Professional Portfolio

Resume

A resume provides a summary of your education, work history, credentials, and other accomplishments and skills. There are also optional sections, including a resume objective and a career summary statement. Most resumes in the United States are competency-based: they are personal marketing documents intended to showcase the candidate's skills, notable achievements, and work experience to the greatest advantage. In order to keep the pages to a minimum a resume typically focuses on a person's most recent employment. 

Types of Resumes

• Chronological Resume

• Functional Resume
  

• Combination Resume
  

TIP: Resumes often include bulleted lists to keep information concise.

Curriculum Vitae

A curriculum vitae (CV) provides a summary of your experience and skills. Typically, CVs for entry-level candidates are longer than resumes-at least two or three pages. CVs for mid-level candidates who have amassed numerous publications tend to run much longer. U.S. curriculum vitae, submitted for jobs in academia, scientific research, and medical fields, are credential-based, providing a comprehensive (and often lengthy) listing of one's education, certifications, research experience, and professional affiliations and memberships.

TIP: Start by making a list of all your background information, and then organize it into categories.

Source: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/cv-vs-resume-2058495#toc-what-is-a-curriculum-vitae

Portfolio

Also called a "career portfolio," "job portfolio" or "professional portfolio," a work portfolio is a way to display a comprehensive collection of your best work to potential employers. Your portfolio can contain proof of your skills, samples, visual demonstrations of your craft and letters of recommendation along with your resume. Portfolios are commonly required during the hiring process for jobs in the art, design, publishing and tech industries.

 Some jobs that may require a portfolio include:

• Photographer
• Graphic designer
• Software developer
• Writer
• Editor
• Creative director
• Model
• Videographer
• Artist
• Makeup artist
• Cosmetologist

Source: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/build-your-work-portfolio

Resume Construction Overview

Contact Information

• Your Name
• Your Address
• Phone Number
• Email Address 

TIP: Try to use an email that is professional, it is free to  make a Gmail Account I make a separate one that's for professional purposes like job hunting. Be sure to use some variation of your name that is most common for work emails. An example is if you are John Smith then create an email that says J.Smith (number) or jsmith (number) or johnsmith (number). Save the hereisjohnny98 that you might have made as a kid as just for personal emails. 

Professional Overview

Start out with a paragraph summary of your professional background. It is optional to include personal information like family, passion, or hobby. Be sure to include though your educational background, current licenses or titles that you hold, and any applicable skills you 've gained from any previous positions that you've held that fulfill the job expectations you are applying for. To accomplish this I am sure to read the job description and look especially at any required items the employers is asking for. Job listings usually contain required and preferred skills the employer is looking for:

• Indicate your main job skills
• The position you are applying for
• The company you are applying to

Documenting Experience

How to Keep your Resume to the Preferred One Page

Create an inventory. 

• List your responsibilities and your achievements in great detail. Your inventory document might span as many as three or four pages. Try to include a diverse spectrum of skills that have led to successes in each role. 

Match your qualifications to the job. 

• Analyze each job that you are considering and circle the statements that correspond most closely to the requirements for that particular position. 

Start long and cut back. 

• If so, try to eliminate statements that provide less significant evidence regarding how you would add value to the role, until you get down to one page. 

Use a bulleted list and keep your job descriptions concise. 

• Focus on your accomplishments, not your daily responsibilities. 
• This is where you want to look at job listings to tailor your resume to the specific skills being looked for by the employer. 

Skip the references. 

• It's not necessary to say "references available upon request" on your resume. 
• Rather just submit the resume and it is implied that you can supply references. Only if the job listing specifically requests that you place your references on your resume should you include references. 

Required (Items the employer is looking to make sure that every candidate has):

• Licenses
• Educational Level
• Certifications

Preferred (Items the employer would like to see in candidates, but they are not required for the specific job being applied for):

• Speak a certain language
• Trainings

Cover Letter Tips

Do your research first.

• Before you start writing, find out more about the company and the specific job you want.

Focus it on the future.

• While your résumé is meant to be a look back at your experience and where you've been, the cover letter should focus on the future and what you want to do, says Glickman.

Open Strong

• Lead with a strong opening sentence. "Start with the punch line - why this job is exciting to you and what you bring to the table," says Glickman. For example, you might write, "I'm an environmental fundraising professional with more than 15 years of experience looking for an opportunity to apply my skills in new ways, and I'd love to bring my expertise and enthusiasm to your growing development team.

Emphasize your personal value.

• Hiring managers are looking for people who can help them solve problems. Drawing on the research you did earlier, show that you know what the company does and some of the challenges it faces.

Convey enthusiasm.

• "When you don't get hired, it's usually not because of a lack of skills," says Glickman. "It's because people didn't believe your story, that you wanted the job, or that you knew what you were getting into." Hiring managers are going to go with the candidate who has made it seem like this is their dream job. So make it clear why you want the position.

Watch the tone.

• At the same time, don't go overboard with the flattery or say anything you don't mean. Authenticity is crucial.

Keep it short.

• Much of the advice out there says to keep it under a page. But both Glickman and Lees say even shorter is better.

Get feedback.

• In fact, it's a great idea to share your cover letter with a few people, says Lees. Rather than sending it off and asking, "What do you think?" be specific about the kind of feedback you want.

Tip: No Cover Letter Space? Then place it in your Professional Summary in your resume section. 

Sample Resume

Case Study

• The applicant in this case mentioned being able to use the Cerner System to navigate patient charts and document patient care. Indicating that they are comfortable with this specific system.
• They performed nursing skills under the supervision of a registered nurse. This means the applicant had to have their job duties reviewed and approved by a licensed individual who can attest to the work done.
• Work alongside others as a team to provide efficient and quality patient care. The applicant observed that the hospital they are applying to champions themselves on patient care, which they decided to emphasize in their experience section. 

References

Reference Tips

Try not to ask family or friends, try to stick with people who have seen you do work in a professional capacity in some form or fashion. Even teachers can be asked to be references, so it is always a good idea to put your best work forward in school even because that one teacher who sees that you demonstrate good time management, professional conduct in class, and are responsible could serve as a reference in the future. It is important that you alert your references that you are in fact job hunting and ask to list them as a reference. This gives you the opportunity to also let them know to look out for a call from an employer. Some employers will send email links to forms to fill out regarding a reference, so it's always good to include preferred phone and emails from your references so they are prepared for either respectively.

Previous job listings are very helpful for listing skills acquired, so even when you get a job I like to save the contract or my job listing so that I can emphasize the skills that I have gained on the job. 

Post-secondary institutions require and ask you for references when you apply, so get really good at being able to ask for references from supervisors or other individuals who can validate your work ethic to some capacity.

TIP: To help my references give a better overview of myself and history, I usually include my resume that I am submitting for the job to them as well. It gives them the opportunity to have a summary of you on hand for an interview whether on the phone or even typing up a reference online. Since your resume will be concise and specific, they will have a ready list of skills to emphasize for the job. 

Interview Questions

Projects 

Volunteering

Certificates/Trainings

Resume Checklist

Contact Information

• Name
• Address (City, State)
• Phone
• Email

Professional Objective or Summary

• What have you accomplished so far?
• What do you hope to accomplish on this job?

Education

• Have you attained your High School Degree yet?
• What level of education do you need to prepare to attain for your ultimate career goals?
• What skills have your learned while attending school that can be related to your job or the one that you are looking to apply to?

TIP: Soft Skills are still skills (i.e. being able to do time management, communication with your teachers and staff, conflict resolution when working in groups on projects with other students). There are also technical skills that apply like using Microsoft applications, google products.

Job Experience

• Where have you worked so are?
• What have you done on the job so far?
• What skills have you acquired through working those jobs?

Volunteer Experience

• Club or Community Organization that you have spent time with doing volunteer work.
• Sororities and other student organizations offer members opportunities to go out in the community to participate in community projects. 
• Volunteer work can provide people who lack experience in any field with an opportunity to start gaining professional experience while also helping your community. 
• Those that you work under can serve as references as well, just be sure to ask permission first before listing them in your reference page. 

Certifications or Trainings

• There are always trainings for Basic Life Skills which and can be required for certain jobs. 
• Being certified in CPR or de-escalation is high valuable for many employers so if you have had any trainings maybe in previous employment with special topics then include those. 
• If a job listing is requesting that they want a specific certification or training, then be sure to include that somewhere on your resume if you have the certification. 

Special Projects

• Academic Projects in school that involves certain work skills like coordination or interacting with the community at large to get specific goals accomplished. 
• Research that involves members of the project going out to do interviews with community members for data collection.
• Focus on putting projects that demonstrate your job skills for the specific job that you are applying for.