Tutorial 4 - Ali

1. COMM 202Tutorial 4: Resumes & Personal Branding
LAPTOPS & PHONES AWAY! NAME TENTS OUT!
t21+ T28

2. AGENDA For today
Personal Branding
Resumes
Action Items

3. Course Timeline
Skills matrix due Friday!
week 6 week 10week 7 week 9week 8
• tutorial:
resumes /
cover letters
• due: skills
matrix final
submission (6
success
stories, 2
failure stories)
• tutorial:
resume &
cover letter
peer review
• due: 2 copies
of resume
draft & cover
letter draft &
job posting
• tutorial:
LinkedIn /
networking
• due: LinkedIn
due before
class
• tutorial: event
networking /
informational
interviews
• Due: cover
letter &
resume due
Tuesday,
March 7th @
2:00PM
• networking
event on
March 9th
reading break

4. Describe these
BRANDS

5. What’s their brand?

6. What is your
BRAND?

7. Activity
• Take 2 min to write down 4-5 words that describe you
– Have them be related to your skills, personality, etc.
THINK LIKE THIS:
IF YOU HAD JUST 30 SECONDS TO DESCRIBE WHO YOU
ARE..
WHAT WOULD YOU SAY?

8. Your brand
Appears everywhere

9. The application process
Cover Email Resume & Cover Letter interview Get Hired!

10. Resume vs. Cover Letter

11. Resume is about you
Cover Letter is about them!

12. CAN-WANT-FIT
CAN you do
the job?
Do you
WANT
the job?
Are you
the right
FIT?

13. Elements of a resume
profile education
work &
volunteer
experience
personal formatting branding

14. Formatting
Be consistent
Font size, font style,
spacing, bullet
points, alignment,
punctuation, date &
abbreviation format,
hyphens vs dashes
First impression
Pick a colour
scheme
(if you don’t want
black-and-white,
which is also fine)
and use white space
wisely; be concise
with your resume
page count
Third person
Always speak in third
person and maintain
a professional tone;
no slang or personal
pronouns (he, she,
we, I)
Proofread
No grammar
mistakes, typos,
spelling errors -
proofread then
proofread again

15. Header
• Name is preferred name with (given name) in brackets
• Phone and address are included
• Linkedin URL is personalized

16. Profile/Key Competencies
What is it? No more than 4 line summary of what to expect in your resume
Key questions:
• Does it match the job posting (multiple references)?
• Does it provide a clear, convincing link to the rest of the resume (i.E. Is there
PROOF elsewhere in the document?)
What to include?
• Strengths, past experiences, interests, languages, technical skills

17. Another example

18. Education
What is it? Summary of your schooling journey
Key questions:
• Is there any ambiguity with respect to the info provided?
• Does it match the job description?

19. Education
What to include?
• Degree (write it out fully) and specialization
• GPA –score/%/letter grade, indicating the school scale
• No laundry lists of courses: only specific, relevant courses
• Key/relevant projects and awards: write in accomplishment statement form
• Don’t include high school stuff unless you’re still in first year!

20. Work Experience
What is it? Collection of relevant experiences – the real meat
Key questions:
• Are experiences achievement based?
• Do numbers clearly quantify achievements where appropriate?
• Do statements have accomplishment, proof, transferrable skills, and scope of action?
• Does language indicate familiarity with industry/company? Does it match the job description?

21. Work experience
What to include?
• Reverse chronological order by end date
• You can include explanation sentences of companies/experiences if
necessary
• Written in third person
• Keep it to one sentence (2 lines is best)
• Accomplishment statements as bullet points

22. RATS STATEMENTS

23. STAR to RATS…
From STAR stories to RATS statements
Employers don’t want to read your story on your
resume, they want to read your accomplishments

24. FLIP it!
Result
Action
Task
Situation

25. Start with an accomplishment verb
ATTAINED
EXCEEDED
ELIMINATED
INCREASED
DECREASED
MAXIMIZED
MINIMIZED
REDUCED
SAVED
SURPASSED
IMPROVED
CREATED
GENERATED
ENHANCED
OPTIMIZED
ESTABLISHED

26. Results
Qualitative
• ***Be descriptive
• Positive feedback
• Promotion/increase in
responsibilities
• Implementation
• Awards
Quantitative
• How much?
• How many?
• Numbers / percentages

27. ACtion
DO YOUR RESULTS MATCH UP WITH
YOUR ACTIONS?
ARE THOSE SKILLS RELEVANT TO THE
JOB?
WHAT SKILLS DID YOU SEE?

28. Situation & task
WHAT WAS THE CHALLENGE?
PAINT THE SETTING (WHO, WHAT,
WHERE?)
DESCRIBE THE CONTEXT

29. Duty-based vs. accomplishment (RATS)
Duty-based
Responsible for
contacting corporate
clients and organizing a
tournament
Accomplishment
VS.

30. Duty-based vs. accomplishment (RATS)
Duty-based
Responsible for
contacting corporate
clients and organizing a
tournament
Accomplishment
VS.
this is a
job description!

31. Duty-based vs. accomplishment (RATS)
Duty-based
Responsible for
contacting corporate
clients and organizing a
tournament
VS.
this is a
job description!
Accomplishment
Achieved 85% client
retention rate by
establishing relationships
with key corporate
clients and providing a
well organized,
personally tailored
tournament experience

32. RATS Statement example
achieved 85% client retention rate by
establishing relationships with key corporate
clients and providing a well organized,
personally tailored tournament experience
RESULT

33. RATS Statement example
achieved 85% client retention rate by
establishing relationships with key corporate
clients and providing a well organized,
personally tailored tournament experience
ACTION + TASK

34. RATS Statement example
achieved 85% client retention rate by
establishing relationships with key corporate
clients and providing a well organized,
personally tailored tournament experience
SITUATION

35. One more example
Results
Actions Task/situation
Led varsity volleyball team to the pacwest BC provincial
championship gold medal by exemplifying camaraderie
and teamwork in both practices and high-pressure games

36. Moving on to
interests

37. Interests
ARE YOU CATERING TO
YOUR AUDIENCE?
GOAL:
SHOWCASE PERSONALITY &
DIFFERENTIATE YOURSELF!
HOW DO YOU WANT
TO BE REMEMBERED?

38. Interests
What is it? A chance to showcase your personality & stand out
Key questions:
• Do the interests show personality? Are they specific? Are they relevant to the
job (not always necessary)?
• Do they differentiate the candidate? Are they memorable?
What to include?
• Side interests & hobbies
• Cool personal experiences
• Be fun, specific, and stay appropriate
*Note for the candidate: be able to speak about these interests extensively!

39. interests

40. branding
Does this reflect your
personal brand?
If the employer were to describe
you based on your resume or
cover letter would they perceive
you the way you want to be
perceived?
Does this align with your
employer’s brand?
Investment banks will look for
different personal brands from
advertising agencies. Are you
tailoring the best and most
applicable parts of yourself to the
company?

41. Tips to help you get that
“A”

42. TIP #1

43. TIP #2

44. TIP #3

45. HOW TO GET AN ‘A’
• Ask friends for feedback!
• Sign-up and show up to Office Hours!
• Work on your cover letter everyday for
20 minutes!

46. Some admin stuff…
• Turnitin registration:
• T21 CLASS ID: 14562161
• T28 CLASS ID: 14562172
• Password for both is: comm202
• Family day holiday:
• Make up classes: same time wednesday
• Or any other tutorial that week

47. One last
thing

48. Action items
1. Skills Matrix due Feb 10th @ 11:59PM
on TURNITIN
2. SIGN UP FOR OFFICE HOURS
3. Resume & cover letter draft due next
tutorial…bring 2 copies + job posting
4. Have an awesome week