By MICHELLE ANDERSON Staff Writer

A resumé is to job hunters what water is to fish.Crucial.Not only can it get your foot in the door, but, if inadequate, it can also slam that door in your face.

Bailey Manning, 20, is a graduate of Niagara College’s Culinary Skills Chef Training program. Like a lot of students, Manning had her mom write her resumé.

“I did take a mandatory four-week course called Career Focus. They taught us how to make a resumé,” Manning says. Unaware that alumni even two years after graduation have access to the Job Centre and its resumé-building site, Optimal Resumé, Manning is excited to hear she is still eligible to receive help to improve her resumé and cover letter. “I had no idea.” Monique Morin, graduate consultant at the Welland campus Job Centre, helps students navigate the job market.

“Whatever you think you need, we’re happy to do that.” Whether it is using the centre’s printer, making long distance phone calls to employers or practicing panel and group interviews, Morin, together with her staff of 20 students each year, is eager to help. One of those student employees is Pre-Media student Rebecca Nicholson. She describes the centre’s resumé correcting process as quick.

“We look at it, fix it up or make a new one. It is done within an hour.” The service is convenient for busy students because no appointment is required to work with a job coach. Morin urges students to always keep two updated resumés on hand. “One resumé for part-time jobs, and one for grad jobs,” Morin says. Cover letters must be updated for each job posting. Morin notes that a large number of resumés she receives for a position at the Job Centre have the wrong business written on the cover letter.

A cover letter has three parts: one refers to the job being applied for, another answers the question ‘why do I think I’m qualified’ and the third asks for the interview. Morin cautions about using “I” too much in a cover letter and advises students to break out a thesaurus if need be. Another tip to ensure students set a professional tone is to write “a short, professional e-mail,” says Morin.

“It’s pretty hard to take someone as serious when their e-mail [address] is ‘ This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ’” Business is relying more and more on the web. “A lot of employers will contact you by e-mail,” Morin says because they are “all equal, not personal” and there are no concerns over language or tone used on the phone. Mail from hotmail.com may be sent into prospective employers’ spam folders based on security settings, so Morin suggests a short, appropriate gmail or Yahoo account. Based on the job, resumé standards can differ. By visiting niagaracollege.optimalresume.ca and entering the login ncresume, students can input their information into a pre-slotted resumé, as well as create portfolios and a personal website. Morin advises keeping a cover letter to one page and to limit the resumé to a maximum of two pages. She recommends shortening a wordy resumé by “thinking: what does this word make you think of? If it is not job related, delete it.”

“There is a huge debate about references. I don’t like them on a resumé unless that name will represent something to that person. It’s like name dropping, but it has worked for students,” Morin says. “Usually references are people you have worked for, faculty, someone you have volunteered for.” Morin continues that it is important those people will give you a good reference, and they are able to be articulate why. Three references will usually suffice. Nicholson describes resumé writing as a “gradual learning process.”

Like the first draft of a good book, you can make corrections to make a resumé better. “A whole resumé is bragging,” Morin says, because employers “make assumptions about your future behaviours from your past behaviours.” Showing that you are creative, active or adventuresome can speak volumes for your personality. “If you’re physically fit, you’re mentally fit is the assumption that is made, even if it’s not necessarily true,” Morin concludes.