This is a presentation that I have prepared for the Korean Commerce Student Association of University of British Columbia, located in Vancouver, BC, Canada. I was the presenter for two career development workshops - Resumes and Cover Letter, and LinkedIn.

1. Resumes and Cover Letters
STREERING CAREER SUCCESS ON THE DRIVER’S SEAT
KCSA Workshop #1 on Advancing Professionally:
#1 Resume and Cover Letters Workshop
#2 Maximizing your social presence through LinkedIn
(November 5, 2013)

2. About Me
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
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Research Analyst, RCI Capital Group (Dec 2011 – Present)
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Summer Analyst, Credit Risk, Standard Chartered Bank
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Investment Banking Summer Analyst, Nomura Holdings International
CAREER ADVANCEMENTS
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Finalist, National Investment Banking Competition (2010, 2013)
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Finalist, Pacific Venture Capital Competition (2013)
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Founder, UBC-SFU Investment Banking Study Group
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Founder, UBC Korean Commerce Student Association (est. 2009)

3. Why are resumes and cover letters important?
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Your resume is your professional life… in one page (or two)
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The cover letter is something that is more „humane‟ and unique
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Sometimes, cover letters are a judge of your writing skills
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This is not a CV – Curriculum Vitae is a more comprehensive
document
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In any North American career advancement process, you need at
least your resume to begin your professional life

4. What is a good resume?

5. What is a good resume?

6. What is a good resume?

7. What is a good resume?
Skills?
Interests?

8. What to include
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Your name, e-mail, address, home address, phone number accurately
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Company names and dates
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Job titles
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Job responsibilities
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Licenses and certifications
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Education
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Patents and publications
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Professional groups
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Languages

9. What not to include
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The word Resume at the top of the page or References Available Upon Request at
the end
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Reason for leaving a job
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Salary requirements/ history
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Religious or political organizations
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Negative information

10. Seriously, watch out for…
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Your font. No one wants to read your name in this font.
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Margins. You have some freedom here… but there are some that are unrealistic.
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Colors. These are rare mistakes, but these uncommon mistakes will most definitely
make your chances of getting a job – at best – uncommon.

11. An example of a poorly written job description

12. “Good to include” – skills and interests
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What are your interests?
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What do you do as a hobby? Soccer? Yoga? Singing? Etc.
What are your volunteering interests (if any)?
What skill sets do you have?
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Computer Skills (programming, MS Office, Photoshop, etc.)
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Job-specific skills (Science/Engineering students will have labs/procedures that
you can perform. Business – build your own skills.)

13. Final thoughts on resumes
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The goal is to provide an ‘outline’ of you in one page. Always keep this in mind.
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When you think that you don’t have anything to write:
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Private Tutoring… this is one of the things that I hate seeing on resumes.
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Yes. Military service is a qualifying work experience.
Go out there. Be involved.
Set schedules to revise your resumes, at least twice a year.
And aim to have something meaningful on your resume, by the time that revision
schedule comes around.

14. Cover Letters
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The truth is, people don’t really read them.
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But if you don’t have one – then the recruiters will look for one. If you don’t have
one, it’s a minus for you, but if you do, it’s not necessarily a plus.
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There are exceptions…
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Your cover letter is like a well-written essay
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But it’s not about yourself – it should be specific to every employer. Show that:
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You know about the employer, and your genuine interest
Show that you actually read the job description

15. The typical format
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Introduction
How did you hear about the job?
• Why are you interested?
• In short, why do you deserve this job?
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Your body paragraphs
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This depends. Who are you addressing it to? Who is reading your cover letter?
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The bored CEO
The overstaffed entry-level HR professional
Your potential team members

16. The typical format
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Conclusion
Not your average conclusion…
• Summarize your skills and interest.
• State that you are interested, and how to contact you.
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Personally signed letters are the best. Leave an impression.
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Electronic submissions to e-mail accounts should be in PDF formats.
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Get your cover letters proofread for spelling, flow, and message.
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This should be more important than your 5% written assignment for class that
you would sell your soul for free proofreading.

17. Final, final thoughts…
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Resumes and cover letters are the two most important pieces
of documents that you will write in your university life.
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It gets you a job. The expected value of these documents should be very, very high.
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Be involved. Go out there, join a club, start up a club, or do something otherwise
beneficial to your resume. This includes EVERYTHING ELSE related to career
development other than studying.
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Getting a job – build your network. NOTHING matters more than building your own
network when you are a fresh undergraduate from university.

18. Final, final thoughts…
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Reach out. By attending, you chose to utilize a resource that you have. You have
many others:
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Your KCSA execs. Reach out at ubckcsa@gmail.com
Your Career Centre. They get paid for helping you.
Your friends. At least someone would write better than you/willing to look at your
cover letter and resume.
Come to next week’s workshop. On November 5, 2013 -

19. Thank you. Any questions?