From CV to resume – presenting your skills for non-academic jobs

Dana and David Dornsife CollegeDepartment of English

February 22nd4 pm

Johannes V. SchmittPhD Candidate – USC

Today’s Agenda:

1. Career Development (transferable skills, personal branding, etc.)2. Short case study: Humanities

Ph.D.s at Google3. CV vs. Resume4. Online Resources

The career development process

1. Discover your strengths

2. Communicate these strengths to others (resume)

3. Seek opportunities

What have I learned during my years in grad school?

‘I have learned to be very effective – I can pull off a presentation on almost any area on a very short deadline.’

‘I won’t have people fool me. I can tell if people know what they are talking about. Through constant interaction with students I have developed a very good sense of how committed someone is to a project or a goal.’

‘I have learned to be persistent – I have learned to deal with negative feedback and failure and not let it bring me down.’

‘Philosophy has helped me become both a critical and a strategic thinker. It has helped me become a critical thinker because it shaped my ability to identify important questions and raise issues in organizational environments, issues that people with a more technical training are not always aware of, e.g. ‘Why do things have to be done this way?’ It has helped me become a strategic thinker because it has pushed me to think hard about how things could be done otherwise.’

Transferable Skills

Higher level skills can be acquired more easily

Personal skills tend to be harder to change

(Transferable) Skills that English Ph.D.s may have The ability to present research to peers speak in public manage time (and other scarce resources) reach and defend independent conclusions communicate through writing focus all energies on one project cope with negative feedback identify problems that have not been identified before make novel contributions to research and discussion effectively monitor others’ learning processes

? Ability to work in a team

Developing a personal brand

Get exposure

‘Stalk’ mentors

Build networks

Developing a brand

Case study: What role can humanities Ph.D.s play in technology firms?

http://youtu.be/RkLFtiY8MRs?t=16m45s

CV vs. Resume

CV

Audience: Fellow academics or researchers in your field of study

When used: For academic positions and research positions in government and industry

Length: highly flexible (3-10 pages)

Goal: Present a full history of your academic credentials; teaching: research; awards and services

Focus: Representing your academic achievements and your scholarly potential

Contents: Full list of professional and educational history

Essential: List of publications, presentations, teaching experience, education, training, honors, grants

Specificity: CV’s need less alteration to fit each specific job opening

References: Usually listed at the end of the CV

Resume

Audience: General audience of employers seeking to hire for a variety of positions

When used: Positions in business and industry and the non-profit sector

Length: 1 - 2 pages

Goal: Present a snapshot of your skills and experience that communicates the ability to perform the job you seek

Focus: representing experiences: job-related, extracurricular and volunteer, accomplishments, and skills you’ve used

Contents: summary of experiences and skills most pertinent to position

Essential: Skills and experiences related to the job you seek

Specificity: Resumes should be adapted to fit each specific job you are applying

References: Usually not listed on a resume

Resume Bullets Focus on Experience – experience trumps

education Bury your Ph.D. credentials unless they are

clearly relevant Find novel and exciting ways to describe your

teaching activities Use Action verbs and don’t repeat them Focus on outcomes rather than processes Remember your ‘brand proposition’ ‘One page, two points, three sections’ (Guy

Kamasake)

Other ResourcesGeneral:

Versatile PhDThe Sellout (Mark Johnson)Basalla and Debelius: ‘So what are you going

to do with that?’LinkedIn groups

USC –specific resources:

• CET Events• Career Center Resources• Classes at Annenberg,

Marshall etc.

Questions and Activities

Take 5 minutes to create or re-create 2 resume bullets describing one of your recent achievements