Creating a Great Resume

Although it is probably safe to assume that everyone has at least a rough resume prepared at this point in life, it is also likely that everyone's resume could use some tweaking (if not a complete overhaul!). This week's post is not an advice column on writing a great resume; rather, it is a compilation of the best Internet resources for resume writing, creation and design. Enjoy!

Resume Advice

To get a broad idea of what to include and what to focus on in your resume, check out The Rockport Institute's “How to Write a Masterpiece of a Resume.” Though the amount of information in this article might seem overwhelming, it is full of essential advice that makes it worth your while to read through at least once. Quintessential Careers, a site for career and job-search advice, also offers several articles on resumes. The most useful includes ten easy tips for improving your resume.

Choosing a Resume Style

There are a variety of resume styles ranging from chronological, to functional, to a hybrid approach. To find out more about each, as well as their respective advantages and disadvantages, check out the Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal. Under the “How Can We Help You?” section and Resume tab, choose “Browse Resume Styles.” Vault.com also offers a list of sample resumes by occupation and industry which is quite helpful.

Resume Buzzwords

You may have heard that there are words that your resume must include to make it past the initial screening process. You may have also heard that certain words doom your resume to the “not interested” pile. While it is certainly possible to go overboard with worrying about using the right buzzwords and avoiding the wrong words, it is helpful to be aware of the issue. CNN.com has an article titled “25 Words That Hurt Your Resume” that gives some good advice on why you should avoid certain words.

Writing the Resume

Once you understand the basics of how to write a resume, you'll want to begin constructing (or updating) your own. In order to create a great resume, it is particularly important to keep a record of your accomplishments, achievements and involvement in activities as they occur. The Graduate Student Progress System is a valuable tool for keeping track of such events. After logging in for the first time, you are prompted to enter some basic information. Clicking on the home tab following that will awaken the other menu options, which include awards and honors, service acts, presentations and more. Once you input your information, you can generate resume from that data.

Another good resource for creating your resume is Emurse.com, which is a free online tool. This site allows you to create and update your resume online, as well as publish your resume to a personal site hosted by Emurse.com. You are also able to keep track of the job search by cataloging both your on- and offline activity. Emurse.com also informs you of when and where employers are viewing your resume, allows you to control access to your resume and notifies you of local job opportunities that are compatible with the information in your resume.

Designing Your Resume

There is some debate on whether the physical appearance of your resume is important, but there are some basics that merit consideration. For example, will your resume be online? If it is printed off, will it be easy to read? If an HR person prints your resume and information gets cut off, it is quite likely that he or she will toss your resume into the “not interested” pile. LifeClever, a blog that provides tips for design and life, has a good post on resume design issues. It may take you into unfamiliar territory as far as design goes, but does provide some excellent direction.

Now that you know how to write the greatest resume of all time, don't let your knowledge go to waste! Having an updated resume saves you time when an unexpected opportunity comes up and ensures that you don't forget to include any accomplishments. We hope these resources are helpful to you in the process of creating your outstanding resume!

PhD Comics: You Are Not Alone

You might have heard of PhD Comics, but if you haven't, you should check it out. PhD Comics are written by Jorge Cham, a former grad student at Stanford. Over the years he's covered almost every aspect of being a graduate student, from the nutty faculty and living on a stipend to the utter insanity of the whole process. A few of my favorites below.

• High School Reunion
• Undergrad Cooties
• Rankings
• Lost Its Funding

Tips for Landing an Internship: Part I

Why Find an Internship?

For starters, some programs require students to complete an internship. If yours doesn't, however, you should consider an internship as a way of learning about opportunities in industries not directly related to your degree, as a way of trying out different geographical regions, or as a means of testing out a company before committing to a job.

Internships are way for a company to test you out as well; the National Association of Colleges and Employers says well-planned internship programs have a high return on investment by helping companies attract people who eventually become full-time employees. About 30 percent of college graduates were hired after completing an internship, according to a 2006 survey by the association.

Where to Look for an Internship

So now that we're in the heart of internship-seeking season, where are some good places to look for one? Of course, the Internet is always a good resource, and many job-search Web sites also run internship sites. Here are some of the best general internship sites:

• FastWeb and MonsterTrak are both owned by Monster, the leading job search Web site. FastWeb is known primarily as a college scholarship search site, although it also has internship postings. MonsterTrak markets itself toward toward college students and recent graduates looking for internships and entry-level jobs.
• MSNCareers also lets you search for internship postings—under “Advanced Search,” select “Intern” as your employment type.
• Intershipprograms.com is a service of WetFeet.com. It allows you to search internships by location, industry, or company name.
• eScholar lists educational opportunities (including internships) in Federal government departments and agencies, as well as partnering organizations. These internships cover a broad range of fields, ensuring that just about everyone can find an internship related to their program of study.

Although these sites are good places to search for an internship, it's important to note that these sites are free and may prompt you to sign up for multiple promotional offers. Also, know that employers who post on these sites are casting a broad net; there are certainly other positions out there and some of the most competitive internships don't post on sites such as these.

Research Companies by Industry

Another way to tackle the internship hunt is to make a list of companies you'd be interested in interning for and then researching internship opportunities at those places. This is a particularly good idea if you know you'd like to intern at a large company in your industry. Search for companies by industry at Hoover's.com, an information-gathering site that sells its data primarily to other businesses. If you're interested in working for a Fortune 500 company, you can download that list from Hoover's as well.

Study Abroad Internships

Mizzou also offers a number of study abroad internships. Rather than taking classes abroad, students work with foreign companies and thus are able to both study abroad and do an internship. The application process is different from a regular internship because students sign up to go abroad and automatically have an internship; there is no interview as there would be with a regular internship. Study abroad internship opportunities are available here. It is also useful to note that although some programs indicate they are only available to undergraduates, program coordinators may be willing to find advanced opportunities for graduate students. Studyabroad.com also provides a list of international internship opportunities at non-Mizzou programs.

Program-Specific Sites

In addition to the broad internship search sites, there are many sites tailored to specific industries. Check out these field-specific sites:

• Journalism
• Mizzou's Journalism site has a page that lists companies at which students have interned in the past, as well as names of alumni working at each company.
• Ed2010 is a site for students interested in magazine journalism. This site is particularly great because of its "Whisper Jobs" listings--employees and insiders anonymously post jobs and internships that are not even formally announced as vacant.
• Other schools with journalism programs, such as New York University, post internship opportunities on their sites and are great resources as well. Some sites do restrict access to career services to current students only, however.
• Engineering
• Tech-interns.com is a result of a partnership between the American Society for Engineering Education and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Its goal is to increase the awareness of opportunities in engineering and science to undergraduate and graduate students.
• Science
• Sciencecareers.org is maintained by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Indicate “Intern” or “Internship” as a keyword when searching for jobs.
• Business
• About.com offers its lists of the top 10 most prestigious MBA internship programs here
• The MU College of BusinessExperience Recruiting Network (e-recruiting) is available to students registered with Business Career Services
• Mizzou-Wide
• HireMizzouGrads is a site available to all MU students that allows students to search job postings, sign up for on-campus interviews and browse the employer directory.

Other Resources

The Internet is a good place to begin your internship search, but you'd be missing out if you failed to take advantage of other resources available to you. Your program's Career Services is a great source of information, to begin with; if you make it known that you are looking for a position, staff will alert you when they hear of positions that might interest you.

Internship searches are also a good time to make use of your networking skills. Now that you're in graduate school, you probably have several friends out in the working world—ask them for contacts in your industry or in a city where you might want to work. Family friends and fellow students are also good resources. The more people who know what you are looking for, the more likely you will get a valuable contact or tip from someone.

So thus concludes our short list of places to search for an internship. While this list is by no means exhaustive, we hope it's helpful to you on your search for summer employment and in your journey toward career fulfillment. Good luck and happy hunting!

Budgeting and Money Tips at MSN Money

I came across the MSN Money section called Money in Your 20s right after I graduated from my undergraduate studies, and I found the advice there — especially about building a budget — really helpful. At the time, I was working as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer, which meant that I made a living stipend that was very similar to a graduate student’s, in other words, not much.

Some of the best articles for grad students include:

• How to Build Your First Budget
• How to Blitz Your College Debts

And from other sections of MSN Money:

• The Insider’s Guide to Student Loans (geared more toward undergrads, but still some useful stuff)
• How Much College Debt is Too Much? (ditto on this one)

New season, new format

Welcome to Praxis: a blog for Mizzou grad students, published by the Graduate School. We’ve decided to try something new with Praxis — instead of creating a new issue of the online newsletter once a semester, as we’ve done in the past, we are switching to a blog format that will enable us to create quicker posts more frequently. We hope you enjoy the new format. We’re excited to keep giving you news and tips that will help you navigate the grad school experience at Mizzou.