Career Prep: Resume Revamp & Career Fair

Posted April 20, 2022 by Katie Dillon

April in Boston means occasional sun, occasionally moderate temperatures, and more than occasional networking opportunities!

Besides a slew of conferences over the next few months, the Simmons SLIS career fair was this past week. SLIS hosts the career fair virtually on Handshake, a networking app specifically for students and recent graduates. Since I’m still a year away from graduation, I used the career fair mainly as an opportunity to learn about a few potential future employers (and, of course, getting my name out there couldn’t hurt!). I’m on the fence about whether academic or corporate libraries would be the best fit for me, so I signed up for group info sessions for a few of each. I particularly enjoyed a session on Data Management services at the Harvard Medical School library – one of my favorite information science topics from a library on Simmons’ back doorstep!

Naturally, I want to put my best foot forward. The Simmons Career Education Center has plenty of advice, but I’ve learned a lot from other sources, too. In March I had the pleasure of helping to organize and run an SLA@Simmons event called “Resume Revamp”, a speed-dating style resume review where students could get feedback from currently employed Special Librarians. Between resume review sessions, we had some great group discussions about how to stand out in the hiring process; I thought I’d share a few of our best tips:

• Craft a story in your resume and cover letter – What are your most impressive skills and qualifications? How did you achieve them? What do you want to do with those skills in the future?
• Quantify your accomplishments and be specific whenever possible. When applying for a specific job, pull phrases from the posting to tailor your materials.
• Proofread, proofread, proofread!

Now that I have a solid resume crafted and the career fair under my belt, it’s time to enjoy the summer networking season!