Yeah, be careful of that. A lot of those companies that advertise jobs as "public relations/marketing/sales" are door to door sales companies. I know from experience. When I got out of college, I interviewed with two of them and it was awful. Another piece of advice...look up some companies in fields that you might be interested in working in, and call their HR Manager and just ask for some advice. You will be surprised...a lot of them will help you out.
Your education is your experience at this point. A client I worked with had a similar situation- he only had limited experience and he was a mechanical engineer baccalaureate candidate. So, instead of putting the experience first and the education last, we flip-flopped it- and in the education section, we described his 3-4 key projects in mechanical engineering. That's what they wanted to see, anyway- they needed evidence of his skills in mechanical engineering, so what better way than to describe his mechanical engineering work? Yes, it was in a classroom as opposed to a production floor, but work is work. For your resume, before the education and experience, you may want to think about including a brief section entitled Key Skills Offered and list/describe 3-4 that are important for the field or creative writing and/or writing: EX: Key Skills Offered: + Developing Creative Work - Able to develop creative pieces from conception through completion, including short stories, narratives, .... + Meeting Deadlines - Consistent record of meeting tight deadlines for both school projects and work assignments. + Maintaining Detail and Accuracy - Skilled in achieving high level of accuracy and thoroughness in written work, including adherence to specific course requirements, MLA/APA standards, and Standard Written English guidelines. + Researching Topics- Strong background in conducting extensive research as preparation for writing assignments. Draw out meaningful information from large works to enhance written pieces, including appropriate facts, quotes, and anecdotes. Something like that.
Wait.....you don't graduate until next spring??? Get involved at school. There must be a zillion places you can get 'experience.' -- editing journals, school paper, clubs etc. That stuff is just as....or more...valuable then your summer employ -- plus it often leads to contacts. Eventually you'll be going for a entry position -- so 'real world' experience is probably not as big a deal as you think it might be.
Another piece of advice...look up some companies in fields that you might be interested in working in, and call their HR Manager and just ask for some advice. You will be surprised...a lot of them will help you out.[/QUOTE] Excellent advice- the technical term is "information interviewing" - but yes, it's as simple as calling and asking for a few minutes of their time.
Let me tell you, the best thing you could possibly do is exactly what you've said- customizing your resume for each employer. Unfortunately, if you're sending out resumes by the 100s, it's nearly impossible. Well, I shouldn't say that, but it is very time-consuming unless you're making a 1-line change. Sometimes, it's easier to do this in the cover letter- like adding a paragraph regarding what you know about the company. While it's true that ~60% of cover letters do not even get read, if the resume is on target, they will definitely read the letter- and you never know if you're sending it to the 40% who read the letters, so you always, always have to have a CL ready. Probably the easiest to customize the resume per employer is to simply change 1 line at the top: Career Target- Copywriter with XYZ Advertising, Inc. But customization is definitely important.
For writing positions, you can also look into the Writers Market guidebook that comes out every year (big, thick book). Many of these are pay-per-article opportunities, but I'm certain that they may have some listings for permanent positions (it's been a while since I've read it so I'm not completely sure on this one). You can find these at Barnes and Noble or Borders in the Writing/Editing section.
I think most jobs now require some degree of computer literacy, the listing i have seen usually need familiarity with microsoft office suite, and research database skills, such as knowing how to use the search engine on lexis, jstor ect. brush up on your excel, powerpoint, word skills, learn a bit about research. a lot of institutes such as international center for transitional justice, eastwest institute, international criminal court want researchers and people that know how to write. their internships are also unpaid and pretty competitive, and i am trying my hardest to get hired at one of those places with no luck so far. like someone said, school job are essential as well, i have had two jobs on campus, and my last job i got only because i worked at the first job and they informed me of an opening. it had nothing to do with my major but it did help me learn how to operate some programs on the computer, and administrative work(aka b****work). i go to school out of state so i was unable to take a job that i was offered in maryland. sucks eh...
If you are like me, then you might want to get employed and paid as soon as possible, but there are alot of other service type options that would likely pay dividends in the long term. Someone already mentioned it but how do you feel about the armed services? Or have you considered the Peace Corps? A friend of mine who is graduating from UT business is entering the Peace Corps after he gets his degree in December. I'm not sure how Creative Writing would be applied, but I'm sure there is something that could interest you. At the very least you would have a lot of time for free-lance writing. By the way, do you do much free-lance, or moreover are you intending to publish a book someday? What kind of writing do you prefer? Just a suggestion in case you hadn't though of it.
Jug....that's why it's a good thing I'm on the receiving end of resumes rather then the sending (I double proofed that post too )
This is basically exactly what I did on my resume coming out of school. It was very effective for me.
