Career Development

Applying to a job is a process that every student must almost always go through to gain employment. In our course, you will gain practice preparing a job package in response to a real-world job listing. Through this assignment, we hope to demystify the job application process and give you a headstart on seeking opportunities relevant to your professional interests.

The assignment will comprise four deliverables: a resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, and portfolio. We consider these essential elements of a successful job package.

How to Search for a Job

The first step is to identify positions that align with your interests and skills. What experience do you have to offer? What experience are you looking to gain? Take some time to read and compile job descriptions to help you answer these questions. We recommend the following resources:

On Campus Resources

• Department listings
• Campus career fairs
• Handshake
• On-campus professional society events (visible on NYU Engage)

External Resources

• Glassdoor
• Indeed
• Professional society conferences

How to Write an Effective Resume

A resume is a one-page summary of your skills, accomplishments, and experiences. Its main purpose is to persuade a potential employer to interview you. It is important that your resume highlights the competencies you have developed through your experiences.

To develop an effective resume, you must understand the value that you and a prospective employer provide each other. Reflect on the skills, accomplishments, and experiences that you plan to give to the employer. These skills and experiences can come from your education, previous jobs, extracurricular activities, or volunteer experiences. How does it compare to the qualifications laid out in the job description? Emphasize the aspects of your experience and skills that are most relevant to the job.

Now that you have a general idea of how you’d like to market yourself, let’s organize it into a document. While the content in your resume is important, its appearance can determine if it is read. Keep your sections clear and layout simple.

Required Sections

• Contact Information: At the top of the page, list your first and last name, city and state, phone number, and NYU e-mail address. Email address should be a variation of your first and last name, preferably your personalized NYU address. You can also include links to your LinkedIn profile or portfolio.

• Education: List the name of institutions you have attended, their locations, the degree you obtained there, and your graduation date. You should also include your GPA if it is above a 3.0.

• Experience: List any paid employment, internships, volunteer work, or relevant extracurricular activities in reverse chronological order. Describe each experience by listing the name of the organization, its location, your title, and the dates you were employed there. Under each experience listed, create a bulleted list detailing your role at the organization.

• Projects: Include projects that emphasize relevant skills. Focus on your achievements – include a few bullet points that describe the project, your role, and what its results and impact were.

• Skills: Include technical and professional skills, including other languages that you may speak. Characterize your level of ability using phrases such as “familiar with,” “knowledge of,” or “experience in.”

Writing Strong Bullet Points

• An effective resume displays confidence! Begin each bullet with a strong action verb to describe the task.
• Keep the length of your bullet points to a minimum.
• Order your bullet points in order of importance to the role you are applying to.
• Keep tense consistent within a section. For example, if you’re currently working at an organization, write descriptions in present tense. For previous experiences, write the descriptions in past tense.
• Quantify or qualify: when appropriate, use numbers and context for the work you are describing.

Where to Build Your Resume

• Office offers free resume templates for Microsoft Word
• Canva has free, readymade resume templates available for you to use.
• Overleaf is a free, easy to use online LaTex editor

Further Resources

• The resume presentation by our Writing Consultants provides helpful quick tips for preparing a resume.
• Jobscan is a website that compares your resume to the jobs you are applying to.
• The Wasserman Center Resume Guide provides more information and sample resumes for your review.

How to Write an Effective Cover Letter

A cover letter is a one-page document that provides you an opportunity to share more about yourself and give context for the experiences listed on your resume.

Required Sections

• A header that includes contact information that matches what you provided on your resume.

• A salutation addressed to a recruiter or hiring manager; if you are unsure of who will receive your job package, you may write, “To whom it may concern.”

• Begin with a 2-3 sentence introductory paragraph that states the purpose of the letter. What position are you applying to and how did you learn about it? Start with a strong, confident statement that communicates you are a good fit for the role.

• Next, use the body of your cover letter to describe why you are the best fit for a position. Typically, bodies comprise one or two paragraphs that are 4-5 sentences in length. Here, you can introduce your experiences and education as they relate to the role. Be sure to use keywords that mirror those posted in the job posting to demonstrate your familiarity and enthusiasm for the job.

• Close the body of your cover letter with a 2-3 sentence closing paragraph that includes a call to action. How can the employer reach out to you? Repeat your contact information and mention that more details about your experience can be found in your resume.

• Lastly, sign off your cover letter with a formal closure, such as “sincerely,” “best regards,” or “respectfully.”

Further Resources

• The cover letter presentation by our Writing Consultants provides helpful quick tips for preparing a resume.
• The Tandon Career Hub provides more information and sample cover letters for your review.