Presenting Professionally

Professionalism is necessary as one matures and enters the workforce. Despite its necessity, what constitutes professionalism seems to be perfectly crafted to act as my personal hell. I’ve written résumés before, but when tasked with revising mine and updating it for a hypothetical career, I could feel myself starting to sweat. The pressure only increased with the addition of a cover letter to the assignment, a document that I have no previous experience with. Luckily for me (and anyone else who feels similar dread at the prospect of presenting themselves professionally), there are plenty of helpful resources to guide me along in the process.

Résumés

As I had previously mentioned, I have a bit of experience writing résumés. While I have yet to pursue a career, I have had to write two résumés in order to obtain both of the jobs that I have held in the past few years. Even so, I found that I could use a refresher.

Your résumé should lay out your skills and past experiences that make you eligible for the position you are striving to procure. Depending on the job you’re looking at, you may want to omit and include different skills or accolades. Including previous experience from woodshop class probably isn’t necessary if you’re applying to a publishing company, but mentioning that you have a bachelor’s degree in English may increase the likelihood of getting that job.

Cover Letters

While writing my own cover letter, I consistently referenced Purdue Owl’s style guide. Purdue provides an in depth explanation of the purpose of a cover letter, as well as how to correctly format your own. They even provide sample letters to reference for each of the format options.

So what is a cover letter? Cover letters act as accompaniment to your résumé, explaining to employers why you want the job and why you’re qualified to get it. A résumé is more of a list of qualifications, but a cover letter lets you put some of your skills in action in order to communicate your competence. Your cover letter should be tailored to the job, even more so than your résumé.

The workforce is intimidating, and I still feel dread at the thought of going through interviews. However, having now written both a résumé and a cover letter, I can safely say I no longer feel dread at the process of getting there.