Students polish résumés, prepare for success

Students polish résumés, prepare for success

Students polish résumés, prepare for success

More than 40 students and staff members attended Delta Epsilon Chi’s Sept. 11 opening meeting.

Joining with their mission of helping students develop their professional skills, Delta Epsilon Chi hosted Christy White, employment coordinator at Leggett & Platt’s corporate office for its opening meeting. White offered tips for job hunting students and designing a résumé.

“I’m a pretty recent graduate so I know what it’s like to sit on your side of the table,” White said. “And I’m also working in HR so I also know what it’s like to sit on the employer’s side.”

White works with new hires and reads through résumés for hourly positions. She sees many résumé mistakes and most fall into common categories like, inaccurate or unprofessional information. Once White received a résumé from a college student who had used a residence hall number for contact information and then graduated and moved away. She was able to reach the student by e-mail, but urged students to check for simple mistakes which could prevent them from getting a job. White said students should make sure they have a professional e-mail address instead of something like “pink princess” or “football stud.”

“It only takes five minutes to get a new hotmail or gmail account,” White said.

She also recommended that students check their voice mail, and ringback tones to see if they will leave a professional first impression. Employers check résumés for project experience similar to the job and prefer them formatted in bulleted lists and not paragraph form. White encouraged students to be honest with their experience and scholastic record.

“We always check everything you put on your résumé,” White said. “I know you don’t think we do but we do.”

Since most students do not have much experience right out of school White recommends highlighting experiences in internships and class assignments. Research on the company applied for can come in handy.

“It’s really impressive if you can look up information and drop that during the course of the interview,” White said. Aiming for the right job can be an incremental experience, building work experience and business contacts. White holds a degree in agricultural business and she works in human resources.

“My background has nothing to do with what I’m doing now but that happens a lot,” she said.

Finding a job that fit her took some time. Many young people right out of school try for that management position, but White says it takes time to move up the ladder.

“Don’t be discouraged if you do not get your dream job right out of college,” she said.

Aimed at students interested in marketing, management and entrepreneurship DEX membership is $35 a year, all students are welcome to join. The group plans to attend conferences in Lake of the Ozarks and New York during the course of the semester.