for creating a resume, but most resumes
created from these templates are instantly recognizable to employers as such. There's nothing wrong with that
except that employers have seen a million of them, so they don't stand out. The employer immediately senses
a certain lack of imagination in the job-seeker. These templates are also somewhat inflexible and contain
problematic formatting. "Using a template or any kind of boilerplate to demonstrate your value to a company
is the worst thing you can do to yourself when job hunting," says Nick Corcodilos of Ask The Headhunter. "You're supposed
to be uniquely qualified so the company will choose you instead of some cookie-cutter drone -- right? Do you really
want a template?" If you've never created a resume before, it's OK to use a template to get you started, but once you
have a draft, consult resume books and Web sites to see how you can make the resume uniquely yours.
Among the top criteria employers seek in new graduates, according to a new survey by
CollegeGrad.com are interviewing skills, internship/experience, miscellaneous qualifications,
GPA, the college from which the student graduated, personal appearance, and computer skills.
