Preparing for the Position

Applications for student employment will require a resume for each position. It’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with these materials ahead of time, and to work with Career Education to develop your resume, so you’ll be prepared when it’s time to submit your applications. If you think you might ever be interested in student employment at Wellesley, then it’s never too early to develop your job application skills!

The resources below can help you to get started or check that you are on the right track with your documents and interview prep. In addition to viewing these resources, please know that Career Education advisors are here to help you with all of this! Wherever you are in the process - whether writing a resume or cover letter for the first time, or making final tweaks on documents that are already strong - it can be helpful to talk it through and get some additional input. 

Advisors can work with you to brainstorm content, adjust complicated formatting, strengthen bullet points and cover letter language, practice for interviews, and help with your overall job search strategy. Please be in touch!

Building Your Resume 

A resume is a concise presentation of the relevant skills you can offer to a position. If you’re building a resume for the first time, you may want to view this webinar on Building a Resume from Scratch. The formatting of your resume should be clean, organized, and easy to read; the templates provided by Career Education make it easy for you to adapt your content to formatting that is already prepared for you. 

When it comes to crafting your resume bullet points, remember that each one should highlight a relevant skill and/or accomplishment. Review the guidance on writing effective bullet points, and use this list of action verbs for reference as you draft your resume.

Crafting a Cover Letter 

The purpose of the cover letter is to articulate what you know and like about this particular student employment position, and how your skills make you a good fit for it. If you’re creating a cover letter for the first time, start with this webinar, Mastering the Art of the Cover Letter, which will introduce you to the general format and content of the letter. You can also view some sample cover letters for ideas. Make sure that each letter you write is tailored specifically to the position.

Interview Preparation

It’s important to prepare in advance for job interviews so that you can effectively articulate your qualifications, and also so that you can learn as much as possible about the opportunity. There are lots of good ways to prepare for interviews, and you can start with some general Introduction to Interviewing tips and resources.

Part of your process will be researching the office or department and the job itself, so that you are able to talk about them knowledgeably and communicate why you are a good fit for this opportunity. You may also want to practice your answers to some common interview questions.

Another important part of the interview preparation process is developing the questions you intend to ask during the interview. You’ll want to have at least 3 questions prepared to ask your interviewer. You can find some suggested questions here or develop your own based on what you’d most like to learn about the job.

Career Education advisors can help you with each step of your research and preparation, and also do a full mock interview with you, if you’d like to practice the entire interview experience in advance. Please don’t hesitate to stop by drop-ins or make an appointment with your advisor to talk about interviewing!