Chapter 15

Building Careers and Writing Rsum

1. How can you think like an employer if you have no professional business experience?
Your perceived ability to perform the job is obviously an essential part of your potential
quality as a new hire. However, hiring managers consider more than just your ability to handle
the responsibilities youll be given. They want to know if youll be reliable and motivated, if
youre somebody who gets it when it comes to being a professional in todays workplace.
2. If you were a team leader at a summer camp for children with special needs, should you
include this in your employment history if you are applying for work that is unrelated? Explain
your answer.
Yes. Because many employers are involved in their local communities, they tend to look
positively on applicants who are active and concerned members of their communities as well.
Consider including community service activities that suggest leadership, teamwork,
communication skills, technical aptitude, or other valuable attributes.
3. Can you use a qualifications summary if you dont yet have extensive professional experience
in your desired career? Why or why not?
Yes. Because the qualifications summary brands you as a candidate and also expresses
your career objective and title of the qualifications summary signals the type of job opportunities
you are seeking.
4. Some people dont have a clear career path when they enter the job market. If youre in this
situation, how would your uncertainty affect the way your write your rsum?
I would make a functional rsum, sometimes called a skills rsum, because emphasizes
your skills and capabilities, identifying employers and academic experience in subordinate
sections. This arrangement stresses individual areas of competence rather than job history. The
functional approach also has three advantages:
(1) Without having to read through job descriptions, employers can see what you can do
for them.
(2) You can emphasize earlier job experience.
(3) You can deemphasize any lengthy unemployment or lack of career progress.
Or a combination rsum meshes the skills focus of the functional format with the job history
focus of the chronological format. The chief advantage of this format is that it allows you to
focus attention on your capabilities when you dont have a long or steady employment history,
without raising concerns that you might be hiding something about your past. If you have little or
no job experience and not much to discuss outside of your education, indicating involvement in
athletics or other organized student activities lets employers know that you dont spend all your
free time hanging around your apartment playing video games. Also consider mentioning
publications, projects, and other accomplishments that required relevant business skills.

5. Between your sophomore and junior years, you quit school for a year to earn the money to
finish college. You worked as a loan-processing assistant in a finance company, checking
references on loan applications, typing, and filing. Your manager made a lot of the fact that he
had never attended college. He seemed to resent you for pursuing your education, but he never
criticized your work, so you thought you were doing okay. After youd been working there for
six months, he fired you, saying that youd failed to be thorough enough in your credit checks.
You were actually glad to leave, and you found another job right away at a bank, doing similar
duties. Now that youve graduated from college, youre writing your rsum. Will you include
the finance company job in your work history? Explain.

It will depend because to a potential new employer it may leave an unfavorable

connotation on the candidate but, if there is little to no relevance between the positions, I do not
have to showcase it on your resume. The hiring company is primarily interested in relevant
experience and skills you can bring to their company. If the reason you were terminated was due
to a minor issue that can be easily explained and seen from your point of view by a potential
employer, than including the position on your resume should not be a concern. Be honest with
yourself and think through your response to a potential interviewer. Your answers to the
questions above will tell you whether it is appropriate to include the job on your resume. If it is
included, consider the following to help you through the application and interview process.
Chapter 16
Applying and Interviewing for Employment
1. How can you distinguish yourself from other candidates in a screening interview and still keep
your responses short and to the point? Explain.
During these interviews, show keen interest in the job, relate your skills and experience to
the organizations needs, listen attentively, and ask insightful questions that show youve done
your research.
2. How can you prepare for a situational or behavioral interview if you have no experience with
the job for which you are interviewing?
To prepare for a behavioral interview, review your work or college experiences to recall
several instances in which you demonstrated an important job-related attribute or dealt with a
challenge such as uncooperative team members or heavy workloads. Get ready with responses
that quickly summarize the situation, the actions you took, and the outcome of those actions. In
the situational interview, the situations will likely relate to the job youre applying for, so the
more you know about the position, the better prepared youll be.

3. If you lack one important qualification for a job but have made it past the initial screening
stage, how should you prepare to handle this issue during the next round of interviews? Explain
your answer.
Recruiters dont need that much information about you at the initial screening stage, and
they probably wont read it. But, if you lack one important qualification, then in the selection
stage, show keen interest in the job, relate your skills and experience to the organizations needs,
listen attentively, and ask insightful questions that show youve done your research.
4. What is an interviewer likely to conclude about you if you dont have any questions to ask
during the interview?
The questions you ask are just as important as the answers you provide. By asking
insightful questions, you can demonstrate your understanding of the organization, you can steer
the discussion into areas that allow you to present your qualifications to best advantage, and you
can verify for yourself whether this is a good opportunity. Plus, interviewers expect you to ask
questions and tend to look negatively on candidates who dont have any questions to ask.
5. Why is it important to distinguish unethical or illegal interview questions from acceptable
questions? Explain.
If an interviewer asks a potentially unlawful question, consider your options carefully
before you respond. You can answer the question as it was asked, you can ask tactfully whether
the question might be prohibited, you can simply refuse to answer it, or you can try to answer
the question behind the question. Only you can decide which is the right choice based on the
situation. Even if you do answer the question as it was asked, think hard before accepting a job
offer from this company if you have alternatives.