#Resume

Tag: #Resume

How to Spend Your Winter Break Productively

Winter break is a great time to relax and recharge after a busy fall term. But it can also be a valuable opportunity to prepare for your future career goals. If you are planning to have an internship next summer, here are some tips on how to spend your winter break productively.

Tip 1: Apply for internships early

Many summer internships have deadlines in January or February, so don’t wait until the last minute to apply. Start researching potential internships that match your interests, skills, and goals. You can use online platforms like Handshake, Glassdoor, Indeed, or LinkedIn to find internships in various fields and locations. You can also ask the Career Center for recommendations or referrals.

Tip 2: Update your resume and cover letter

Your resume and cover letter are the first impressions you make on potential employers, so make sure they are clear, relevant, and professional. Highlight your academic achievements, work experiences, skills, and extracurricular activities that demonstrate your fit for the internship. Use action verbs, quantify your results, and tailor your documents to each internship you apply for. You can also use online tools like VMock to help you create and proofread your resume and cover letter.

Tip 3: Learn new skills or improve existing ones

Winter break is a perfect time to learn new skills or improve existing ones that can boost your resume and prepare you for your internship. You can take online courses on platforms like Coursera, Udemy, or edX that offer a variety of topics and levels. You can also read books, watch videos, listen to podcasts, or join online communities that relate to your field of interest. Learning new skills or improving existing ones can help you stand out from other applicants and show your initiative and curiosity.

Tip 4: Network with professionals and peers

Networking is a powerful way to expand your connections, learn from others, and discover new opportunities. You can network with professionals and peers in your field by attending online events, webinars, or workshops that interest you. You can also reach out to Lawrence alumni, mentors, or contacts from previous internships or jobs and ask them for advice or feedback. Use social media platforms like LinkedIn follow influencers, join groups, or participate in discussions that relate to your field.

Tip 5: Prepare for interviews

If you get invited for an interview, congratulations! That means you have passed the first screening and have a chance to impress the employer with your personality and potential. To prepare for the interview, research the company and the role, practice common interview questions and scenarios, dress appropriately, and be punctual. You can use online platforms like Big Interview to help you practice and improve your interview skills.

Conclusion

Winter break is not only a time to rest and have fun, but also a time to plan ahead and get ready for your summer internship. By following these tips, you can spend your winter break productively and increase your chances of landing your dream internship. Good luck!

Start building your résumé using VMock!

Lawrence University has partnered with VMock to help you create a powerful résumé and accelerate your career journey. VMock SMART Résumé platform leverages technologies like data science, machine learning, and natural language processing to provide instant personalized feedback on your résumé and interview based on criteria gathered from employers and global best practices – from anywhere, at any time of the day.

Simply login into VMock dashboard, upload your résumé, and VMock will:

Give you an aggregate résumé score to assess the strength of your résumé benchmarked against your own community peer group
Provide you with résumé guidelines based on Career Center standards to ensure that you do not miss fine details and establish a great first impression
Assess how well you have marketed your core competencies to showcase the right skill set reflected in academics, experience, service, achievements, etc.
Give you line-by-line suggestions to improve your résumé content in view of your academics and level of experience

VMock is designed to work with résumé from many different fields across various industries. Once you receive the detailed feedback, make relevant changes to the résumé and re-upload it to see the increased score and associated improvements.

Don’t have a résumé, yet? No problem. Log into VMock and start creating a résumé from scratch.

Check out the VMock Video to learn more.

Oliver De Croock ’24, Student-Athlete at Lawrence University majoring in Economics and Career Peer Educator. Connect with me on LinkedIn.

Resume Tips & Samples

RESUME BASICS – Chronological Resume

Header
- The header is the very top portion of your resume. It will always have your name, phone number and email, and if applicable your Linkedin and website URL.
- Your contact info should be listed underneath your name.
  - Ex. (000) 000-0000, sample@lawrence.edu, linkedin.com/in/sam-ple
Education
- This section is where you list the schools you have attended and the degrees obtained. For first year university students, this section may include your high school’s name and any honors awards you’ve obtained while in high school.
- List the name of the school, where it is located, and your anticipated or achieved graduation month and year. Underneath this list the degree you obtained and the what you majored/minored in.
  - Your major should always be bolded on the resume
- Underneath your school information you can list any honors or academic awards. This may include any Deans list achievements or National Honors Societies.
Work Experience
- Here is where you list your work experience in REVERSE chronological order (newest positions at the top).
- For the job information, list the name of your position, name of company, where it is located, and the month and years you have worked there.
- Underneath the job information make 3-5 bulletpoints describing what you did for your position
  - Try to use keywords from a job position you are interested in.
  - Good action words to start are: “assisted” “managed” “collected” etc. Try to stay away from words like “helped”.
- Only list job information that is relevant to what you are applying for.
Additional Experience
- This section is for any work information you don’t want to or need to describe, unlike your Work Experience section. This often includes clubs, sports teams and other extracurriculars.
- For the additional experience section, list the name of your position, name of company (or club/sport), where it is located and the month and years you participated.
- In this section you do not need to put bullet points underneath the job experience.
Technological & Language Skills
- If applicable, in this section you can list any technology programs you are acquainted with or languages you know.
  - Ex. Microsoft word. Fluent in French.
- Try to stick to programs and languages you know very well, instead of just putting down ones you are acquainted with.

RESUME SAMPLES

Chronological Resume
- The most standard form of resume.
- Highlights work experience.
Combination Resume
- This resume highlights your skills and classes rather than your work experience.
- Use this resume when you may not have much work experience within the field you are applying for.

Resume Suggestions for Careers in Healthcare

When you’re creating your resume, the most important part is customizing it to the job or internship description. However, there are always little things you can do when working on a generic or “grab-bag” resume to help your resume stand out from the rest.

What should I include on my resume if I don’t have a lot of work or internship experience?
It’s not only okay, but normal and common for undergraduate students to include work they’ve done for class on their resume. This can mean highlighting a bit of research you’ve completed or labs you’ve worked on here at Lawrence. Don’t be afraid to experiment with combination resumes if you don’t have a lot of formal work experience — this format can highlight the skills you’ve learned during your time as a student, with less emphasis on prior work/intern experience.

What kinds of skills are good to include?
All kinds, especially the skills listed in the job description! Be sure to include any trainings or certifications you may have received that might be relevant to the position you’re applying for. For example, if you’re applying to a research internship, include your familiarity with data analysis/data management software like Excel, R Studio, SPSS, etc.

How do I make my language look more professional?
Bearing in mind that you do want to reference the job description as much as possible for an application resume — including using the specific language they use as much as possible — there are many ways you can rework the items on your resume to fit a more professional style.
For example, avoid phrases like “Worked with…”, “Duties included…” or “Was responsible for…” All of these phrases sort of tell a hiring manager what you did — but they’re quite passive and not very specific! Using strong action verbs in your resume is key, especially if a recruiter is only spending a few seconds reviewing your resume. Here is a list of strong action verbs that you can utilize on your resume to add some specificity to your past experiences.

Remember, even if you’re not planning on applying to a new position, it’s always a good idea to update your “grab-bag” resume so that it’s ready for you to tweak for your next job application.

Important Documents for Musicians: How to Write a Musician’s Resume, Repertoire list, and Bio

As classical musicians, we most often focus on aspects of our individual playing and view auditions alone as being the sole factor in landing a job. Auditions are undeniably a very significant part to obtain professional positions, but some other factors also play an important part in getting to this point. Similar to how most jobs require candidates to submit a cover letter and resume, the same often applies for musicians in order to be invited for an audition. Cover letters are not as frequent with musicians, but could potentially be asked for. Sample cover letters can be found here in our Career Resources. For now, I would like to discuss some of the content and steps involved in writing a musician’s resume, repertoire list, and bio.

MUSICIAN’S RESUME

You should start with a header as you would with any other resume: include your name, email address, phone number, address, and LinkedIn url if you have an account. One additional thing to include next to your name is your instrument/voice type. For me, it looks like this: Abbey Atwater, Clarinet
In other resumes, next would usually be your education section. Do include this in you resume, but farther down. If you are submitting your resume in hopes of being invited to take an orchestral audition, your performance experience should take precedence and be highlighted further up and your education should be moved down.
Your performing experience can be expressed in a variety of ways and ordered differently depending on the significance. Here is how I personally would go about organizing it:
- Orchestral (or Large Ensemble) Experiences
  - Example:

Section leader, Lawrence University Orchestra, Appleton, WI, September 2016 – present

Chamber Music
Solo Performances/Awards Won/Accomplishments
- Example:

Winner, Lawrence University Wind Ensemble Concerto Competition, Appleton WI January 2019

In these, include any specific leadership positions you may have had (principal, concertmaster, winner- if for a competition) or any auxiliary instruments played (Eb clarinet, English horn). This will be formatted just as other work experience would look like on a resume: position title, company (or ensemble in this case), location, and dates from start to finish.
Refrain from listing specific works played (unless relevant like roles for vocalists)- save this for your repertoire list
In these experience sections, either chronological or combination-style orders would be appropriate. Either list everything in reverse chronological order or in terms of importance. For example, if you have competed in various competitions and have won a few, placed second in another, and been a finalist in some, prioritize them in that order with the win being the first listed
For ensemble experience, try to include ones that were ongoing and not a “one-and-done” sort of deal like with competitions.
Next, you can place your education section which includes: school and its location, graduation year, GPA, degree(s), and major(s)/minor(s).
Following this is a list of your primary private instructors. All that needs to be included is their name and dates studied. Master classes (that you played in) will come after this with the same information (name and date)

You can also include a section for relevant professional organizations (ex: National Association for Music Education, Music Teachers National Association, Sigma Alpha Iota)
Try to keep under one page

REPERTOIRE LIST

The purpose of a repertoire list is to provide others with all the repertoire you have worked on that you could potentially perform if asked on short notice.
Begin with the same heading/contact info as your resume/cover letter
As the title suggests, this essentially is a list of all repertoire performed (for vocalists and instrumentalists) and repertoire conducted (for conductors)
- Works studied can also be included if studied sufficiently and you feel you could perform competently- not just something sight read once
Always include these specific kinds of works:
- Vocalists:
  - Opera roles
  - Musical roles
  - Lieder
  - Other works
- Instrumentalists:
  - Sonatas/ solo works with piano
  - Unaccompanied works
  - Concertos
  - Chamber works
- Conductors:
  - Operas
  - Orchestra works
  - Wind band works
  - Chamber works
Depending on what is asked in the requirements for the repertoire list, the following can also be included:
- Method books studied
- Excerpts studied
- Music performed in large ensembles (ex: symphonies and other significant works)
- Repertoire played on auxiliary instruments
Can also indicate:
- If music consisted of a public performance (recital, concert) or if performed by memory
  - Can use different symbols to indicate each of these: + # *
- Date of performance
- If you played in a master class/ who specifically you studied the repertoire with
- What ensemble you performed with
Music should be listed in a way that looks professional and appropriate. These are all formats that work and keep them consistent throughout the list)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A major K. 622
- Mozart: Clarinet Concerto in A major K. 622
- Clarinet Concerto in A major K. 622, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

MUSICIAN’S BIO

In third person
Begin by stating your name, where you are from, and what age you started studying music
In the the middle of your bio, mention significant accomplishments including:
- Solo performances
- Ensembles performed in
- Music festivals attended
- Master classes you have played in
- Music internships or teaching experiences
- Leadership positions pertaining to music
- Performing jobs held in the past
You can also mention some background in why you began playing your instrument/singing or any turning points in your musical career
At the end mention where you are currently studying, who you are studying with, what year you are, and your plans for next year are if you are graduating
If you are out of school, you can also mention where you are currently located and what you are doing (both professionally and/or a fun fact like: “In addition to playing the alto clarinet, Gustav has a passion for cooking and loves taking long walks with his dog, Buddy”)

Below, you can find some additional useful resources and example to help you craft your own!

Abbey Atwater ’19
Career Peer Educator

Cover Letter

https://music.depaul.edu/resources/career-services/Documents/Cover%20Letter%202016.pdf

https://cdn.uconnectlabs.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/132/2021/11/careerguide.coverletter.pdf

Resume

https://necmusic.edu/sites/default/files/2017-02/Tips%20for%20Writing%20Perf%20Resumes.pdf

https://www.pugetsound.edu/sites/default/files/file/4663_Music%20resume%20packet%202012_0.pdf

https://www.resumeprofessionalwriters.com/musician-resume/

Repertoire List

https://musicdancetheatre.asu.edu/sites/default/files/instrumental_rep_list_sample.pdf

resume-and-rep-list.docx – Eastman School of Music