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Common Errors in Resumes and Cover Letters

Goddam it! by wokka.In several of my classes this semester, public relations  students are writing resumes and cover letters as one of their assignments. I tend to see the same errors over and over again.

Here are some of the common errors I find:

Appearance / Overall

  • Having any typos, misspelled words or grammatical errors (some employers will discard your resume if any mistakes are apparent)
  • Not using same header for all cover letter, resume & reference page
  • Failing to include your custom LinkedIn URL
  • Using different fonts for no apparent reason

Cover Letters

  • Focusing on yourself, not the needs of the potential employer
  • Too many self-focused statements; starting too many sentences with “I”
  • Forgetting to sign letter (scan your signature to place into electronic cover letters)
  • Not stating what you can do for the employer in clear terms.
  • Not including an enclosure line (such as: Enclosures: Resume & Reference Page)

Resumes

  • Longer than one page (it’s possible to “earn” more pages once you’re established in your career)
  • Not including strong action-verbs (too many “to be” verbs)
  • Providing too few keywords related to the PR field
  • Including “responsibilites/duties included”
  • Writing in first person (“I”)
  • Writing in complete sentences, rather than powerful, short phrases
  • Burying your education at the end of the resume
  • Not mentioning your education at your current university
  • Not describing your major and anticipated graduation date
  • Including high school, even though there are no relevant honors/awards/achievements
  • A low (below 3.0) GPA is listed
  • Extremely short (you can list relevant coursework if you have little related work experience)
  • Leaving to unclear to the potential employer exactly what you accomplished in your work history
  • Including too much information about the employer (all you need it company name, city & state — no need for full address, supervisor name, etc.)
  • Dates listed in chronological, not reverse chronological, order (you should list most recent information first in each section)
  • References listed directly on resume itself (they should be on a separate page)

Reference Page

  • Not using same header as resume & cover letter
  • Not including all necessary information (name, company name, title, full mailing address, phone number & e-mail address)
  • Fewer than three references listed
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Taking Better Corporate Photos, Or “Avoiding Execution at Dawn”

Mark Ragan, CEO of Ragan Communication, offers five tips for taking better corporate photos:

  1. Ditch the photos of employees “working”
  2. Show the purpose of machines through photos
  3. Capture a group’s shared trait
  4. Get your subject away from their desk
  5. Use black and white photos from time to time

Wondering why “execution at dawn” is part of the headline of this blog post? See what Mark has to say about group shots in the video below.

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Photo and Caption Assignment :: #PRCA3330 and #COMM4333

toy camera tower by .m for matthijs.Public relations practitioners are called upon to take photos on occasion for their clients. For this assignment, you will take a photo and write a caption, with the intent that the photo and caption could stand alone and be published without an accompanying news release / article.

Using the rules of great photography you learned in your textbook and in the Language of the Image course you took at NewsU, take one photo of someone or something that is newsworthy and would benefit your client. (If you cannot come up with a photo idea for your client or if your client is too far from where you are living now, then take a photo that would benefit the Communication department.)

Then write a caption to accompany the photo using the four-part process described by Lori Oglesbee in the Journalism Education Today articled titled Captions, and add a photo credit. Your caption will contain the following elements:

  1. Headline
  2. Identification Sentence
  3. Secondary Information Sentence
  4. Quote
  5. Photo Credit

To submit this assignment, use one Word document. Put your name and course number at the top. Paste your photo into the Word doc; size it so it’s five inches wide (and whatever height it needs to be to be proportional). Write your caption, including photo credit, beneath the photo. Turn the assignment in using the usual method for our class.

NOTE: I do NOT need the original, high-resolution photo for this assignment.

To see how this assignment will be assessed, see: Rubric: Photo with Caption Evaluation

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An Interview with Kneale Mann

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Kneale Mann shared his thoughts with me on social media, solid writing skills, the importance of commenting on others’ blogs and more.

As stated on his blog One Mann’s Opinion,

“Kneale is a twenty-six year marketing and media veteran who provides business, marketing and social media strategy for small to medium sized private sector clients through YouIntegrate.

“He is also a marketing and social media strategistic with the Centre of Excellence for Public Sector Marketing for public sector, not-for-profit and association clients.”

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Social Media Paper :: PRCA 3030

Writing words.. by _StaR_DusT_.Due: April 14 by 11:59pm in GeorgiaVIEW

Worth: 150 points

For those students in Social Media for PR who choose not to complete a “Viral” Video as part of a team, there is another option. You can write a short paper on an aspect of social media in public relations. Topics for your paper could include virtually anything we’ve read about as part of our course; look through A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization: Strategies, Tactics, and Tools for Succeeding in the Social Web or Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social technologies for ideas. Consider what’s most interesting to you or what you are most passionate about. Even consider what’s most confusing about social media. You could write a case study or a literature review, if you wish, as your paper.

Please let me know how you plan to complete this assignment (video or paper) by March 29 by using this Google Form. And e-mail me with your potential topic when you have determined what you might like to write about.

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Social Media Resume Assignment :: PRCA 3030

Due: April 28 by 11:59pm in GeorgiaVIEW

Worth: 200 points

Social Media Resume Assignment

One of the ways college grads are helping to market themselves is through creating a social media resume. Dan Schwabel shares some excellent advice on social media resumes in a blog post at Mashable.

Using a free online site like Wix, Weebly, VisualCV, Google Sites or a new WordPress blog, create a social media resume for yourself.

At a minimum, include/embed the following:

  • At least two SlideShare or Prezi presentations you have created (one can be the Trade Book Review you did for this class)
  • One podcast (it can be the one you did for this class)
  • Three work samples (such as PDFs of news releases, brochures, newsletters, ads, etc.) — NOTE: If you have no client work yet, then substitute in at least two items from the Optional list below
  • A hyperlink to your blog
  • Hyperlinks to at least three of your favorite blog posts that you have written (to highlight your writing skills in digital media)
  • A PDF of your traditional resume
  • A hyperlink to your LinkedIn profile

Optional items to enhance your social media resume include:

  • A selection of  photos you have taken, to show your photography skills
  • Links to client work you have produced
  • Links to the social bookmarks you have created
  • Links to Facebook fan pages or groups that you have created and maintain
  • A Wordle of key words that describe you
  • The “Viral” Video you created for this class (if you chose to do one), or another video you have created
  • A social media monitoring report that you have created (to show your social media research skills)
  • A short video in which you introduce yourself to potential employers
  • A link to your Twitter stream (but only if it’s 100% appropriate for a potential employer to view)

NOTE: If you are in my PR Practicum class this semester, this assignment can also serve as your Portfolio.

Here’s a short video that explains this assignment further. NOTE: There may be minor changes/clarifications to this assignment here in this blog post that were not addressed fully in the video.

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