Employment Skills - Week 1 Presentation

Job Search & Resume Building

Transcript

1. EMPLOYMENT SKILLS - Week 1: What do you want to be when you grow… graduate?
2. Who are you? Figure out what your comfort zone is? -Design -Development -Programming Learn how to articulate what you do and what you are good at. You will always have to explain who you are and what you do. So, make it interesting. Example: “I am a front-end web designer.” What do I do? - “I am a php developer.” What do I do? - “I am a UI expert who employs UX design for web and mobile.” What do I do? - “I am a digital copy writer” What do I do? -
3. What do you do? Decide on an area that suites your skill set and interest. Research job titles in your industry. Look up job duties, skills needed, salary expectations, related experience etc… Are you a match? If not, can you become one? How?
4. Guess Who? “I’ll take Web Related Jobs for 800…” “I design and code websites” Who am I? “I manage databases & develop CMS websites” Who am I? “I develop native applications for mobile devices.” Who am I? “I analyze social trends and develop online marketing strategies.” Who am I? “I create unique and engaging content on the web” Who am I?
5. Where do you work? Where would you like to work? Intern, Studio, Freelance, Agency, Contract, Self-Employed/Start Up… Research companies that you would like to work for. Read up on them, learn their culture, clients, branding, mission, history, and future goals. If you want to work for someone, you might as well get to know all about them. How can you contribute to their brand and help move the company forward with your skill set?
6. What are your strengths? What are your strong points as a web designer/developer? Outline all the words, and adjectives that best describe you and your skills set. The more you understand your strengths, the more successful you will be at finding a job that best suits your interests. HTML5 CSS PHP MySQL CMS ActionScript Javascript & jQuery Mobile App Development
7. Exercise #1 Who Am I?
8. Creating A Resume
9. Resumes Get Interviews Your resume and cover letter are tools to land a job interview. Not the job, just the interview. Think of a resume as a fact sheet and a cover letter as an explanation of those facts. Your objective is to get the job; you know it, the employer knows it. Unless you really need to fill space, explain your objectives in your cover letter. Cover letters allow you to tailor your goals to the job you are applying for and creating a good cover letter is key.
10. Experience and Skills If you don’t have much experience, your credentials can look pretty lonely on the page. No one expects a young person to have as much to say as a person who has been working for twenty years. Try to implement iconology, infographics, and visual elements that illustrate your skill set.
11. Resume Structure List your most recent job at the top and the rest in descending order. This is the order employers/recruiters expect to see your experience; don’t disappoint or confuse them. A rare exception to the rule: if you are graduated from a prestigious college and you’re working at a filler job. Some HR folks don’t read resumes any more. They have software that scans resumes for relevant keywords. Use nouns, like the names of the computer programs you know. Read tons of job descriptions and notice which words are used over and over. Don’t be shy about highlighting accomplishments on your resume. Back them up with statistics, if possible.
12. Keep It Lean & Clean Keep it short. Try to make your resume one page in length. Your resume can always be improved so keep tweaking it. Add a better word, a better phrase, a new accomplishment. Keep old versions of your resume in case you need information that you previously deleted. No typos! “Your résumé is like the restroom in a restaurant — And if you can’t keep that clean, what’s it like in the kitchen?” — Anthony Bourdain View Resume & Cover Letter Examples in the week 1 folder.
13. Exercise #2 Resume Building