The University will be closed December 19, 2024 to January 5, 2025. If you need assistance during that time, please call 1-855-OWU-1842 and leave a detailed voicemail along with your contact information. One of our colleagues will respond to your call as soon as possible.
If you would like to make a 2024 gift, please make your gift before midnight on December 31.
Diplomas and resumes. These documents are critical in helping Ohio Wesleyan University students pack the one-two punch needed to outperform the competition and achieve their career and graduate school goals.
To help ensure OWU's graduating students are resume-ready, the University's Career Connection office is launching a new initiative that requires students to submit their resumes for approval when they file their graduation applications.
"Our vision is that 100% of OWU students are impacted by Career Connection and that, because of this impact, are ready to succeed in life after Ohio Wesleyan," said Leigh Mascolino, Career Connection director.
"In the three months since Career Connection began piloting this initiative," she said, "about one-third of the resumes have been marked 'not approved,' and those students have been asked to meet with Career Connection staff and resubmit their resumes for approval."
A poorly constructed resume can hurt a recent graduate's career or academic prospects, and often the student who does not come to Career Connection needs support the most, Mascolino said.
"It breaks my heart to be working with an alum five-plus months out of college who has yet to secure an opportunity and then to discover it is because of an easily preventable reason – a polished resume!"
Once their resumes have been reviewed, students will receive a Career Connection rating of "approved," "approved with modifications," or "not approved." And this determination is based not only on the resume's content and wording, but also on its format design.
Many companies now use ATS Resume Scanners to screen applications, Mascolino explained, and OWU's Career Connection staff closely reviews resumes to ensure the documents are "readable" and ready for their scanner scrutiny.
"This is a time-intensive process for the Career Connection team, but it is worth it to ensure that 100% of OWU students have this meaningful checkpoint," Mascolino said of the entire review process.
To make the review process as student-friendly as possible, Career Connection is notified electronically when students apply for graduation, and Mascolino notifies each one to upload their latest resume into the Softdocs (e-retrieve) system within the next five days.
Once received, each resume is assigned to a career catalyst, peer career coach, or alumni-in-residence volunteer for review. Students may request a specific person review their resume based on past connections or individual expertise.
When responding, the Career Connection reviewers leave detailed comments and feedback. If a resume is "not approved" and needs considerable work, the reviewers will ask the student to meet in person with a Career Connection representative, make revisions, and then resubmit the resume for a second review.
Mascolino said her office keeps records of all documents submitted and reviewed, and she is happy to answer any questions to ensure every graduating student is resume-ready and confident about the journey after OWU. (Students also will continue to receive automated reminder emails until their resumes are approved.)
"Many students who are submitting their resumes have worked closely with Career Connection before, perhaps in the Bishop Launch Program, Real Life 101 program, Bishop ACCESS, a Career Readiness or Designing Your Future course, senior seminar, or in another capacity," she said, listing many of the Career Connection services offered to support Ohio Wesleyan students.
"Many resumes are in great shape, and a meeting is not needed," she said. "But for those who need some assistance to be resume-ready, the OWU Career Connection is here."
Mascolino offers these top tips for students working to prepare their resumes. Her advice is based on common issues that she and her team help OWU students to address.
Tip 1: Ensure consistency with the document layout. "A messy layout, inconsistent spacing, and hard-to-find content are the top reasons for rejecting a resume. You want this to be a portrayal of your attention to detail and of your best work!"
Tip 2: Start each bullet point with strong action verbs and avoid first-person language. "Action verbs draw in the reader and are essential in a resume. First-person language on a resume (I, me, my) is against best practice, and showcases a lack of awareness of resume fundamentals."
Tip 3: Incorporate results, strengths, and numbers. "A bullet point that reads 'conducted research' tells the employer little about what you can offer them. Bring in specifics such as 'wrote abstract, presented at symposium, and developed data analysis skills' to make your content much stronger!"
For more information, visit Ohio Wesleyan's new Virtual Career Center with resources including resume templates and examples and the upcoming list of Career Connection events and opportunities.