Fast Pitch: Playing the waiting game with employers

So, the hard part’s over, right? You chiseled your resume into a stunning piece de resistance, you got a tip from a buddy’s friend that your dream employer was looking for interns, you wrote a stirring cover letter and applied on Internships.com – and now, the nail biting begins.

Of course, you know that anything you want this bad won’t come without competition. In all likelihood, there are probably a lot of qualified candidates who have done the same. And the suspense of not knowing if you’ll even be contacted can make hours seem like weeks, and weeks seem like eons.

So what do you do now? Here are a few pointers:

1.)    Keep applying. It may seem exhausting to put another spirited effort into an application that just isn’t as exciting as the opportunity you really want. But making other plans isn’t just important for the obvious reasons. It also will help keep your mind from racing and your stomach from doing bellyflops. The more you sit on your hands, the more you’ll be prone to theorizing about why you haven’t heard back yet – and, believe me; most of your theories will be paranoid and entirely wrong.

2.)    Continue to do background research on the employer you applied to. If you can’t keep your mind off the prize for a few days, at least channel that anxiety into something helpful by becoming more familiar with the history of the organization – who founded it, what their background was, what drives its business model and where it has an opportunity to expand. If you already know these things, you can make a list of lingering questions you have about the internship and save them for your interview.

3.)    Plot answers to some of the common tough questions interviewers will ask to determine if a candidate is serious and has clear goals. One way is to switch up roles with a friend. Draft up five “nightmare questions” – ones you think an employer might realistically ask that could expose perceived weaknesses in your background. Then, ask your friend to answer them as if he or she was you. You’ll probably be surprised at what an outside observer can come up with – and even if you can’t find the perfect answer to everything, playing through the role of the interviewer can boost confidence and give you an enhanced sense of control when you go through the real thing.

4.)    DON’T call back in the first week. You’ll hear a lot of advice about how important it is to follow up, and it can be. But if you call too soon, you might scare off a nice baby who’s ready to party. Wait – nevermind, that’s what Trent said in Swingers. But the concept applies here, too. You need to give employers a suitable amount of time to process your information and weigh it against other candidates, bearing in mind that they have jobs to do every day that are probably taking precedent over their intern search. If you don’t give that time, it comes off less like enthusiasm and more like disrespect.

5.) DO contact the employer politely (if they haven’t specified otherwise). If the person reviewing resumes is still actively working on recruiting a candidate and you haven’t been contacted after a couple of weeks, odds aren’t greatly in your favor – unless the employer’s first choice backs out. But it’s also very common for employers to just forget about their internship search when work gets really busy. Instead of asking what happened to YOUR application, send a polite and brief e-mail asking whether the company is still considering intern candidates. The more simple your question, the more likely you’ll receive an answer that can point you toward the next step.

Student Blogger: Creative resumes for artists

Composition by Sarah Alfarhan

Hello, students and recent grads! My name is Sarah, and I am an illustrator.

If you are an art student putting together your resume, you must have wondered whether or not to incorporate your design or drawing skills into your resume. I have applied to 220 jobs and internships so far (possibly more, because not all positions I applied to were written down in my mini ‘Places I Applied To’ notebook!). I want to share my personal experiences with two types of resumes: the standard one-page and the creative resume.

Everyone is familiar with the standard one-page resume. Recently, I talked about writing for resumes and artist statements with my supervisor at the Letterpress shop (where I am currently an intern). She mentioned the College Art Association website, where they have standard guidelines for artists’ resumes. I found it to be very helpful.

The second kind of resume is the ‘creative’ resume, where artists demonstrate their artistic skills. Examples of creative resumes include: a comic page showing the applicant in various work experiences, Hannah Dollery’s screen-printed tea towel displaying info-graphic designs showcasing the applicant’s background and skills, and my very own ‘creative’ resume that functions as a bookmark. I designed it for publishing houses (A bookmark seemed suitable for the bookworms in the publishing industry!), and it’s fully illustrated to highlight my skills and experiences. You can look at my sketches + final bookmark here.

The three things I usually send to each job or internship are a resume, cover letter and link to my online portfolio. I have mostly sent these via e-mail; only a couple internships required me to send my materials through the mail.

So the first question you need to answer before designing your ‘creative’ resume is, “How am I sending it?” Is it designed to function when it is viewed on a computer monitor just as well as when it’s printed on that fancy paper you bought? Depending on your specific field and how you intend to contact your potential clients, you may or may not need to have a second type of resume.

Here are some questions to take into consideration when designing your resume:

• How is your potential client going to receive it? Through e-mail or mail?
• What’s the function of your resume?
• How relevant is your designed resume to the field you want to work in?

Share your opinions and link to examples of resumes in the comments below!

Make your internship application pop off the pile

Adding a QR code to your resume is a geek chic way to embed links --and if nothing else, it looks cool.

The most important part of a resume package will always be its content, no matter how many gold fasteners and wax seals you adorn it with. But once you’ve put time into crafting a technically solid pitch, here are a few tasteful presentational upgrades you can make to ensure a mailed application is especially memorable.

Print it on card stock paper.

If you want to splurge a bit to making your resume look fancy, it’s best to stay clean and professional. Printing on a slightly thicker matte material not only gives your application a nice weight, but it also improves legibility. Steer clear of glossy printing materials, as they tend to have the opposite effect. And please don’t decorate your resume. PLEASE.

Know typography – or pass your resume to someone who does.

You can have the strongest resume in the stack, but it’s guaranteed to get laughed at if you print it with a Comic Sans header. At minimum, your typefaces should be professional and easy-to-read; bonus points if they’re also stylish. But don’t use more than three fonts total on your resume unless you have a REALLY defensible reason.

Modernize it with a QR code.

What’s a QR code? It’s sort of like a cooler-looking bar code that certain smartphone apps can scan and translate into more information. QR codes are an eye-catching way to embed a portfolio link on an otherwise drab, monotone resume or business card. And even if prospective employers don’t know what to do with it, they’ll probably wonder if it means something. You always want to keep ‘em wondering.

Clip a business card around your resume and cover letter.

The reader has to put it somewhere, and hopefully, somewhere is in their wallet. Try to be consistent by using the same fonts on your resume as you do on your business card, particularly where your name is printed. Remember: Your resume is marketing you as an employee, and consistent branding is an important part of any marketing effort.

Use one high-impact, legible color.

Multiple colors can get tacky really quick, but one strong shade that breaks up an otherwise black-and-white document can make a resume much easier to read. We recommend using it for your section headers, as we’ve done on our resume builder. But under certain circumstances, it can also be effective in highlighting your name at the top of the resume.

Have other ideas that seem to work? I suppose we’ll entertain your wacky suggestions in the comments below.