A new school year commonly means hiring new interns at Netvantage. Netvantage has had a very successful internship program. Since opening in 2008, over 30 interns have come and gone, many of which have gone on to open their own business or work for companies such as Amazon or MLive.
Adam wrote a blog post titled What are SEO Skills? What You’ll Need To Get a Job in SEO.; while Joe wrote a post What Skills Are Needed To Get A Job In PPC? Both shared a lot of insightful skills for being successful in the field of search engine marketing, but first, you must get an interview by crafting a good cover letter and resume. Here are a few tips based on over 25 cover letters and resumes I reviewed for our latest job postings.
Back-to-Basics
Proofread Everything Before Submitting It
Nobody is perfect, but little mistakes are costly, especially in a very detail oriented industry. Simple things like a space between a word and a comma do raise our attention and not in a good way.
Resumes Should Be Capped At One Page
Keep the most important internships and jobs on your resume. If two of the job descriptions on your resume are almost identical, they don’t both need to be on there. Diversify your resume to show different strengths. Another space saver is removing the objective — we already know why you’re submitting the resume.
Arrive 10-15 Minutes Early
Please don’t arrive earlier. Being too early doesn’t work with a busy schedule. Definitely don’t arrive late either; respect the interviewers time.
Cover Letter Suggestions
Consider What You Save Your Cover Letter As
One of the cover letters I received was titled ‘Generic Cover Letter’ and it was just that. A better solution would be to title a cover letter with the date and company you’re applying for, and your name wouldn’t hurt either. For example if I was applying for an internship at Netvantage I might date it 2016.09.29 Lexie Kimball Netvantage Cover Letter.
Edit The Date On Your Cover Letter
Our job postings didn’t go live until early September so the lack of date change on this cover letter shows a lack of attention to detail. Also, this isn’t the only cover letter we received with LETTERHEAD. Not sure who is teaching that or what website people are seeing it on, but if you don’t have legitimate letterhead just skip over it.
For those who are confused, this is what letterhead actually looks like:
Sign Your Cover Letter
A lot of college students don’t have the ability to include an electronic signature on a cover letter. That’s fine, I never did, but at least make sure you type your name at the end of the cover letter.
Resume Suggestions
Lose The High School Accomplishments
Congrats on being the captain of your high school golf team, but it’s time to remove the high school accomplishments from your resume. The same could be said for your ACT or SAT score. Unless you have an amazing score, it’s unlikely that the interviewer needs to know what it is.
The date portion of the resume shows poor formatting.
Double-Check For Consistent Formatting
Do the dates line up on the side of your resume? Did you bold all of your job titles? Little formatting issues may not stick out to everyone, but they can be costly. It is especially costly in a job where attention to detail is important. When editing body copy or creating a blog post for a client, you are representing that client. You can’t make a mistake, because it looks like their mistake and makes them look bad.
Microsoft Office Isn’t A Skill
I would be more surprised if someone didn’t know how to use Microsoft Office. It isn’t a skill anymore. It’s more of a necessity. Advanced Microsoft Excel skills paint a different picture.
Interview & Beyond
Be Careful What You Say During An Interview
Interviews are nerve-wracking so take extra time and pause to think before you speak. During an interview I was told “I talked that job up on my resume.” That one sentence alone made my decision.
Be Prepared
Our job posting said the position was very writing intensive and that a writing sample may be required. Why not come with a writing sample then? It once again goes back to the attention to detail aspect and also shows you’re prepared. Other items to consider bringing, questions you want to ask — it’s easy to forget questions you wanted to ask at the time of the interview — and references can’t hurt to have either.
Send A Thank You
Sending a simple thank you email after an interview can do wonders. You’re likely on your phone already, so type up a quick thank you and send it along. It’s that simple.
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