10
University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, April 28, 1992
LIFE
The struggle to sell yourself
A good, clean resume is a must for students on the job hunt, employers say
By Lynn Scannell Special to the Kansan
A one-page resume that is brief and to the point is only the first step in getting your foot in the door to the corporate office, say employers who read resumes and agencies that help to create them.
"First, try to get as much reading material about an organization as you can, and then go the extra step," said Karen Meenen, manager of college relations and development for Volume Shoe Corporation. The company, which owns more than 3,000 Payless ShoeSource stores nationwide, is based in Topeka.
"With our company, what you can find in the library is only one aspect of learning about us," Meenan said. "Students can recite facts and figures, but what we want to know is if they've taken the extra step and gone out to one of our retail stores and talked with a store manager. Every position in the corporate office supports the stores."
"Companies are always looking for that superstar,that top 10 percent of the graduating class, the ones who really
shine."
Ann Hartley assistant director for the University Placement Center
Meenen said that students should have an idea of what made Payless ShoeSource stores different from shopping in other stores, what they
would like to see changed and what they perceived to be the "challenges in the future" for the company.
Volume Shoe hires six to eight graduates in May and 10-12 in December from a pool of about 1,000 applicants per season. The company hired 12 University of Kansas graduates last year in finance, information services and merchandising.
Joyce Connor, manager of employment for Southwestern Bell Telephone in St. Louis, said she received about 200 applications a week but did not spend a lot of time wading through the resumes.
"We've designed our application so that the information I need can be readily spotted and I can pull it off." Connor said. "I want to find out the person's education, experience and background as quickly as possible and I need the information to be right at the beginning."
She said that writing a long introductory letter was not necessary. One short paragraph stating the applicants name, objective and how
they would fit into the company was preferred.
Students have several resources available on campus and in Lawrence to help them develop a good resume. In addition to placement services, the University Placement Center in the Burge Union will review a student's resume and offer suggestions for free.
"It is important to do a nice professional resume because in a lot of cases students are going to get screened on paper before they get screened in person," said Ann Hartley, assistant director for the University Placement Center. "Naturally, if your paperwork is sloppy or not very professionally presented, you're not going to get looked at again."
Hartley said that research was a key component in the development of a resume. She advised students to do "informational interviewing."
"Dolibrary research to get company information, find out the company career track, call and get information from people who are actually working in the type of job you want to be working in, 'Hartley said.
Employers are looking for educational background, specific types of degrees, relevant course work, GPA, descriptions of experiences, paid employment, and volunteer and leadership experiences, she said.
A handout available at the center states that resumes should be limited to one page, organized, professionally typed and printed, error-free, explain job experiences in some detail, focus on results or accomplishments, exclude personal descriptions and show that students know something about the organization they are applying to.
Both employers and resume development agencies agreed that students must do everything possible to gain a competitive advantage in this recessive economy.
*Students who have done a professional job are always going to have a
better shot, no matter what the economy is," Hartley said. "Companies are always looking for that superstar, that top 10 percent of the graduating class, the ones who really shine."
Hartley said that companies were downsizing. And if not laying people off, they were not hiring as many people as they used to.
"It makes it that much harder to get your foot in the door because there is more competition and fewer slots," Hartley said.
Linda Morton, owner of Transcriptions, a resume consulting business in Lawrence, said recruiters had noticed that students had failed to learn as much as they could about companies they applied to.
"You've got to do your homework," Mortonsaid. "The job market is tight and you need every advantage you can give yourself. Anything you can do that puts you a step ahead of someone else, puts you closer to the job."
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