BY KELSEY PURCELL, FEATURES ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
Employees of the Career and Professional Readiness Center can help students write cover letters, re-format their résumés and practice mock interviews for jobs or internships. The center will be open over the summer for virtual appointments to help with internship search, interview practice, graduate school applications, résumé writing and more.
The center is located on the second floor of the Reilly Center. Mary Pezzimenti, Molly Moretti and Ashley Scholla are career counselors available to help students with any career or professional problems or questions.
Sydney Flaitz, a sophomore health science major, has used the center for help formatting her résumé and for major exploration.
“Having a neat and organized résumé is key if you want to be hired for a job,” she said.
The workers at the center can improve résumés by helping with wording and descriptions, fixing the formatting, and making them easier for employers to read, said Flaitz.
As the summer approaches students are looking for internships and jobs. They have to update their résumés, write cover letters and prepare for interviews to earn these positions.
Sometimes it can be a challenge trying to fit every accomplishment and experience onto one page of a résumé. Cover letters may sound redundant or boring. It can be hard for students to find the right words to express what they are trying to say.
Some may be stressed about how to answer questions in an interview or be afraid of panicking and stumbling their words in front of the hiring manager. Luckily, St. Bonaventure University has a great center to help students with all of these situations.
There are also tools available on Handshake such as guides or templates for résumés, cover letters, interviews, internship search, career exploration, networking, graduate school preparation, job search and more.
Students can schedule appointments with the center’s staff members through Handshake. They need to sign in to the website, click on the career center in the top right corner, then click appointments. After clicking schedule new appointment, students can choose what type of appointment they need. Appointments can be made for résumé help, cover letter writing, interview practice, changing majors, career exploration, networking card creation and more.
Appointments with the center’s staff during the school year can be in person in the Reilly Center or even from the comfort of a student’s own room through the virtual option on Handshake. Screen-sharing technology makes it really easy for students and staff to work together virtually on résumés and cover letters. The center’s services are even available for alumni to use as well.
Students looking for an internship or a summer job should consider enlisting the help of the center’s employees. Improving résumés, writing cover letters and preparing for interviews could be essential in order to get that internship or job.
