3. Course timeline
Week 7 Week 8 Week 9
• Tutorial: resume
and cover letter
peer review
• Due: Resume and
CL draft due
• Reading week!
• But you should
work on your
resume and CL
• LECTURE: LinkedIn
and networking
• Plus refer to Action
Items slide!
6. Instructions
1. Groups of FOUR
2. Make sure your documents are attached
3. Put all documents in a pile in the middle of the table
4. Trade
5. Get out your marking utensils!
8. CL formatting
• Left aligned (NOT justified)
• No indents on paragraphs
• Bullet points vs. paragraphs
• 2-3 relevant skills
• Consistent font size (minimum size 10)
• Appropriate font
• Margin sizes
• Spacing between paragraphs
• White space
• One page
9. Resume formatting
• Titles formatted the same
• Spacing is consistent
• Margins are reasonable (≥1.5cm)
• Phrases either ALL end in period or not
• Dates
• Usually right-aligned
• All have month and year, or just year
• All months are abbreviated to same # of letters
• Uses hyphens (–) OR dashes (-)
• Font:
• Minimum size is 10
• Generally no more than two types of font
• Numbers under 10 spelled out (i.e. two vs. 2)
• Bullets: same size/style, aligned
• One page
10. Are the Resume and CL consistent?
Header? Margins? Font?
11. Addressing the cover letter
Date
Contact Name
Title
Company
Address 1
City, Province Postal Code
Re: Position Title (reference number if given)
Dear [First name Last name],
or Dear Hiring Manager/Committee,
12. Addressing examples
Unknown person Specific person
Use gender and marital status only if
known (otherwise stick to “First Name +
Last Name”)
13. Ending formatting
Sincerely, / Regards, / Best,
(Written signature if you want)
Your name
BCom Candidate 20XX
Sauder School of Business
Enclosed or Attached*: Resume
* Enclosed: physical copy
* Attached: electronic copy
15. CL Opening
• Expresses very keen genuine interest and/or passion for
position
• Makes a clear expression of the skills/experience matching
the job description
• Integrates genuine and unique primary or secondary
research indicating interest in firm
• Name drop (when applicable)
• HOOK
16. Opening - BRANDING
• Provides strong, insightful research that demonstrates knowledge and
interest in the industry or organization
• Clearly illustrates how the candidate will “fit” into the industry or
organization
I want to belong to Devon Canada because its mantra “be a good neighbor” aligns with my goal
of building relationships to enrich the area where I work and live. This desire, along with the
skills I have gained from my previous work experiences in the Calgary energy industry, will
allow me to make valuable contributions to Devon Canada’s initiatives.
18. Skills Matching
• Describes specific skills that are clearly matched to the job description,
referencing specific examples that leverage experiences and qualifications
• Experiences highlighted are specific and concise linking past experiences through
transferable skills
• Results show success or strength in past experiences
• STARL format – emphasizes actions and creating links where applicable
• Emphasizing individual action in team experiences
* SHOW me, don’t TELL me
* What’s the LINK?
19. Skills Matching - LINK
I spent this past summer at Total E&P Canada, where I compiled and calculated information for
numerous government payment and application documents. I had to prioritize my tasks and
organize my progress as I updated versions of multiple documents, and was constantly in
correspondence with external auditors and other departments. At Devon Canada, the
accounting department faces numerous deadlines and supports a variety of different parties.
My ability to efficiently manage multiple projects will be vital to my success.
21. Closing
• Very clear reference to specific skills
• Interest and request for meeting aka “call to action”
• Graciously thanks the employer for their consideration
• Ties back to hook/intro
• Demonstrates branding
23. Header and general
• Refer to tutorial 4 slides for header
requirements
• Name is preferred name with (given
name) in brackets
• Phone and address are included
• LinkedIn URL is personalized
• No personal pronouns (I, we, he, she)
• Reasonable amount of white space –
is it easy to read?
• Experiences listed in reverse
chronological order by end date
24. Profile
• No more then 5 lines for key competencies (4 for profile)
• Can include languages
• Does it clearly and convincingly summarize strengths/experiences/skills?
• Does it match the job posting (multiple references)?
• Does it provide a clear, convincing link to the rest of the resume (i.e. is there
PROOF elsewhere in the document?)
26. Education
• Does it clearly summarize education experiences (i.e. including academic projects / relevant
courses / grades / awards)?
• Is there any ambiguity with respect to the info provided?
• Does it match the job description?
27. Education
• Bachelor of Commerce not BCOMM or B.Comm
• Start with the degree
• List expected date of completion (either as “Completion: …” or “Expected Completion: ...”)
• No laundry lists of courses: only specific, relevant courses
• GPA – score/%/letter grade, indicating the school scale
• Key/relevant projects and awards: write in accomplishment statement form
29. Work experience
Are experiences achievement based?
Do numbers clearly quantify achievements where appropriate?
Do statements have Accomplishment, Proof, Transferrable skills, and Scope of
Action?
Are the result verbs varied and strong?
Does language indicate familiarity with industry/company? Does it match the
job description?
30. Examples…
Removed ambiguity from taxation budget by correctly coding over 250
invoices, through the research of taxation legislation and analysis of
archived invoices for the cost control department’s budget report
Qualitative:
Reduced stress among new BCom students by providing academic support
and mentorship, through the creation of individualized exam preparation
schedules during one-on-one coaching sessions.
Quantitative:
Doubled previous year’s number of appointments with new BCom students
by creating individualized exam preparation schedules and building
authentic, trust-based relationships during one-on-one coaching sessions
31. Work experience
• Reverse chronological order by end date
• You can include explanation sentences of companies/experiences if
necessary
• Eliminate filler words
• Written in third person
• Keep it to one sentence (2 lines is best)
• The elements of the RATS statement should be apparent (but not
necessarily in RATS order)
33. Interests
• Do the interests show personality? Are they specific? Are they relevant to
the job (not always necessary)?
• Do they differentiate the candidate? Are they memorable?
• Be fun! And appropriate
*NOTE for the candidate: Be able to speak about these interests extensively!
34. Overall Branding
• Personal qualifications are well tailored to requirements of job
(clear 60-70% match)
• Multiple words from job description are included in resume
(5+)
• Interests section show personality and relevant specific
interests
• There is strong evidence of CAN-WANT-FIT match made
35. Marking
• Critical errors will cause 2 marks to be deducted
• Minor errors will cause 1 mark to be deducted
• For a total of -20% worth of deductions per document.
• ***For example (this is just an example), if the resume
were out of 20, the maximum deduction a student
could get is 4 marks of those 20. If the student then
proceeded to make the equivalent of 2 critical errors
and/or 4 minor errors, or anything more on their
cover letter, they would get 4 marks deducted of the
20 value of the cover letter. If the student did
everything else perfectly, their final assignment mark
would be 32/40.
• Still determining how much the assignment will be out
of, but max deduction is 20% per document
36. What counts as an error?
NON-EXHAUSTIVE List of Errors
Spelling mistake
Grammar mistake
Inconsistency
Having positions in wrong order
Improper formatting (CL)
Spelling name of addressee incorrectly
*We may deduct for errors that are not listed on here.
This list is an example and is non-exhaustive*
37. How to get an A
1. Ask friends for feedback
2. Sign up for office hours on COOL
3. Work through it 20 minutes every day
38. Action Items
RESUME & COVER LETTER
• COOL: Sign up for office hours on COOL
• READING BREAK: Work on your resume & CL over reading break
• ADDITIONAL HELP: Career Peer Advising and BCC Coaching appointments on COOL (also over reading week)
• DUE March 7th at 2pm on Turnitin: Resume, Cover Letter + Job Posting in ONE document
• DUE March 7th at 2pm on COOL: Resume + Cover Letter (no Job Posting necessary) – submit your work to the
Comm 202 job application/posting
• *Please refer to my Tutorial 4 & 5 slides as well as the criteria and rubric on the course blog*
GENERAL COMM 202 STUFF
• Networking Event (Mandatory): Thursday, March 9th from 6-8pm in CPA Hall
• Week of Feb 27TH-Mar 3RD: LinkedIn profile due (refer to instructions and criteria on course blog + “hand in”
by connecting with your TA on LinkedIn) – I will communicate due date via email
• Week of Feb 27TH-Mar 3RD: LECTURE (NOT TUTORIAL) after reading break
39. LinkedIn Assignment Requirements
• Include:
– a professional headshot
– a personalized URL
– an outline of your education, work and extra curriculars
– “hand it in” to me by connecting with me on LinkedIn (please make sure you find
the correct profile!)
– Send a personalized invite to five other contacts (you should have at least six
connections when I check!)
– LOOK AT COURSE BLOG FOR COMPLETE REQUIREMENTS
