A Closer Look at Adelphi's Career Center

Jennifer Fauci, a senior English major, wrote her resume for the first time during her sophomore year at Adelphi University. Yet with only two years of college experience, and a bulk of her achievements stemming from high school, she had no idea where to start. So, she turned to the Internet for help.

"I used a lot of templates and Web sites to find out how to format my information to fit onto one presentable page," she said. "No professional help, just whatever Internet sources I had at hand."

Though she commutes to and from school, an easier route would have been to access Adelphi's Center for Career Development, a career counseling service helping students and alumni create resumes and prepare for job interviews.

It's always recommended to have an extra set of eyes, but students often neglect the professional career counseling staff found in Post Hall, who are available and trained to read over resumes through e-mail or by appointment. "People don't realize that their student activities fee here at the University pays for services like this," said Elaine Boylan, associate director of the Center for Career Development.

By visiting with or e-mailing one of the four career counselors, students can receive a full critique of their resume and can even request the center's handbook with sample resumes and cover letters inside.

"Your resume is the one document in your life that needs to be constantly and repeatedly updated. It's a live document and it should always reflect the honesty, accuracy and completeness of one's background," said Boylan, who stresses the importance of a strong, well-written resume.

On any given day, employers often spend anywhere between 15 to 30 seconds reading a resume, looking only for pieces of information that will peak their interest. It is essential, therefore, to keep a resume as concise as possible. Wordiness, too many bullet points, and not being specific enough, will often draw potential employers away.

"In addition, sometimes people have too much description and it's really not necessary," said Boylan. "And sometimes people express concern that if they don't put everything that they've ever done on their resume, that somehow that's lying. And it's not; lying is putting something on there that you never did."

Unless a student has more extensive experience, a resume should be no longer than one page in length, which is exactly why carefully picking and choosing the most important and relevant pieces of information are the key to success.

Boylan makes clear that there is not one specific way to create an ideal resume but each should always contain three basic categories: education, experience and skills. Students are not limited to these categories, however. Other topics include research (for medical students), publications (for journalism students) and student teaching (for education majors).

Other tips? Purchase special resume paper, which can be found at Staples, in either ivory, white, off-white or light gray. Pastel colors and decorative borders will only be thrown in the trash. Boylan also suggests paying close attention to the cover letter, which is equally as important as your resume.

"People don't spend quite as much time agonizing over their cover letter, but they should," said Boylan, "because their resume is not going to get read unless the person gets past their cover letter."

The Center for Career Development is open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and on Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. To schedule an appointment for resume or interview assistance, visit the center, call them at (516) 877 - 3130 or send an e-mail to careercounselor@adelphi.edu.

~Leslie Fazin