Hi Dax,
For some reason my original response never went through. What I'd said was that while I agree that its a good idea to have students express their personalities through their written presentation, I also think it's wise not to stray too far from the norm because not all of the people reviewing their resume/cover letters are themselves 'out of the box' thinkers.
I try to stay away from templates and encourage the students with whom I work to create their own original resume and cover letter. I certainly help them, and for those that are truly lost I'll show them some examples. However, I stress to them that the words they use should be their own; the employer is going to hire them and not the person who wrote the resume they copied.
Once they have a rough draft, I'll read it over and make suggestions regarding format and simplifying items, but I like for their resume and cover letter to be about them, and not my view of what they should be.
Gary:
That's a fantastic idea. I was going to ask your permission to steal it, but I'm going to run with that idea whether you let me or not. Thanks for your expertise!
No problem, its all about sharing!
Stephen,
What a great idea. I really like this-hope you don't mind if I share this with my students.
Elizabeth Kemler
One thing I do like to do is see if they have a life motto or standard that they live by, like "I believe that knowledge is power" for a teacher would be a good one. I start out with this so that the reader has something to get that first impression from. Then somewhere in the cover letter I like to put a story in there about a time that the person was able to do something cool or exciting in thier field. This gives the reader something to get drawn in by.
Stephen,
I have always found cover letters to be a challenge. The best way to approach them is definitely gathering pertinent information-as much as you can about the company and its culture-and then using other good cover letters as a reference.
Elizabeth Kemler
In our particular area we do a lot of the resume work for them and then cover it with them so they understand why we chose to do it that particular way.
On cover letters I always have them gather pertinent information for me and answer the questions that are common for cover letters and then I assist them in wordsmithing them.
Gary,
I love this idea! I now wish I had included it in the course. With all the things we have to attend to in our lives, its so easy to overlook or simply forget the many things that could potentially be good for our resumes, cover letters, or even just fodder for talking points in interviews.
Elizabeth Kemler
I have them record on an ongoing basis events that should be included in their resume. For example if someone in the class is voted the student with the best customer service skills they should record it in a journal for use at a later time. Also, we practice listing all previous jobs and volunteering and help them find their transferrable skills.
