Polishing the resume, Keuker style

Casey Buckman, Corner Post staff

Oct. 17, 2002 -Students from the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) participated in a resume and cover letter workshop presented by Doug Kueker, ag education major, Oct. 17, in room 2-30, Ag Building.

The session was the first in the series, CAFNR Life Preparation, which strives to equip students seeking jobs and internships with the skills and tools necessary to be as successful as possible.

"As we all know, time is at a premium in college," Kueker, who was hired by the Academic Programs Office to speak at the workshop, said. "It was encouraging that there are students in our college who are interested in investing that time to develop themselves."

The students formed groups of three and critiqued five different fake resumes. Each student had 45 seconds to look at each resume since this is the typical amount of time an employer will look at a resume when there are dozens more to see, according to Kueker.

"You have to remember that you have 45 seconds to sell yourself and your application, and if they don't buy, you get no interview," Kueker said. "Therefore, layout and presentation are the most important things for the first impression."

The groups picked the three best resumes of the five and made micro observations about what worked and what didn't. Kueker then had the participants evaluate the resumes with this seven-point checklist:

Does the Resume…
· Show that I think in terms of results?
· Show that I know how to get things done?
· Show that I am well-rounded?
· Show my signs of progress?
· Show that I have personal standards of excellence?
· Show that I am flexible and willing to try new things?
· Show that I demonstrate strong communication skills?

According to Kueker, the path to an interview isn't only dependent on the resume. He said the cover letter can be just as much of a maker or breaker and walked the students through another checklist for two different kinds of cover letters.

Kueker said a solicited cover letter is written in response to a job listing or some notification that a position is being offered by the employer. On the other hand, he said a "change the world letter" is an unsolicited letter sent to a company with the hope that there is an open position or that the application is good enough to create an opening.

Kueker called this type of letter the "change the world letter" due to its "I can make your company better" nature.

This four-point checklist is used to evaluate cover letters, according to Kueker:

Did I…
· Create attention? (First paragraph)
· Maintain interest? (Body)
· Create desire? (Body)
· Stimulate action? (Closing)

The next session in the CAFNR Life Presentation Series will take place at 7 p.m. Oct. 21 in room 2-30 Ag Building. Robb Bertels of Vance Publishing will speak about the job search.

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