ocs cover letters and resumes

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OCS 1L Resume & Cover Letter Workshops

October 16, 2023

12:15 pm - 1:15 pm

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WCC; 4063 Room

In a small group setting, 1Ls will work with OCS’s Peer Advisers on how to draft a professional, impressive resume and a persuasive cover letter for the private sector. Students can either bring their application materials to the workshop or take notes for later.

See full list of workshops:

• Monday, October 16 from 12:15-1:15pm
• Tuesday, October 24 from 12:15-1:15pm
• Monday, November 6 from 12:15-1:15pm
• Tuesday, November 14 from 12:15-1:15pm

This event is for HLS students only.

Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access, please contact [email protected] in advance of this event.

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Resumes & Cover Letters

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Resumes: What You Need to Know

The resume is an opportunity to market yourself to a prospective employer. It should be succinct, target an employer's needs, and distinguish you from your competitors. Before you get started, think about your strengths, weaknesses, personal preferences, and motivations. You should also consider the company's needs, who your competition might be, and your unique skill set. The best way to convince employers that you will add value is to show them that you've done it before.

Alumni Resume Book

Our Alumni Resume Book connects you with organizations looking for talent. Visit 12twenty (our recruiting platform) and upload your resume to get started. You should complete your Profile in 12twenty by updating your Background tab which contains information about your career experience, skills, preferences and more. Ensuring your Background tab is complete and accurate will greatly improve your chance of being contacted by an organization. Looking to connect with fellow HBS alumni? Upload your resume to the Alumni Networking Resume Book to kick start those connections.

Resume Makeover Using VMock and Aspire  

Gain instant feedback on your resume and LinkedIn Profile

VMock is a smart career platform that provides instant personalized feedback on your resume and LinkedIn Profile to help improve aspects like presentation, language, and skills.

VMock Smart Editor tool will enable you to:

• Receive an objective score on your resume based on recruiter criteria
• Review line-for-line targeted feedback on your resume
• Re-upload your resume up to 10 times to track improvement

Sign up using your HBS email address. Account requests are granted within 24 business hours. During holidays and winter break (December 24th – January 1st) turnaround time will be delayed until the CPD office reopens. Please note, we recommend you review your resume before considering it final.

Resumes: Sections, Templates & Examples

• Contact details - Let others know who you are and how to get in touch with you. In addition to your name, you should list your mailing address, phone number, and email address. It is expected to be found at the top of the page. No need to include it on additional pages.
• Professional history - Start with your most recent role and list in descending chronology. For each role, provide a sentence or two that describes the scope of your responsibility. Then in bullet format, provide accomplishment statements. To write an accomplishment statement, state the problem you encountered, the action you took and the result or impact of your actions. For example, "Led team in implementing a new general ledger package by providing expertise and encouragement, which contributed to a successful, on-time project completion."
• Education - Spell out your degree so it will stand out better. It is not necessary to include your GPA or GMAT score. Do not list courses. Do list any leadership roles or study abroad experiences.
• Summary/Profile - A great opportunity to tell the reader exactly what you want them to know. It should be 3-4 sentences in paragraph form following your contact information. Be careful not to load up on overused resume jargon and avoid listing previous jobs/education as it is redundant. Instead, focus on your branding statement, unique themes in your career path, and skills.
• Key skills - Listing your skills is a great way for the reader to quickly evaluate your skill set. List skills that are relevant to your next position. For each skill, you will need a proof statement in the form of an accomplishment stated in the professional experience section. A good way to set up this section is in 2 or 3 columns with 3-4 skills in each column. The heading could be "Key Areas of Expertise" or "Core Competencies".
• Personal/Interests - Only include if it helps tell your story.
• Additional roles - If you participate in organizations outside of your professional employment, you may list these in a separate section. Headings are typically "Volunteer Leadership Roles" or "Community Service".
• Licenses and Professional Certifications - If you possess a license or certification, these should be called out in a separate section.
• Objective - No longer in style. Do not include in your resume.
• References available upon request - No longer in style. Do not include in your resume.
• Zip file of all resume templates (login required)

Chronological - This is the most commonly used layout. Recommended for a mostly consistent record of employment showing progression/growth from position to position. Not recommended for gaps in employment dates, those out of job market for some time, or changing careers.

• Template 1 (login required)
• Template 2 (login required)
• Template 3 (login required)
• Template 4 (login required)
• Sample 1: C-Level Resume (login required)
• Sample 2: Consulting to Operating Company Resume (login required)
• Sample 3: VP with Long Tenure Resume (login required)
• Sample 4: C-Level Biotech resume (login required)
• Sample 5: Exec. Ed. with Long Tenure Resume (login required)
• Sample 6: Financial Services Resume (login required)

Streamlined Chronological - This layout also shows progression from one job to the next, but does not include extra sections such as Summary/Profile or Areas of Expertise. Recommended for recent alumni.

• Template: Streamlined Chronological (login required)

Chronological/Functional Hybrid Resume - In this layout, you can highlight your employment history in a straight chronological manner, but also make it immediately clear you have filled a variety of roles that use different but related skill sets. This is useful to provide a few accomplishments in the beginning to show a theme. Each role would also have specific accomplishment statements.

• Template: Chronological/Functional Hybrid (login required)
• Sample: Accomplishment Focus Resume (login required)

Cover Letter Writing

It is essential to send a cover letter with your resume to provide a recruiter with insight into your qualifications, experience, and motivation for seeking a position. The letter also conveys your personal communication style, tone, and professionalism. An effective employment letter should:

• Be targeted and personalized
• State why you are interested in the company
• Explain how you can fill a need
• Convey your enthusiasm about the opportunity
• Suggest next steps for communication and action

Guidelines & Examples

Investigate your target company. What is the company's "breaking news?" What drives their business? What are their greatest challenges and opportunities? How can you contribute? eBaker can help with your research.

Outline your objectives using relevant information that attracts the attention of the reader.

• Salutation Address the letter to a specific person. Capture the reader's attention and briefly introduce yourself. Mention the referral/company contact, if applicable. State the purpose of your letter.
• Body Describe relevant information you discovered about the company. Discuss the position offered or the position you are looking for. Detail how your skills will benefit the company.
• Closing Convey your enthusiasm. Anticipate response.

Pay close attention to sentence structure, spelling, and punctuation. Always print your letter to check for typographical errors. Have a friend, colleague, or family member review your letter whenever possible.

Cover letters are the place to briefly and directly address the gap in your career. For example, "I am returning to the workforce after a period of raising children." Then address your strengths, qualifications and goals. Emphasize your excitement and preparedness to re-enter the workforce now.

Response to Identified Advertisement (pdf)

Branding You

Resume writing tips  , creating visual impact.

A concise, visually appealing resume will make a stronger impression than a dense, text-laden document. Respect page margins and properly space the text. Learn to appreciate the value of "white space." Limit a resume to one or two pages but not one and ¼. Ensure content is balanced on both pages. A CV is typically longer because it includes additional sections such as publications and research.

Use Parallel Construction

Select a consistent order of information, format, and spacing. If one experience starts with a brief overview followed by bullet points, subsequent experiences should follow a similar form. Parallel construction—including the use of action verbs (pdf) (login required) to start all phrases—greatly enhances a resume's readability.

Always Proofread

Pay close attention to margin alignment, spelling, punctuation, and dates. Read your resume backward to check for typographical errors. (You will focus on individual words, rather than the meaning of the text.) Better yet, have a friend, colleague, or family member review your resume.

Use Action Verbs

Action Verbs List (login required)

Improve Your Writing

Common questions, past program resources  .

How to Build a Resume that Stands Above the Competition

• Resumes & Portfolios

There are two documents that you need to write that will usually be your introduction to a potential employer - a resume and a cover letter. 

A resume is often the first document that you will send or hand to a potential employer or even someone who might advise you.  You may (and should) spend time revising it continually, but you should always assume that the person seeing it for the first time may only spend 10-15 seconds looking at it.  Think of the hiring manager who has been given a stack of 100 resumes (which have already been filtered beforehand by someone in HR), who is trying to fill one or two slots. She/he just doesn't have time to go in detail through every resume, so they'll cut it down to a small number of finalists.  You've got one page to catch the hiring manager's attention for one of the few resumes to survive her/his first pass through that stack.

So, what will a hiring manager (who could be an individual engineer, scientist, programmer, etc. or a manager of a group who is hiring a summer intern) look for in that initial pass through the resumes.  This can differ by organization, which is one reason we encourage students to connect to alumni for advice. However, let's boil it down to three big factors:

• They want an indication that you are "smart" - intellectually curious and able to figure out how to solve problems.  The fact that you were admitted to Harvard will count for a lot, but don't ignore putting your GPA on there.  If you don't put it on the resume, the hiring manager will likely assume that it is below whatever cut-off the company has or he/she has. 
• The hiring manager will usually be hiring you to solve a problem during your internship (or a broader set of problems in your post-graduate employment).  She/he will want to know if you have the skills necessary to solve that problem.  So, the skills section of a resume, where you list programming languages, laboratory/machining skills, etc., is important.  It is also important for you to show how you used those skills.  You can do this by listing projects (not homework) from classes, clubs, or other outside activities.  Students often list leadership in such activities, but it is probably more important to show evidence that you actually did the CAD design or programmed the app.
• The people hiring you want students who will be enthusiastic about the job.  The projects on your resume help convey that, as do student organizations in which you are involved. 

If you are submitting a resume to a job posting or company website, you will also include a cover letter.  It is your opportunity to talk about why you are a particularly good match for and interested in the specific company and/or job.  Hiring managers see a lot of resumes, which can start to look the same.  But if you are particularly interested in a specific company or job, you get a chance to convey that in the cover letter.

There are multiple resources available to guide you in writing a resume. The Office of Career Services(OCS) has several excellent resources including a tutorial and some technical resume templates. 

If you are just starting out, use those resources to write a first draft. Then, attend one of the many OCS resume workshops scheduled during first term, attend one of their drop-in sessions, or schedule a meeting with me.

Portfolios and Github

Let's say that the hiring manager has put your resume into the small group of resumes to be examined in more depth.  At this point, if you have an online portfolio or github, they may be willing to spend the extra time to look at your accomplishments and work/project history in more depth. 

If you are applying for a back-end programming job, have a well-organized github account that the hiring manager can search.  Don't put anything online that you don't want the outside world to see.  Obviously, if you did some work for a company, they will likely consider that proprietary.  But this caution may also hold for research work under a professor, as he/she may want to keep it secret until published.

For most other types of jobs - front-end programming, engineering, design, etc. - a portfolio is a better choice for demonstrating your skills and activities in a format that is much more extensive than a resume. 

Most students use templates provided commercial website companies such as Squarespace, WIX, Wordpress, Start Bootstrap, etc. - there are many out there.  A free alternative available to Harvard students is OpenScholar .

In Student Career Development

• Internships (U)
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• Post-Graduate Positions (U)
• Winter Break / Term Opportunities
• European Job Portals and Fellowships & Short Stays in Europe
• Internships (G)
• Post-Graduate Positions (G)
• Resumes, CV's, Portfolios
• Scholarships, Fellowships, Conferences, Etc.
• Selected Hackathons, Competitions, Etc.
• Government Lab Internships and Jobs
• Career Mixers
• Groups (Typically Startups) Looking for Team Members

OCS RESUMES & COVER LETTERS - Harvard Ash Center

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Review tips and tricks to create the best cover letters and resume’s here!

Resume Types

• Your resume is a  summary of your education and experiences . It should be focused on what is relevant to your industry. Make sure to check our  Handy Dandy Formula  for building an effective resume.
• Chronological resumes  have educational and employment history organized by date. This resume works well for students who have related experiences within their field.
• Functional resumes  focus on skill sets gained through a variety of activities, such as educational course work, clubs and organizations, as well as internships and volunteer work. This resume format works best for students lacking relevant work experience or changing careers.
• Combination resumes are a combination of the chronological resume and functional resume. It focuses on skill sets, but also lists employment history. These types of resumes are most commonly used for someone who wants to  change their career path  entirely or have  limited experience .

Cover Letters

Cover Letters  introduce you and your resume to prospective employers. The content of a cover letter can be broken down into three basic parts:

• Introduction: Why are you contacting this person? How did you learn about the job? Who are you? What do you know about their organization (research)?
• Body: How can you benefit them? Tell how you are an ideal match for the job. Expand on relevant education, skills, and experience to offer additional details not found on your resume.
• Conclusion: Focus on the next step: the interview! Thank the reader for their time and consideration. Request an interview to further discuss your qualifications.

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Career Resources

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Career Shift

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Career Services and Experiential Learning, Building 140 4123 Pictor Lane Orlando, FL 32816

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Our advisors are available to converse on any career interest and at any point in your career journey. You don’t need to have a career plan or a meeting agenda to chat with an OCS advisor. We look forward to meeting with you!

Yale College students, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences students, and Postdoctoral Scholars can connect with OCS in the following ways:

Need a resume start here .

• Use Online Resources to Create a Resume or Cover Letter
• Check out these resume tips
• Use the OCS downloadable resume templates, list of resume action verbs and the resume tips for formatting to create your draft.
• GSAS students and postdocs are also encouraged to review tips on converting a CV to a resume . 
• Review OCS guidance for cover letters and sample correspondence . 

Have a specific question that doesn’t require a full 30-minute meeting?

• Make a virtual “Quick Questions” Appointment (available while classes are in session).
• Quick Question Appointments are often used for Resume and Cover Letter Reviews. 

Need a longer discussion? Schedule an Advising Appointment (available in-person or virtual)

• Request a career advising appointment through Yale Career Link . 
• Choose “Make an Appointment” on the upper right of your homepage
• If you request a virtual appointment, once approved your advisor will email you a Zoom invitation/link for the date and time of your requested appointment. Please refer to that email to access your Zoom meeting on the day and time of your appointment.
• Please do not schedule multiple appointments within a two-week period.
• Advising appointments are available year-round. 

Alums can connect with OCS by requesting an appointment: 

• Alums are invited to request a 30-minute appointment online using the Yale Career Link .
• Your username is your email address and click “forgot password” to reset your password.
• If you have never logged in please click on “sign up.”
• Once logged in, select the ‘Make an Appointment’ from the upper right of the page.
• For phone appointments, provide a number in the request and the advisor will call you at the appointment time.

Cancellation Policy :  If you can no longer attend your scheduled appointment, the Office of Career Strategy requests that you cancel 1 business day in advance. This will allow another student to fill that spot. If this is not possible, please cancel at least 2 hours in advance of your appointment through Yale Career Link . If you need to cancel within 2 hours, please email the advisor directly from your appointment confirmation or search their contact via the staff list .  Thank you for your cooperation!

Job Search Resources

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Have a technical engineering interview coming up, but need practice to get ready? Get practice with a mock engineering interview.

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