Landing your first job sure fire ways to finding the right job successful interviewing and getting the offer by andrew goldsmith

This guide will help make sure you know what to look for, ask the right questions, and get the right things put into writing so you have your upside such as options and bonuses and downs

OneHourWiz ™

Landing Your First Job

Sure Fire Ways to Finding the Right Job, Successful Interviewing and

Getting the Offer

By Andrew Goldsmith

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OneHourWiz: Making Your First Million presents ways for every individual to make their first million Three main focal areas are covered including investing, starting your own business, and taking equity as a form of compensation The guide is a very practical and entertaining look at ways for anyone to make their first million The guide also includes interviews with some of the most successful business people of our time who explain how they “made their first million.”

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OneHourWiz: Internet and Technology Careers (After the Shakedown)

By April Griffin, ISBN: 1587620049

Want to take advantage of the perks Internet and technology companies have to offer? This guide will help make sure you know what to look for, ask the right questions, and get the right things put into writing so you have your upside (such as options and bonuses) and downside (guaranteed employment clauses) covered You've heard the hype Now learn how to use all the buzzwords with authority Discover the workplace trends - where the hot jobs can be found, the training you need, and the salary to expect Read interviews with recruiters from international job placement firm Kforce.com as well as computerjobs.com Regardless of whether you are already in the Internet and technology industry or are looking to break through, this is the guide for you!

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Stock options are being granted to record numbers of employees, but many people receiving stock options don't really understand what they are This guide gives you the information you need to make informed decisions about stock options, including how to value them and your company, the difference between Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) and Nonqualified Stock Options (NQSOs), the tax consequences of exercising your options, as well as information for those who want to get into options trading on their own-in an easy to understand language and format This OneHourWiz guide also includes interviews with noted experts in the field, lawyers from some of the top law firms in the world, CFOs from companies such as Hoovers, LifeMinders,

OneHourWiz: Landing Your First Job

By Andrew Goldsmith, ISBN: 1587620253

Are you a college senior terrified to graduate? Or a freshman with a lot of foresight? This is the guide you need to make sure your first step into the real world takes you in the right direction (and to start thinking ahead to that second step!) You'll get advice from the director of Career Services at one of the hottest Ivy League schools in the country and advice from such experts as the head of recruiting from PriceWaterhouseCoopers You'll read the stories of people who just a few years ago were standing exactly where you are, and are now establishing themselves at dotcoms, consulting firms, finance jobs, and even in the publishing, entertainment and theater scenes!

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Complete List of Titles

Landing Your First Job

Sure Fire Ways to Finding the Right Job,

Successful Interviewing and Getting the Offer

Core Area 1: The 10 Most Important Principles 13

Core Area 2: The History 15

Core Area 3: The Focal Points 16

Decide What You Want 16

My Story 20

Determine Where Those Opportunities Exist 21

Unadvertised Jobs 26 Dotcoms 28

Brown University 65 The Interview With Mark Friedman, National Director of

Recruiting, Assurance and Business Advisory Services

Division, PricewaterhouseCoopers 78

Core Area 5: Excerpts From Experienced Individuals 85

Elizabeth Karp, Senior Regional Manager, Health Care

Advisory Board 85 Lisa Hurwitz, Alliance Consultant, Razorfish 87

Zeno Baucus, Paralegal, Cooley Godward LLP 90

Katie Buck, Actress 91

Core Area 6: Worksheets 94

Deciding What You Want 94

Determining Where Those Opportunities Exist 97

Core Area 7: Resources for Further Research 100

On Deciding What You Want 100

On Determining Where Those Opportunities Exist 102

On Writing Great Resumes 106

On Writing Great Cover Letters 107

On Impressing Your Interviewer 108

Core Area 8: Glossary 110

Core Area 1

The 10 Most Important Principles

If you’re reading this, you must be worried about what’s going to happen when you run out of classes to take and you have to face the real world Despite that tightening knot in your stomach, such worry is a good thing Whether you’re three weeks or three years away from graduation, it’s never too early to start thinking about the future It’s never really too late either, but the sooner you start, the better chance you have of being happy with your ultimate destination How do you get from here to there? Follow these 10 steps:

1 Read this book: Try to take at least a look at every section

before going on to the next step

2 Decide what you want: You need a plan, even if it covers

only a year or two

3 Determine where these opportunities exist: This is where

you actually search for jobs

4 Write great resumes: The resume is the most basic part of

any job application You simply can’t get a job without one

5 Write great cover letters: No, you can’t just copy one out

of a book and sign your name on it

6 Impress your interviewer: Despite what you may have

heard, job interviews do not take place in a dank, underground cell lit by a single uncovered light bulb, with scurrying rats providing the background noise

7 Relax: Enjoy your senior year Looking for a job does not

require every minute of every day

8 Weigh offers (and negotiate better ones): After carefully

following the previous seven steps, you’ll be inundated with job offers

9 Impress your coworkers: And you thought the first day of

school made you nervous

10 Repeat: Your first job is just that—your first job You’ll

probably want at least a second one

You aren’t the first person to look for a first job I was doing it myself not too long ago, as I got ready to graduate from college

in the spring of 1999 For each step listed above, I’ll give you advice from the experts along with some real-life perspective from my own experiences In the back of this book you’ll find an interview with the director of Career Services at my alma mater, Brown University After that I’ll tell you the stories of a few other recent graduates Good luck!

Core Area 2

The History

Fifty years ago, a young man graduating from college wanted a job where he could dig in for life If he was lucky, his father or a friend could point him toward that first desk Over the years he would move to bigger and bigger desks in bigger and bigger offices When he retired he’d receive a watch as thanks for his decades of service

Your life will not look like his

First of all, these days women work too And if you’re in the right industry, you may not even need a college degree – Bill Gates didn’t, did he?

But those are only the superficial differences You might work full-time for a dozen companies before you take up shuffleboard and pinochle Or you may spend your life as a freelancer and never work full-time for anyone You may even have three or four different careers in different fields

These changes mean that the strategies you’ll use to find your first job will be different from the ones your parents used before you You’ll look for jobs in different places and judge their desirability with different standards This book will teach you how

Core Area 3

The Focal Points

Decide What You Want

If you’re lucky, you can skip this chapter But if you’re like most people, deciding what you want to do is the hardest, scariest, most time-consuming part of the job-search process

The first thing you have to decide is how far ahead you want to think Are you prepared to say where you want to be 20 years from now and start heading for it, or do you simply want to fill a year or two and see where you end up? Or are you somewhere in between?

No book can answer these questions for you But a book can give you ways to consider them

There are a few facts to keep in mind In today’s economy, no one entering the job market expects to spend 40 years working for the same company The trend toward frequent job changes is so strong that the federal government is creating a new study, the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), to assess it “Since some people change their careers so many times,” says Sheila Curran, director of Career Services at Brown University, “to say, ‘This is what I want to be doing five years from now,’ I don’t think is very helpful The whole world can change within that period of time.” You should also remember that almost no matter what you do, you could change your mind later These considerations suggest that you should think only a few years at a time

On the other hand, a lot of industries (journalism, finance, law, and others) insist that workers stand for a good long time on each step of the career ladder before moving up If you decide to attend graduate school, you often have to start the application process at least a year before you plan to enroll (Should you decide a couple months too late, you’ll set yourself back another full year.) Then there are the years of school themselves These factors mean that you probably shouldn’t spend too long as a ski bum, or writing in your journal in a Parisian café

Once you have some idea of how much you want to commit yourself, you can start thinking about your options In a desperate moment as a college student, I considered standing on

a busy street corner, asking passersby what they did for a living, and making a list I never actually did it, and you probably shouldn’t either You’ll be better off if you narrow your focus just a bit

How do you do that? Think about what you like to do, and think about what you’re good at (As any playground athlete knows, these are not always the same.) Here are a few questions

to think about:

• In which subjects do you receive good grades?

• What type of schoolwork do you enjoy (e.g., reading,

writing, classroom debate, cutting up small animals)?

• What type of extra-curricular activities do you enjoy?

• Would you rather spend a day alone or spend it—every

second of it—with other people?

• Do you communicate best in person, on the phone, or on

paper?

• Would you rather do several things at once or do them one at

a time?

• Would you rather complete a project in three months or three days?

• Would you rather spend all day in one room or move

constantly from one place to another?

• Would you rather work with your hands or your head?

• Are you better at working with your hands or your head?

• Are you comfortable following someone else’s directions, or

do you need to be your own boss?

• Do you like producing something you can hold in your hand,

or are you satisfied with more abstract results?

• Do you prefer to work indoors or outdoors?

• Do you like being the center of attention?

• Would you rather follow a plan or improvise?

• How many hours a week do you want to work?

• How much money do you need?

• How much money do you want?

• Does repetition inspire comfort or boredom in you?

If you’re having trouble with these questions, ask friends you can trust, how they see you (Don’t ask your parents They think you’re brilliant and great at everything.) Your friends won’t necessarily be right, but their answers will give you a place to start

Next, try to find some professions that might be a good fit, based on your answers to those questions If you’re really drawn to an academic discipline, ask a professor about career options in the field If you’re dedicated to an extra-curricular

activity, try to figure out what the real-life version of that activity

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://stats.bls.gov/) has similar profiles, which include detailed salary information

Then talk to some people in the profession Actually, talk to a lot of people in the profession—remember that no single person knows everything Do “informational interviews”, where you ask people about their industries Family, friends, friends’ families, alumni networks, and professors are all good sources If you think you might want to sell cars, walk into your local car dealership and ask if anyone would be willing to talk to you about the business

When you talk to these people, ask them what they do

“I’m a doctor,” is a bad answer “I’m a pediatrician in private practice,” is a better answer “I talk to children about their illnesses, I keep their parents calm, and I fill out a lot of insurance-related paperwork,” is the kind of answer you’re looking for The goal is to find out how these people spend their time, so that you can decide whether their jobs would be right for you

If something sounds appealing, try to get a part-time job

or an internship in the field You can’t get a part-time job as a physician, but you will be able to find a spot working in a doctor’s office or a hospital Even though you won’t be trying out the job yourself, you’ll get a chance to see it up close If you’re reading this book as an underclassman, keep in mind that spending your summers this way will help you find a full-time job later You’ll have a better idea of what you want, and you’ll have some relevant experience You’ll also make some contacts

in the industry

If the descriptions of people’s jobs sound close to what you want but aren’t quite there, tell them that Explain that you like the idea of working with children and parents, but that you don’t want to fill out all those forms The people you talk to will probably know about other jobs in their industries Maybe they’ll tell you that if you work at a big hospital rather than in private practice, someone else will do the paperwork for you

You should also ask people how they reached their current positions, and why they made the choices they did Their answers will show you the different stages of their careers and might raise issues you hadn’t considered Ask whether they can recommend anyone else for you to speak with And don’t forget

to ask them how to find job openings in the field

Which brings us to the next section

Being a journalist seemed like a way to do something different every day and always see something new

The question, though, was what sort of journalist I wanted to be My experience with school newspapers had led me

to suspect that I might prefer magazines, where I would have the chance to work on longer pieces So the summer after my

sophomore year I interned at a business magazine called Fast

Company.

I was right—magazines were the place for me The next

summer I interned at Fortune, and I thought about where I might

want to be in 20 years I decided that I wanted to write long feature stories and books on the side Eventually, maybe I would become an editor

Quick Reference

Basic steps to deciding what you want:

• Decide how far ahead you want to plan

• Consider what you like to do and what you’re good at

• Read industry profiles and talk to people working in the fields that interest you

• Create a list of possible job types (e.g., computer technician, newspaper reporter, criminal defense lawyer)

Determine Where Those Opportunities Exist

Once you know what sort of work you want to do, you can start looking for people who will pay you to do it Once again, though, you have to ask yourself some questions You want to apply only for jobs you actually want—that way you’ll

have a better chance of getting hired, as well as a better chance

of being happy once you do

You need to figure out what sort of company you want

to work for So,

• Do you want to be one of one thousand employees or one of ten?

• Do you want frequent contact with your supervisor or would you rather work independently?

• Do you want to work with other people your own age? (If so, look for a company with a formal program for entry-level hires.)

• Do you want to work in a specific city or part of the country

or in a foreign country?

• Is there a particular kind of compensation you want, such as tuition reimbursement, childcare, or stock in your company?

• How much money do you need?

• How much money do you want?

• Do you need flexible working hours? (We all want flexible

hours.)

• Can you travel if your company requires you to?

• Do you want to get to work right away or would you prefer some kind of apprenticeship or training program first?

• Do you want a multi-faceted company where you might have

a chance to transfer among divisions?

• Do you want a company with offices in many places, where you might have a chance to transfer among branches?

• Can you advance in this first job, or will it be just a learning experience?

With some of your criteria in hand, it’s time to start looking for actual jobs

For some industries, you can probably find thick books

of job listings in the same section of the bookstore where you

found this book For others, trade magazines fill that role—both

in print and on the Internet According to a study described in the

October 2000 issue of Monthly Labor Review, in 1998 half of all

jobseekers with online access at home used the Internet to look for jobs Yahoo has a great catalogue of industry-specific job

databases at:

http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Employment _and_Work/Jobs/Career_Fields/

These industry-specific sources will be far more useful than massive, general job listings They will have more of the jobs you want, and they will be easier to use because they’re smaller

If you want to work in a particular city or state, check out the websites of the area’s major newspapers Many of the larger papers have online job listings

There are literally hundreds of general job-listing databases online Here are the best, according to Yahoo:

America's Job Bank ( http://www.ajb.dni.us/ ) – Created in partnership with the U.S Department of Labor, this site claims to have more than 1.3 million job listings Perhaps not surprisingly, it is not the most slick-looking site on the net Its database is also fairly cumbersome and, of course, includes the types of employers who are likely to register with the federal

government You can also enter your resume into a database that employers use

CareerBuilder ( http://www.careerbuilder.com/ ) –Formerly CareerPath.com, this site features an “On Campus” section that includes articles about issues you might be considering, such as how much you should get paid and how you can repay your college loans It also has job listings, which you can search by location, salary, and the somewhat mysterious criterion, “keyword.” You can also search specific newspapers’ listings via this site

CareerWeb ( http://www.cweb.com/ ) – This site is one of the most straightforward, possibly because it’s on the smaller side, with only tens of thousands of jobs, rather than hundreds of thousands Search by job type and/or location, and post your resume

Headhunter.net ( http://www.Headhunter.net/ ) –Formerly CareerMosaic, this site claims to have more than 250,000 jobs It also claims to have a special section devoted to college students, but I couldn’t figure out how to use it

HotJobs.com ( http://www.hotjobs.com/ ) – This site recently created a college-oriented section One handy feature lets you specify both a field and a specific job that you want within that field For example, within “Marketing,” you can look specifically for analyst, business development, or direct marketing jobs, among other types

JobOptions ( http://www.JobOptions.com/ ) – This site has both a search engine and an email service that will send you jobs fitting the criteria you specify You can also post your resume Like CareerBuilder, the site includes articles on a variety of job search-related subjects, from interview techniques

to balancing work and family

Monster.com ( http://www.monster.com/ ) – Another site in the “hundreds of thousands of listings” category, Monster.com has made itself the most famous job search site through a lot of advertising It has apparently spent some money

on the site, too, because it has most of the features you’ll find elsewhere—email and resume posting services, for example

These sites change frequently, so be sure to check Yahoo for new ones

Your school may also give you access to proprietary databases targeting college students, like JobTrak.com

( http://www.jobtrak.com/ ). These databases can be great because all of the employers listed in them are looking for job applicants like you—a critical benefit over the sites listed above

On the other hand, these databases tend to be dominated by the industries that conduct campus recruiting: finance, consulting, technology, and a few others If you’re looking for something a bit more obscure, you may not have a lot of success

You should keep in mind, as you look for jobs online: if possible, apply with real, physical paper sent through the Postal Service rather than by email Applying for a job online is so easy that employers are bound to get more applications that way, and yours will never separate itself from the pack More importantly,

you don’t know how the employer’s computer will read your files, even if you send them in the body of your email If you send a hard copy instead, you know exactly how you will present yourself

If you must apply online—and some employers require it—it is absolutely vital to call to confirm that your application was received If you don’t, you may never know The employer may have stopped checking the email address you used, your message may have appeared garbled, or your system may crash,

or the employer’s system might crash You don’t see that line about “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” inscribed on your computer, do you?

Unadvertised Jobs

The sad fact is that many of the best jobs never get posted anywhere How do you apply for these? There are two ways: connections and confidence

Having a connection doesn’t necessarily mean that your dad owns the company It might mean that your TA from freshman English works there, or that your roommate’s sister does It also includes those alumni networks your school’s career services office is always talking about “Since most people actually get their jobs through connections,” says Sheila Curran, director of Career Services at Brown University, “you shouldn’t

rule out any connections If you’ve got parents, or friends of

parents, or aunts or uncles, or long lost cousins—everybody should know that you’re looking for a job.”

Connections won’t always ensure that you’ll get the job—but they might give you chances you wouldn’t have otherwise

One of the best ways to use connections is to set up informational interviews As I said in the last chapter, these interviews are not job interviews You should, however, treat any conversation with anyone who works where you would like to work as a job interview—because in some very basic ways, it is The person you speak to may eventually bump into the human resource director in the hall, and if he or she puts in a good word

on your behalf, it might make a huge difference

At the same time, you should use the informational interview to learn more about the company We’ll talk more about this in “Impress Your Interviewer”, but for now you should remember those questions from the beginning of this chapter, and from the last chapter What do you want from a job, and does this company offer it? And of course, ask when some job openings might become available

Some people will be offended if you bring a resume to

an informational interview, but others might ask you for one The solution is to bring a notebook with your resume hidden inside That way you can take notes on the discussion—probably

a good idea anyway—and pull out the resume if, and only if, the person you’re meeting asks for it

If you talk to someone about a company, whether it’s on the phone or in person, always send a thank-you note to the person for his or her time and interest in your job search If you later formally apply for a job, write to the person who gave you

an informational interview and let him or her know, noting exactly to whom within the company you’ve sent materials And this time you should include a copy of your resume

The second key to getting hidden jobs is confidence If you want a job, you have to go get it And sometimes that means applying for a job regardless of whether you know for sure that it

exists If you know of a company where you’d like to work, call and ask whether there are any openings, and check the company’s website Send a resume and cover letter, explaining what kind of job you want You never know what might happen

You should make a detailed list of all the companies that interest you Note the company name, contact person’s name, mailing address, phone number, email address, and application deadline, if there is one You’ll be using this list throughout the job application process to keep track of all of your communications with each company, so keep it neat Whether you use a file on your computer, a box of index cards, or a separate manila envelope for each application—stay organized

How many jobs should you apply for? The simple answer is, many The more precise answer depends on the field you’re pursuing You should be able to get a sense of the job market from the people you talk to about the industry, and you can ask them directly how many jobs they suggest you pursue You should also ask them about the appropriate time of year to apply—this can be anywhere from two weeks to eight months in advance, depending on the industry and company

Dotcoms

To go dotcom, or not to go dotcom—for many college seniors, that is the question Unfortunately, the answer changes every six months as the stock market swings and technology advances The only hard and fast rule is that the Internet is not an industry for anyone with a heart condition

Before you make any decisions, be sure to read Lisa Hurwitz’s story in the back of this book She jumped from one dotcom to another, only to watch the ground in each new place fall beneath her feet Now she’s at yet another dotcom, which is

trying to find a middle ground between the New and Old Economies

Her advice? Do your homework Before joining any dotcom, do a lot of research Does the company have a smart business plan? Does it have a way to make money? Does it have

a good chance to stay in business for the next five or ten years? Look at the company’s balance sheets to see exactly how it’s doing

“Go somewhere that’s established; go to a public company,” she says “Because there’s accountability when you work for a public company—there’s shareholders.” And those famous stock options? “Don’t just take options; take cash, salary,” Lisa says “Try to protect yourself as best you can when you go into these jobs.”

Curran, at Brown University, says that you need to decide beforehand how long you want to stay with the job If you’re looking for a wild ride that will last a year or two, go dotcom: “For somebody who’s looking at it as a learning experience and wanting to get a lot of experience very quickly, it can be a fabulous opportunity,” she says But if you’re looking for security, think twice before joining the latest hot startup

My Story Continued

I had heard from upperclassmen at my college newspaper that magazines rarely advertised for jobs So I put together a list of magazines where I wanted to work, and I called them all to find out where I should send my materials (I learned that they require copies of some of my articles (called published clips) along with my resume and cover letter.)

I also knew that a lot of magazine writers began in newspapers, so I considered them as well I knew of several

major papers that had one and two-year internship programs, so I added them to my list

Finally, I thought about the worst-case scenario: rejected

by all the magazines and by all the major newspapers What would I do then? I would have to start at a very small newspaper I’m an avid skier, so I decided that if I was going to end up at a small paper, it should at least be somewhere near good skiing The American Journalism Review keeps a database of just about every newspaper in the country, and I used it to find about a dozen Colorado papers to add to my list In all, I sent my materials to more than 100 potential employers

Quick Reference

The basic steps to finding jobs to apply for are:

• Decide what you want in an employer

• Consult industry-specific job listings

• Consult general job listings

• Milk any connections you can find

• Think of some dream employers, even if they aren’t advertising openings

• Start a detailed list of where you plan to apply

Write Great Resumes

You have three critical opportunities to communicate with your potential employer: your resume, your cover letter, and your interview You can think of them as three steps in erecting a building, each one adding to the last: first comes the foundation, then the framework, then the bricks and mortar

The resume—the foundation—is probably the first thing

an employer will look at, so it’s vitally important that you make

a good first impression Regardless of what your resume says, the words must be spelled correctly, formatted neatly, and printed or typed clearly Your grammar and style should also be consistent For example, all dates should be written either as mm/dd/yy or mm/dd/yyyy You don’t want some one way and the rest the other

You may have noticed that the subject of this chapter’s title uses the plural: resumes That’s because you need different resumes for different jobs, or at least for different types of jobs Academic jobs and very broad-based jobs—research assistantships at scholarly journals or in science, teaching positions at private high schools, and consulting positions—probably demand a focus on your academic background rather than on your employment history Jobs that continue the type of work you did over the summers—say, in journalism, or banking—require just the reverse

So do some research If you can talk to young people at the company or if the company advertises for the position you want, try to figure out what the employer is looking for (Informational interviews are a good chance to ask about this.) Does he or she want related work experience or just basic intelligence? Do you need specific technical skills, or foreign language fluency? Your resume needs to emphasize the attributes that are important to the employer

How do you emphasize one thing over another? The same way a newspaper editor does: you put it near the top, and you give it a lot of space The three basic sections of a resume are Education, Work Experience, and Skills The section most

important for the job you want should be first and cover more of the page than either of the other sections

“Give your resume to somebody who’s never seen it before and ask him/her what stands out on your resume,” says Sheila Curran, of Brown University, “If that’s not what you want

to convey, then you need to start re-organizing your resume.”

Under Education, you want to list all degrees and diplomas you have earned or will have earned by the time you start work Include the name of the institution, the city and state where it’s located, and the date or expected date of graduation Also include honors, awards, and specific classes relevant to the job Note whether you spent time abroad or devoted two or more semesters to a major project, such as a thesis

All college extracurricular activities and the most important one or two from high school should also appear on your resume If you held leadership positions, such as director of

a play, say so, and note whether you were elected or appointed to them

Under employment, list all full-and part-time employment, going back about six years, in reverse chronological order Don’t leave out jobs like waiting tables—all jobs demand some sort of work ethic, which you want to demonstrate Include the name and location of your employer, your job title, and the start and end dates of your employment Depending on how much space you have, include a bullet point

or two for each job, describing what you do or did Cite specific accomplishments, responsibilities, and what you learned Use a few of those “power words” but make sure you know what they mean

Don’t pad your resume with exaggerations or lies You will get caught, and you will not get the job

Skills should include computer and language skills, regardless of whether they seem clearly relevant for the job In today’s world both types of skills can come in handy in any business Concerning computers, list specific programs you know how to use For languages, make sure to say whether you’re fluent in reading, writing, speaking, or all three

At the top of your resume include your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address At the bottom, note that “references are available upon request.” Some employers will ask for the references up front, in which case you should provide their names, job titles, and phone numbers Make sure to check with your prospective references before putting them on your resume

Your resume should never be longer than a single page

My Story Continued

You can see the resume I used as a senior in college here I went with a very basic approach, listing simply my employers, titles, and the dates Journalism is a very practical business, and editors are most interested in applicants’ writing

So my work experience is at the top I listed my references by name because journalism is a fast-moving business, and I knew most of the editors would want them right away I included both

my school and permanent addresses

Rather than using my resume as a perfect model, look for its flaws My date system is not consistent from high school

to college (The use of “Summer,” though, I think is fine.) Some items, such as “Title IX Litigation” could be explained better

My Student.Com work should probably have been listed above the Time Inc job, because it was still ongoing when I was applying for jobs

For an interesting contrast, take a look at my current resume I’ve reformatted it to emphasize education and eliminated “computer skills,” as if I were applying to graduate school Otherwise the biggest substantive difference is that I use

a lot of bullet points—primarily because I have more specific accomplishments to tout than I did before, and because the elimination of most of my high school record left me with a lot more space

Quick Reference

Here’s what you need on your resume:

Worksheet

• Your name

• Your mailing address

• Your email address

• Your phone number

• The name of your college, location, graduation date

• Your degree

• Your major

• Your GPA, if higher than 3.5 or if requested

• Awards and honors, including merit-based scholarships

• Relevant coursework, with dates

• Relevant or significant extra-curricular activities, with dates

• Your high school name, location, graduation date

• Relevant or significant extra-curricular activities, with dates

• Company names and locations of past and present

employers, with dates

• Significant work projects

• Computer skills

• Foreign language skills

• Relevant training

• “References available upon request”

• Anything else that’s requested

• Fast Company, Editorial Intern Summer 1997

• Washington Post Company, Washington Post/Newsweek

Interactive.com, formerly Digital Ink/WashingtonPost.com Discussion Management Assistant 9/96-10/97

Online Sysop 8/95-10/97

Editorial Intern Summer 1995, 1996

Education:

Brown University, Providence, R.I., Class of 1999

Major: History; Honors Thesis: “The Office of War Information in China, 1942-1945”

• Brown Daily Herald

Sidwell Friends School, Washington, D.C., Class of 1995

HORIZON (school newspaper), Co-Editor-in-Chief

1994-1995

Scholarship Auction, Student Co-Chair 1994-1995

The Washington Post, Stringer 1992, 1994

• Ben Gerson, Senior Editor, Fortune, [phone number]

• Christopher Johnson, Programming Director for New Platforms, AmericaOnline, [phone number] (formerly Managing Editor, Student.Com)

• Alan Webber, Founding Editor, Fast Company, [phone number]

Other:

• Computer Skills: Windows 95, Macintosh OS, LEXIS-NEXIS, Dow Jones News Retrieval, Quark XPress, PageMaker, Microsoft Office, XyWrite, HTML

Andrew E Goldsmith

30 Barnes St

Providence, RI 02906 [home and office phone numbers]

agoldsmi@projo.com

EDUCATION Brown University, Providence, RI

• A.B in History, May, 1999

• Graduated with Highest Honors in History Department

• History honors thesis one of two named Department’s “Most Distinguished”

• Brown Daily Herald

City Editor 12/97-12/98 Staff Writer 10/96-12/98 Beat Reporter on Title IX litigation, Cohen v Brown University, 101 F 3d 155 (1st Cir 1996) cert.denied, 520 U.S 1186 (1997) 1/97-12/98

Contributing Writer 3/96-10/96

• “Kids’ Project” tutoring program

Program Coordinator (paid position) 5/97-5/99 Tutor 9/95-5/99

Sidwell Friends School, Washington, DC, graduated June, 1995

EMPLOYMENT The Providence Journal, Providence, RI, daily

circulation 167,000 Two-year intern reporter: 6/99-present

• Covering two towns with a total population of 30,000

• Writing about all subjects except for high school sports

• Competing with two other daily newspapers and one weekly

• 500 bylines in first 16 months

• Ten solo front-page bylines Time Inc Editorial Internship Program Editorial Intern: Summer 1998

• Assigned to Fortune

• Reported for staff members

• Three bylines Student.Com (formerly Student.Net), Boston, MA Correspondent: 9/97-5/99

• Reporting and writing articles for online magazine for college students

Fast Company magazine, Boston, MA

Editorial Intern: Summer 1997

• Reported for staff members

• One byline Washington Post online edition, currently Washington Post/Newsweek Interactive.com, Arlington, VA

Discussion Management Assistant: 8/95-10/97

• Managed online discussion groups on national news, politics, and other subjects

Intern: Summer 1996

• Selected wire stories to publish on web site and researched related links