Your resume

Your resume and cover letter creates a picture of yourself on paper. "Resume" and "curriculum vitae" are usually used synonymously, but they are not the same.

A resume summarizes qualifications, education, experience, skills and other pertinent information. A curriculum vitae is a special type of resume traditionalized within the academic community which features degrees, teaching and research experience.

For your first position, you'll want to prepare a resume. Later in your career, if you pursue a life in academia, research or a similar endeavor, a curriculum vitae would be more appropriate.

Resume

Your resume should include the following items in this order:

• Heading: This tells who you are, and how you can be reached. Make sure that the information you provide is accurate and that you will be available to receive a response at that address. The heading should include a telephone number, a fax number, if available, and an e-mail address. Nothing will be more annoying to a prospective employer than not being able to reach you.

• Objective: This is a short, one-sentence statement describing the type of experience that you want to have in the veterinary practice or internship that you are seeking.

• Education: Beginning with your first post-high school institution, chronologically list all institutions you attended. State the years you attended and any degrees you earned. If you graduated with honors, note it here. Save other awards for later.

• Work Experience: This section usually includes all positions that you have held since graduation from high school. It may include volunteer as well as paid, especially if that work was related to animals and/or veterinary medicine. You can separate animal/veterinary-related positions from others or keep them together. The positions should be listed chronologically. After identifying each position, and where the position was located geographically, put a short statement or list of what your duties were. Use action words such as "assisted," "supervised," "directed," "accomplished" in describing your duties. If you had several positions with similar duties, don't repeat the list, but merely state, "same as ..." You may or may not put the name of your immediate supervisor for each position. This is not the same as using that person as a reference, but they might be contacted.

• Activities and accomplishments: These can be academic or non-academic awards or accomplishments, sports activities, student organizations you have belonged to or civic or community activities that you have been involved in. These will show your abilities to get along with others. If you have published or been involved in research, that could be included here or made into a separate category.

• Personal Interests: List what activities you like to do in your free time. This can be hiking, skiing, reading, traveling. Your new employer is going to want to employ someone who knows how to relax when not working.

• References: List the names of no more than three individuals who know you. Veterinary professors, especially if you are heading for an internship, family, friends, former employers, clergy all are good choices. If you know someone who knows the individual that you are applying for a position with, he or she would be a good choice. Add the address and, if possible, a phone number of your reference to this information. Make sure that the information you provide is correct and contact your reference for permission to use his or her name before you add it to your resume.

Make a plan

Now that you have this information, what do you do with it?

First, make a plan of your resume. You can create a format or use one from a word processing program. Your resume should, most certainly, be in typed format and not handwritten. You can also hire someone to produce the resume for you, using your information. At this point, this should not be necessary and might even be risky. Your resume should, in its final form, be a picture of you on paper. It will tell the person that you are hoping will employ you who you are, where you have gone to school, what work you have done and what activities you have been involved in, what interests you have and who knows you well enough to attest to it all. It will not get you a position, but it will get you in the door. Letting someone else prepare it, may produce something that will not be as effective as what you do yourself.

Next step

Next, make a draft of your resume. The following list includes do's and don'ts.

Do:

• Be sure there are no major time gaps in your history of education and work. If there are, explain them.

• Your resume should not be more than two typewritten pages. (Use two pages rather than cramming the information into one page, if necessary.)

• Pay attention to basic grammar, and by all means, do not misspell any words. One misspelled word could send your resume to a quick death in the trash.

According to the "Curriculum Vitae Handbook" by Anthony R. Roe, don't:

• Include personal data such as race, religion, ethnicity.

• Include age, date or place of birth.

• Include family information such as marital status, children or spouse's name or occupation.

• Include a picture. It would be illegal for a prospective employer to request this information on a resume or job application or an interview. At this stage, tell them what they need to know. Other information may come forth later either during the interview or after you have been offered the position.

• Enter anything you cannot prove.

• List as duties things you were not qualified to do.

Even if you did spay a cat or vaccinate a dog in a practice that you worked in while in college, do not say that you violated a law by doing so.

The next step will be to finalize and format your resume. Paper color will be your choice, but it should be a plain, pleasing color on good paper stock. Be sure to use a font that is easily readable and a font size of at least 11 point. Use only one font. Not surprisingly, your choice of font and font size tells a lot about you. Make sure that you have used open space and margins carefully so that the resume is not crammed and crowded.

Now print it out on the best letter quality printer you have access to and look at it carefully to see if you have produced a clear, concise and accurate picture of you that you want to convey to a prospective employer. Proof your resume carefully for the do's and don'ts and have others proof it as well.

Make sure that you have your resume on a hard or transportable disc or CD, and remember that each time you change a position, move to a new location or add another credit of course work, your resume changes.

You will have numerous needs for your resume throughout your career. Be sure to keep it in a form and place where these changes can be made easily.

Cover letter

More than likely, you will send your resume to several prospective employers during your job search. The resume will not change that much. However, the resume should be accompanied by a cover letter that will be different for each position that you are applying for. The cover letter is as, if not more, important than your resume. According to Roe, along with your resume, the cover letter serves to:

1. Introduce you to your prospective employer.

2. Represent you to good advantage, and

3. Stimulate interest in your background and qualifications.

Your cover letter is written specifically for one position and refers to that position, its location, its requirements and its duties.

A cover letter should be written as a business letter with proper heading and salutation. Font, font size, paper, quality of printer, formatting and care for proper grammar, word usage and spelling are as important as with your resume.

The cover letter should be written on one page and have no more than three paragraphs. These three paragraphs should be organized with these two things in mind:

The first paragraph will introduce you, tell how you found out about the job and why you are interested in this particular position. You should indicate in this paragraph your status with regard to licensure in the state in which you are applying for the position.

The second paragraph will concentrate on why you think that you are uniquely qualified for this position and what special skills and expertise you will bring to the position. Emphasize any and all of your special skills or talents that you have that would enhance the practice, such as computer and business skills. Most practices are looking for these skills in their associate veterinarians.

The third paragraph will close the letter asking for the opportunity to come to the practice and interview for the position.

Always close with a positive statement about your expectations of a response from the employer.

The same do's and don'ts as listed under Resumes apply for cover letters.

Distribution

You will use your resume and cover letter to introduce yourself to the appropriate individual in a practice or at an institution. If you mail the resume and cover letter, make the package as attractive and business-like as possible with no fold in a 9 inch by 12 inch envelope. E-mail your resume and cover letter only after your prospective employer has specifically requested you do so.

If you do e-mail them, make sure your documents are sent as attachments and not pasted to an e-mail message that likely will, depending on your e-mail program, lose most of its formatting.

Dr. McCarthy is an internationally known author, speaker and teacher who has served St. George's School of Veterinary Medicine as a visiting professor of ethics and jurisprudence and special lecturer on practice management.