So, you’re graduating. Now what?
My academic career is coming to a close. A week from now, I will no longer be a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and will transition into the welcoming title of alumnus. I’m excited and nervous for what the future holds — especially with regards to my career. Thankfully, UMBC offers help for graduating students (and alumni) through their Career Center, which I visited last week, along with my resume and a cover letter tailored to fit the following job posting (which I found through LinkedIn):
An entry-level photography position for a national estate auction house. This seems right up my alley, given my internship at a local antiques mall which had me creating mini-profiles of hundreds of unique and interesting items over the course of the Fall 2017 semester. Lindsey Pollak encourages recent grads to “pursue every angle and be open to any possible avenue”, so this job would be great (Pollak 235).
So I went to the career center, resume and cover letter in-hand, and have a sit down with Kacie Lawrence, one of the Career Center’s advisers whose guidance throughout the semester has been very helpful for me.
Kacie immediately pointed out something which Pollak echoes — the importance of having “resumes customized to the companies” you’ll be applying to (238). Thankfully, my resume and cover letter seemed to be good for my chosen position. She said they reflected the creativity of a position like a photographer, while highlighting my pertinent skills.
While I won’t take time to go into every detail Kacie went over with me, I will list some of the things that stood out to me:
- Tailor your skills to reflect the job posting
- Add technical skills, when appropriate
- Add pertinent projects to your resume, and list the skills they emphasize
- Add relevant coursework, emphasis on *RELEVANT*
Another important point worth noting on its own (and the most surprising of them all, to me): avoid using -ING words. Her reason for this was that the -ING ending removes some of the declarative, authoritative voice a resume ought to have.
Kacie told me that my work with the antiques mall is great for building skills and professional relationships, and I believe Pollak would agree with her as she says that working with small businesses “make[s] you marketable to larger organizations you may want to work for in the future” (243).
While I have yet to implement these changes in my current, non-pointed resume, I am very thankful to have relieved these pointers, as well as the entirety of my internship and practicum classes — all of which have been incredibly helpful to me in shaping my career and aiming me in the right direction.
So, even though I’m nervous for the future, I’m taking Pollak’s advice and “embrac[ing] this exciting time in [my] life” (362). I’m not sure what the future holds after graduation, but I feel prepared and ready to find out!
