SU Alumni Association

SHIP Alumni Career Newsletter

August 2016 Edition

August 4, 2016
In This Issue
The Ship Journey, Melissa Mimna '08
Highlighted Jobs
Networking Opportunity for Young Alumni
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Quick Links
Welcome to the August edition of the Alumni Career Newsletter!
Employer Perspective
Make Your Resume Stand Out in the Crowd! 
With the unemployment rate still struggling, the competition for the few jobs that are available gets tougher. You are no longer applying for a job with 10 people but now hiring professionals have received 5 times the applications for that one job. With the competition being so tight it is imperative that you make your resume stand out. Recognized by all career professionals is the fact that those sifting through the piles of resumes review each resume for approximately 30 seconds. With this in mind, many people ask, "how can I enhance my resume to grab the attention of the HR professional quickly?"  Follow these simple tips.
  1. Use a profile or professional summary at the top of your resume. Your profile immediately follows your contact information and it should be 3-5 important qualifications, skills or characteristics  you want the employer to know about you that makes them want to keep reading. For example: Fundraising professional with over 5 years of experience in the fields of Education, Legal Services and other non-profits organizations. Experience in all areas of management and administration of Annual Funds, Major Gifts, and Planned Giving. Extensive knowledge and proven success with the grant writing process. Known as a conscientious professional with excellent communication, interpersonal and organizational skills and a knack for building relationships for the purpose of fundraising. Another example might be: Performance-driven professional with proven success in process and business analysis, training development and execution, and Information Technology (IT) adoption in Public Sector, Health and Human Services industries. Experienced working in client-driven, fast-paced collaborative environments. The profile can be in a paragraph form as the two above examples or in bullet form, whatever is more consistent with the remainder of your resume. 
  2. Talk about your accomplishments not job responsibilities.  Hiring professionals want to know what you have accomplished and how successful you have been at previous jobs. To get this point across, use numbers as examples when possible. For instance, if you were responsible for increasing sales during the time in your current position then you could say "increased sales by 10% during past fiscal year" or if you are a human resource professional and you developed and implemented a new program that increased retention of your employees you could say "increased retention of employees by 23% through implementation of new recognition program."
  3. Keep it relevant.  Be sure that you put the most important and relevant information on your resume at the top.  You don't necessarily have to list your information in chronological order.  If you were laid off from your management position a few months back and you are working in landscaping over the summer to pay the bills, you don't have to list the landscaping position that doesn't relate to your management background first. Instead, create two separate categories, a related experience category and an additional experience category. You can put all of your management experience  in the related experience category and you can put the landscaping, non-management related positions in the additional experience category. Creating two categories and separating out your information assists the employer with reading quickly and points out to them the direct experience that you have. To check if you have the most relevant information standing out, have a friend read your resume for 30 seconds. After the 30 seconds is up, ask them what they remember. If it is the information you wanted them to remember then you have the relevant information where it needs to be. However, if they don't remember the items that you were trying to emphasize then you might want to reformat your resume. Do this several times with different individuals.
There are many other tips on ways to make your resume stand out. If you need assistance with crafting or revising your resume or other career assistance, please contact Alumni Relations at alumni@ship.edu . We can help you create the best representation of your skills, experiences and abilities on paper.

Hiring Ship Alumni: Highlighted Job Postings
These companies are looking to hire Ship alumni. You can find out more about these opportunities as well as other opportunities on SHIP Career Connection. Learn how to access SHIP Career Connection at http://www.ship.edu/Alumni/ACES/Job_Postings/ 

Manager, Finance,Rex Energy, State College
Conducts and documents moderate to complex financial, economic, and statistical analysis. Aids in reporting requirements to the board of directors. Develops and monitors financial plans. Assists in the analysis of financial data and extracts and defines relevant information. Reviews costs and performs cost benefit analysis related to projects and/or programs. Develops financial reports for forecasting, trending, and results analysis. Uses various software applications, such as spreadsheets, relational databases, statistical packages and graphics packages to assemble, manipulate and format data/reports. Bachelor's Degree in Finance, Accounting or similar. Prior experience in the oil and gas industry a plus. Apply at: http://rexenergy.com/opportunities.html.

Graphic Designer,OPEN MINDS 
Our work is expanding here at OPEN MINDS and we're looking to add another graphic designer to our team. The person we're looking for has demonstrated experience producing high-level professional reports and publications, presentations, and advertisements. This requires expert skills using Adobe Creative Design Suite. We'll design the position to suit the great candidate. The position can be full-time or part-time/contractor - and located anywhere in the continental U.S. For more information, refer to www.openminds.com. Interested candidates should contact Josue Santoyo at jsantoyo@openminds.com with a letter of interest and resume.
 
Account Executive, iHeart Media, Lancaster 
Account Executive Trainee, PLS Logistics Services, Philadelphia
Internal Auditor, Campus Door Holdings, Inc., Carlisle
Veterans' Affairs Community Outreach and Events Coordinator, Franklin County Gov't, Chambersburg 
Upcoming Fall Ship Sponsored Career Fair
October 4 - Career Fair, Ship Rec. 1:00 - 4:00PM 
Bring your resume and come professionally dressed. Register in advance by sending an e-mail to alumni@ship.edu. Free and open to all SU alumni.
Pass It On
Please feel free to forward this alumni career newsletter to any Ship alumni friends. Reach out to alumni@ship.edu for career assistance.
Alumni Relations
Shippensburg University Alumni Association
717-477-1218
717-477-4071 (Fax)