MACAULAY HONORS COLLEGE
CAREER DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
MACAULAY.CUNY.EDU
RESUME, CV,
& COVER
LETTER
WRITING
1
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
RESUMES
GENERAL TIPS
NOTES ON FORMATTING
A T S
RESUME SECTIONS 101
RESUME EXAMPLES
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
CVs
WHAT IS A CURRICULUM VITAE?
RESUME VS CV
CV SECTIONS & FORMATTING
SAMPLE CV
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
COVER LETTERS
GENERAL TIPS
COVER LETTER FORMAT
SAMPLE COVER LETTER WRITING PROCESS
ANNOTATED SAMPLE COVER LETTER
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
ACTION VERBS
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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03
03
05
06
08
12
15
16
16
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17
19
21
22
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24
26
29
30
31
34
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INTRODUCTION
In this guidebook, you will learn the ins and outs of wring resumes, CVs
and cover leers. You will also nd a reference list of acon verbs you can
use for any documentaon or professional proles you may have.
If you would like to schedule an appointment with the Macaulay Career
Development Oce to go over your resume, CV, or cover leer, log onto
CareerPath and you will nd the appropriate banner on the home page
under “Schedule An Appointment.” We strongly suggest that you go over
the ps oered in this guidebook before meeng with Career Development
sta.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT CONTACT INFORMATION
Gianina Chrisman
Associate Director of Career Development
[email protected].edu
Jamie Ruden
Career Program Coordinator
Jamie.R[email protected].edu
3
RESUMES
GENERAL TIPS
01. On the rst day of any new job or internship, create a running
document on your personal account (i.e. google docs) to keep track
of everything you accomplish and every new skill you learn. This will
make it much easier for you when updang your resume later on.
02. You do not have to state everything you have done on a resume, but
everything you state must be true.
03. Generally speaking, aer freshman year, high school educaon should
not appear on your resume. By sophomore year, no high school
experience should be listed.
04. Be sure to proofread your resume for any spelling or grammar errors.
Have someone proofread it as well. Four eyes are beer than two.
05. If mailing or presenng a resume, print your resume on resume paper
and use a resume envelope. These can be purchased at oce supply
stores. And if you want to look super professional, you can buy a
‘fancy resume padfolio’ to keep your resume crisp. The best part—it’s
only a one-me purchase!
06. When emailing your resume to a recruiter, send it in PDF format
(unless instructed not to do so) – so that the resume format appears
as intended. Dierent versions of MicrosoWord or a Mac to PC
conversion might change the formang or result in an extra page.
NOTE: If you plan to meet with a career counselor, send your resume
as a word le (doc) not a PDF. As that will allow them to make edits.
07. Be sure to save the resume with your full name in the le name. For
example, Jane.Doe.Resume.pdf. When employers receive several
resumes with the le name “resume.doc,” it can be hard for them to
locate the le later.
08. Set up dierent folders on your computer for each company/program
you have applied to. Be careful to send the right resume to the right
organizaon.
4
09. You can have more than one resume as it should be a living and
growing document tailored to the posion you are applying for.
Highlight dierent skill sets each me. Be sure to label and organize
these resumes accordingly, as you don’t want to send the wrong
resume to the wrong recruiter.
10. DO NOT: Copy and paste a template when wring your resume.
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NOTES ON FORMATTING
•
Use Microso Word not Google Docs.
•
For margins, always select one of the following sengs: Normal (1”x 1”)
or Narrow (“.5” x .5”).
•
Keep your resume to only one page.
•
For your name, do not go larger than size 18 font.
•
Use a 10-12 size font for the body of your resume. Arial, Times New
Roman, Garamond, Cambria, Calibri, Helveca, Georgia, or Book Anqua
fonts tend to be preferred and are recommended.
•
Do not underline or italicize.
•
Be consistent. For example, if your headings are in bold type, all
headings should be in bold. If you use four digits for the year (e.g. 2008),
then use that format everywhere. (do use the full year and month)
•
Avoid using symbols. Ulize line breaks instead (|).
•
Refer to this video for a quick formang trick for aligning your resume
items!
•
Separate headers to dierenate secons. Add a border line to separate
a header by using the boom border funcon on Microso Word.
It should look like this:
•
Leave blank space between the separate secons on your resume. Don’t
make your resume look crowded!
EXPERIENCE
Macaulay Honors College at Baruch College New York, NY
Bachelor of Arts in Communication May 2024
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APPLICATION TRACKING SYSTEM (ATS)
WHAT IS ATS?
ATS (Applicant Tracking System) is a tool used generally by large
organizaons but is growing quickly within small and medium businesses.
It is used by these companies to track applicants for posions. The ATS
usually funcons by using techniques similar to search engines - nding
specic keywords, such as skills, past employers, schools, and years of
experience. Because of ATS, many people are beginning to use resume
opmizaon techniques when creang resumes.
According to Amanda Cornwall, assistant director of Career Development at
Northeastern University, 75% of resumes do not make it through an ATS to
be seen by a human. This stasc is also backed up by Josh Bersin, principal
at HR consulng rm Bersin by Deloie, as well as several other people in
presgious posions.
WHY IS IT USED?
Applicant Tracking Systems are used by companies who don’t have the me
or manpower to review every applicaon they receive. Applicants simply
apply through the ATS and only resumes that get through the system (oen
by keyword or skill) are viewed by actual humans.
WHAT CAN YOU DO FOR YOUR RESUME FOR IT TO
PASS THE ATS?
Although there are several tricks you can use to get your resume past an
ATS, the main thing to do is to keep it simple. No headers or footers (the
ATS can’t read those), no images, nothing fancy.
To beer understand how to format your resume to pass the ATS stage,
you should learn how the ATS itself works. The ATS is prey much a search
engine that scans your resume and picks out keywords that the actual
human employers are looking for. It then converts your resume into a
broken down version, picking out the skeleton of the resume and reading
the main words. If the ATS nds keywords or specics that the employer is
7
looking for, your resume gets passed on to human recruiters.
Because the ATS is simply a machine, it doesn’t noce that you’ve used a
dierent format, or that you’ve included images, or anything else besides
the plain text on the page. It also won’t go beyond what it’s told to do or
noce any spelling errors.
To get your resume to pass the ATS, here are a few things you can do:
•
Keep it Simple - As stated before, the ATS won’t noce the creave
eort used in your resume. Use a simple font, and don’t add logos,
text boxes, headers, images or shading, or anything of that sort. Also,
sck to the regular categories on your resume: Educaon, Experience,
Leadership, Volunteer and Skills. There is no need to add anything extra.
•
Use Proper Keywords - The ATS is all about searching your resume
for keywords. That is why it is super important to use the right words.
Generally, a good rule to follow is to tailor your resume to match
the job you are applying for. For example, if the job descripon/tle
includes a tle such as “social media manager” or a soware such as
“Final Cut Pro,” be sure to include the same words in your resume - not
just something similar, because the ATS does not know if you’ve put in
something similar.
•
Follow Up! - If your resume is not geng past the ATS but you feel
like you’re qualied or you really want the job, why not reach out to
the employers themselves? It can be good to send some sort of follow
up email or to reach out via your connecons on LinkedIn. If you don’t
know their email, Hunter.Io is a good site for nding professional email
addresses. Find their email and contact them! Usually, this can be
enough to get the employers to check the ATS for your resume, even if
it didn’t get past it.
All in all, keep your resume simple and don’t be discouraged because a
machine is reading your resumes.
MORE RESOURCES:
8 Things You Need To Know About Applicant Tracking Systems from
Jobscan Blog
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RESUME SECTIONS 101
EXAMPLES OF TYPICAL SECTIONS ON A RESUME:
•
Educaon
•
Experience (no need to write Professional Experience)
•
Leadership
•
Community service
•
Honors/awards
•
Skills
CONTACT INFORMATION
•
Your name should be the rst thing on your resume in large, bold
type, 12-18 size font, followed by your address (city, state zip), phone
number (with professional voicemail), and email (school or a professional
personal email address).
If you are a senior or have already graduated, try to use a
professional personal email address rather than your student email
address on your resume. As a Macaulay student, you get to keep
your Macaulay email for life, but you don’t want full-me recruiters
to sll view you as a student aer you have graduated!
•
You can also link to your LinkedIn alongside your contact informaon in
this secon of your resume.
EDUCATION
This should be the rst item on the resume, aer your name and contact
informaon, while you are a current student.
•
Name of School (e.g. Macaulay Honors College at Brooklyn College or
Macaulay Honors College at The City College of New York (CUNY))
•
City and State
•
Degree, Major, and Expected Graduaon Date (e.g. Bachelor of Arts,
Psychology, June 2018)
•
GPA (ex. GPA: 3.5)
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HONORS & AWARDS
Include any honors or awards with dates. Aer freshman year, focus on
college-level honors.
All students should include “Macaulay Honors College, University Macaulay
Scholar (four-year full-tuion merit scholarship).”
ACTIVITIES
•
What is at the top of your resume should be most relevant and tailored
to what you are applying for even if it is not the most recent one.
•
If you want, you can create a secon called Relevant Experience to
separate these parcular experiences.
EXPERIENCE SECTIONS:
Each experience (i.e. job, internship, assistantship, volunteer, or acvity)
should include:
•
Dates of involvement in reverse chronological order (e.g. May 2020;
September 2018 — September 2019 or August 2020 — Present)
•
City and State
•
Title (e.g. Oce Assistant or Treasurer)
•
Name of Organizaon
•
List of responsibilies and accomplishments
RESUME BULLET FORMULA:
Acon Verb, What You Did, How You Did It and Why You Did It
BONUS: Quanfy to show the scope of your responsibilies
Example: Increased follower engagement by 20%
EXAMPLE: Showcasing Administrave Skills
Bad Bullet: Helped team organize les
Good Bullet: Organized and collaborated on transferring paper
les into digital documents ulizing a scanner to allow easier
access for all current and future team members
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EXAMPLE: Showcasing Phone Skills
Bad Bullet: Answered phone calls from constuents.
Good Bullet: Resolved complaints of 100 constuents weekly on
issues such as sanitaon and tree removals, which contributed to
the Council Members eorts to support community health and
safety.
GENERAL TIPS WHEN WRITING RESUME BULLETS
•
Always use at least two bullets to describe every experience.
•
Diversify your language to showcase both hard and so skills. You
can do more “telling” in the Skills secon, but your Experience
secons are a great way of “showing” these skills.
•
Do not use rst person (“I”).
•
Do not use abbreviaons that are not commonly known (e.g. DDU
Scholarship Recipient).
•
Start each descripon with an acon word. Use present tense verbs
when referring to current acvies. Use past tense verbs when
referring to past acvies.
•
Avoid lisng tasks and instead, focus on accomplishments and overall
purpose of work. Refer to the Resume Bullet Formula.
•
Include any recognion you have received (e.g. “new procedure
recognized by Execuve Director as...”).
•
You can nd more examples of resume accomplishments in this blog
from Jobscan!
LEADERSHIP/VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE:
Include recent leadership/volunteer experiences with dates (Month Year
— Month Year, tle (if any), name of organizaon, and city/state.
Some students choose not to list the actual tasks. However, this can be
helpful if:
•
You need to ll up space on your resume
•
There were signicant accomplishments, and/or
•
The work is related to the posion you are pursuing.
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SKILLS
There are many resources online that you can use to build your hard and
so skills.
Hard skills Hard skills such as technical knowledge in Microso, Excel,
coding, and G-suite are great aributes to highlight to employers your
technical skillsets.
So skills such as public speaking, wring, and conict resoluon are
amazing qualies to showcase, so that employers can see that you know
how to eecvely communicate with colleagues.
A good balance of hard and so skills will let employers know that you add
to company eciency and work-ow. It is important that both sets of skills
are showcased on your resume.
A good way to list your skills is to split them into categories. Examples:
•
Soware
NOTE: When lisng Microso Oce programs you are skilled in,
specify if it’s a short list. If you are skilled in almost all Microso Oce
programs, list Microso Oce and not each program individually.
•
Programming Languages (can specify prociency)
•
Languages Other Than English with uency, specify wrien/spoken (e.g.
Spanish (Fluent) or French (Conversaonal))
OTHER SECTIONS
•
Objecves are not necessary to include on resumes.
•
Do not put names of references on your resume, and do not write
“References Available Upon Request” on your resume (this is a given).
When requested, references are listed on a separate document.
•
Do not use a picture, and do not include personal informaon such as
height, weight, health status, marital status, naonality, age, religion,
race, or social security number on your resume.
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RESUME EXAMPLES
GENERAL RESUME
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TECHNICAL RESUME
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DESIGN RESUME
Use this opportunity to showcase your design style and brand!
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OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
•
Organizing And Maintaining Your Job/Internship Search: This blog will
give you the tools necessary to not only organize your dierent resumes,
but whole applicaons using an Excel spreadsheet.
•
The Balance Careers Guide To Resumes
•
Resume Arcles from The Muse
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CVs
WHAT IS A CURRICULUM VITAE (CV)?
A CV, or Curriculum Vitae, is an in-depth look into a working academic or
research career. It has a clear chronological order under each secon and
includes educaon, teaching and/or research experiences, publicaons,
awards, fellowships and grants, professional aliaons, and other relevant
achievements. CVs are edited as your list of achievements grows. You will
typically submit a CV if you are applying for graduate school or for academic
and research posions.
RESUME VS. CV
You can nd a helpful breakdown of the main dierences between a CV
and a Resume in this blog post from our Macaulay Career Blog! The
Balance Careers also has a helpful breakdown here.
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CV SECTIONS & FORMATTING
WHAT TO INCLUDE IN A CV
The following are examples of informaon that can be included in your
curriculum vitae. The elements that you include will depend on what you
are applying for, so be sure to incorporate the most relevant informaon to
support your candidacy in your CV.
•
Contact Informaon: At the top of your CV, include your name and
contact informaon (address, phone number, email address, etc.).
•
Educaon: This may include college and graduate studies. Include the
school aended, dates of study, and degree received.
•
Honors and Awards: Feel free to list your dean’s list standings,
departmental awards, scholarships, fellowships, and membership in any
honors associaons.
•
Thesis/Dissertaon: Include your thesis or dissertaon tle. You may
also include a brief sentence or two on your paper, and/or the name of
your advisor.
•
Research Experience: List any research experience you have, including
where you worked, when, and with whom. Include any publicaons
resulng from your research.
•
Work Experience: List relevant work experience, including non-
academic work that you feel is related. List the employer, posion,
and dates of employment. Include a brief list of your dues and/or
accomplishments.
•
Teaching Experience: List any teaching posions you have held. Include
the school, course name, and semester. You may also include any other
relevant tutoring or group leadership experience.
•
Skills: List any relevant skills you have not yet menoned so far, like
language skills, computer skills, administrave skills, etc.
•
Publicaons and Presentaons: List any publicaons you have wrien,
co-wrien, or contributed to. Include all necessary bibliographic
18
informaon. You should also include any pieces you are currently
working on. Include papers you presented at conferences and/or
associaons: list the name of the paper, the conference name and
locaon, and the date.
•
Professional Memberships: List any professional associaons to which
you belong. If you are a board member of the associaon, list your tle.
•
Extracurricular Acvies: Include any volunteer or service work you
have done, as well as any clubs or organizaons to which you have
belonged.
— Adapted from The Balance Careers
FORMATTING NOTES
•
Entry level CVs should be around 2-3 pages. As your list of
accomplishments grows, your CV will run longer accordingly.
•
CVs oen contain a lot more secons than resumes as they are meant
to highlight very specic aspects of your experiences and qualicaons.
For example, experience is oen split into categories such as Research
and Teaching.
•
CVs are concise, structured, and organized. Keep your formang
consistent throughout the document.
•
Relevant items should be listed in reverse chronological order under
each secon.
 
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SAMPLE CV
(Connued to next page)
Vishnu Nair
Rego Park, NY | +1 (718) 355-0802 | [email protected]
GitHub: github.com/NairVish | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/NairVish
Education
Macaulay Honors College at The City College of New York, New York, NY
Bachelor of Engineering, Computer Engineering | The Grove School of Engineering
GPA: 3.82/4.00 at 130 credits.
Expected: Dec. 2018
Université de Tours, Tours, France
French A1 Certication | Institut de Touraine
Winter abroad via The College at Brockport, SUNY.
Jan. 2018
Research & Teaching Experience
The City College of New York, City College Visual Computing Laboratory, New York, NY
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Principal Investigator: Dr. Zhigang Zhu
Apr. 2016 – Present
• Developing assistive technologies for individuals who have diculties in navigating large, complex transportation hubs; a collabora-
tion between researchers from various academic, industrial, and governmental institutions.
• Exploring and testing multiple technologies, including Bluetooth beacons, Google Tango, and computer vision techniques, as part of
a mobile solution to guide individuals indoors with high (centimeter-level) accuracy and reliability.
• Mentored a high school senior on a spin-o project that utilized Google Tango to produce map annotations for navigation.
• Led a three-person team on a related Senior Design project (“ASSIST”) that created a highly robust and user-centric system to assist
visually impaired and autistic individuals in safely and accurately navigating complex indoor environments.
• Currently mentoring three Senior Design teams (2 CS, 1 EE) on continuation and spin-o projects.
Lighthouse Guild, Arlene R. Gordon Research Institute, New York, NY
Volunteer Research Assistant
Principal Investigator: Dr. William H. Seiple
Oct. 2017 – Present
• Researching novel mobile- and wearable-based assistive technologies for the blind and visually impaired.
• Facilitated three separate tests of prototypes with over 30 human subjects in order to gather feedback for further improvements.
Department of Homeland Security, Summer Research Team Program for MSIs
Command, Control, and Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Team Member
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jie Gong
May 2016 – July 2016
• Served as the only undergraduate team member on a project utilizing Bluetooth beacons and computer vision approaches to provide
navigation support and crowd behavior analysis inside large transportation hubs.
• Subsequently awarded a $45,000 follow-on grant to continue the work during the following year.
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Division of Liver Diseases, New York, NY
Volunteer Research Assistant
Principal Investigator: Dr. Yujin Hoshida
Sept. 2015 – Jan. 2016
• Assisted a post-doctoral fellow with identifying biomarkers and therapeutics targets for chronic liver diseases.
• Performed computer-aided data analysis on large datasets using R, Python, and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis.
The City College of New York, City College Chemistry Peer-Led Team Learning Program
Workshop Leader / Teaching Assistant
Jan. 2015 – Jan. 2016
• Led a weekly, required workshop for a total of 40 students taking General Chemistry I.
• Administered worksheets and quizzes to students, and assisted students with any issues they may have had with concepts.
Publications
V. Nair, M. Budhai, G. Olmschenk, W. H. Seiple, and Z. Zhu, “ASSIST: Personalized indoor navigation via multimodal sensors
and high-level semantic information,” accepted for oral and poster presentation at the Sixth International Workshop on Assistive
Computer Vision and Robotics (ACVR) at ECCV 2018, Munich, Germany, Sep. 9, 2018.
Let’s Get Ready, New York, NY
Volunteer SAT Math / College Application Coach
Jun. 2015 – Aug. 2015
• Assisted four low-income high school students on improving their SAT Math scores and navigating the college application process.
• Planned all weekly lessons, kept in constant contact with students, and coordinated directly with Site Directors on logistics.
V. Nair, C. Tsangouri, B. Xiao, G. Olmschenk, W. H. Seiple, and Z. Zhu, “A Hybrid Indoor Positioning System for BVI Using
Bluetooth and Google Tango,” Journal on Technology and Persons with Disabilities, 2018.
20
MORE SAMPLE CVS
You can nd more sample CVs here from The University of Illinois. We do
not recommend, however, aaching references to your CV. Your references
should be listed in a separate document and given to an employer upon
request.
2Vishnu Nair
J. Gong, C. Feeley, H. Tang, G. Olmschenk, V. Nair, Z. Zhou, Y. Yu, K. Yamamoto, and Z. Zhu. “Building Smart and Accessible
Transportation Hubs with Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, and Aective Computing,” presented at the 2017 Internation-
al Conference on Sustainable Infrastructure, New York, NY, Oct. 22-25, 2017.
J. Gong, C. Feeley, H. Tang, G. Olmschenk, V. Nair, Y. Yu, Z. Zhou, K. Yamamoto, and Z. Zhu, “Building Smart Transporta-
tion Hubs with Internet of Things to Improve Services to People with Special Needs,” presented at the Transportation Research
Board (TRB) 96th Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., Jan. 8-12, 2017.
Presentations
V. Nair and M. Budhai. “ASSIST: Assistive Sensor Solutions for Independent and Safe Travel,” CREATE (Cultivating Resources
for Employment with Assistive Technology) Expo, Albany, NY, Apr. 25, 2018. YouTube video: https://youtu.be/Hq1EYS9Jncg
Z. Zhu, G. Olmschenk, V. Nair, C. Tsangouri, W. H. Seiple, C. Feeley, H. Tang, and J. Gong, “Smart and Accessible Transporta-
tion Hub,” 2017 Annual Meeting of the Command, Control & Interoperability Center for Advanced Data Analysis, Washing-
ton, D.C., May 18-19, 2017.
Z. Zhu, J. Gong, H. Tang, C. Feeley, G. Olmschenk, V. Nair, and M. Lysicatos, “Towards Smart Transportation Hub: Services to
Persons with Special Needs Requiring Minimal New Infrastructure,” 2016 Global City Teams Challenge Expo, Austin, TX, Jun.
13-14, 2016.
Personal Projects
C~Flow
Co-Founder / Technology Coordinator
Oct. 2015 – Dec. 2016
• Oversaw initial development of a learning management system to simplify school and classroom administration.
• Prototyped apps (web and Android mobile) and managed server (building, hardening, and maintenance).
• Selected as seminalists into a venture competition and awarded seed funding ($1,500) to develop our idea while participating in a
startup “bootcamp” (for 4 months).
• Managed work associated with venture competitions, including preparing pitches, meeting with mentors, and performing demos.
• Played vital role in major decisions, including allocating future equity among team members and suggesting shifts in focus.
Zahn Innovation Center – Royal Bank of Canada FinTech Hackathon
“Abacus” (2nd Place)
Oct. 2016
• Built a search engine using Flask (Python) over the course of 20 hours to handle client queries on stock information and performance
using data from disparate sources.
• Notably used regular expressions to create a pseudo-natural language processor for processing queries.
Awards
Dean’s List, The City College of New York
CREATE Capstone Seed Funding ($1,000), New York State Industries for the Disabled
Fellowship ($4,500), DHS Summer Research Team (SRT) Follow-On Grant
Semi-Finalist, Zahn Tech Innovation Seed Prize ($1,500), Zahn Innovation Center
New York City Council Merit Scholarship ($350/semester), City of New York
Macaulay Scholar (Four-Year Full Tuition Merit Scholarship), Macaulay Honors College
Aug. 2014 – Present
Dec. 2017
May 2017
Dec. 2015
Aug. 2014
Aug. 2014
Skills
Programming Languages: Python (uent), Java (uent), C++ (procient), C (procient), HTML (working), CSS (working), MATLAB
(working), MIPS (working), VHDL (working), x86 Assembly (working), Swift (elementary), and R (elementary).
Technologies: Experienced with Git, Android, Amazon Web Services (EC2/Glacier/Polly), Google Cloud (Compute/Cloud TTS), Unix/
Linux (server setup, hardening, maintenance), LAMP/LEMP stacks, Numpy, OpenCV, Flask, Django/uWSGI, and Docker (+ Compose).
Verbal Languages: English (uent), Malayalam (uent), and French (working reading, elementary conversational).
Aliations
Member, Association for Computing Machinery
Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Member, Association for Computing Machinery, CCNY Chapter
Volunteer, New York Cares
Since Mar. 2018
Since Mar. 2018
Since Sept. 2015
Since Oct. 2014
21
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
•
Curriculum Vitae Tips and Samples from the University of Illinois
•
CV WRITING TIPS from the University Of Wisconsin–Madison
Wring Center
•
What Is a CV? Curriculum Vitae Denion and Examples from Indeed
•
The Balance Careers Guide To CVs
 
22
COVER LETTERS
GENERAL TIPS
01. Do NOT regurgitate your resume in a cover leer. Lisng everything
you have accomplished oers recruiters no addional informaon
about you separate from your resume and will not dierenate you
from other candidates. Your cover leer is a chance to demonstrate
your problem solving, analycal, and transferable skills through
anecdotes and clear examples directly related to the organizaon and
opportunity you are applying for.
02. The header of your cover leer should be consistent with the one you
use in your resume.
03. Include the name and tle of the HR contact person who will be
reviewing your applicaon, the company name, address (as you would
a leer), and the date.
04. If you do not know the name of the person receiving your applicaon,
you should be able to locate this informaon on LinkedIn or by
contacng the company directly.
•
NOTE: HR roles have mulple dierent tles across companies.
Examples: talent acquision manager, people specialist, campus
recruiter.
•
You should choose the contact who recruits from your locaon or
campus.
05. Cover leers are concise! Keep them to no more than 1 page.
06. The cover leer should be tailored and personalized to express your
interest to each posion you apply to.
07. You can use academic experience, internship/research experience,
volunteer experience, and/or general acvies in your cover leer to
showcase your skills.
08. Your cover leer should emphasize the value you will bring to the
team, not what you can get out of the experience.
09. Think about and convey why this parcular company aligns with your
career goals, interests, or values.
23
10. A good exercise is to look at the job descripon and list out the
requirements and qualicaons. This will help you think in the mindset
of the recruiter. What does their dream candidate look like?
•
Highlight out of those things what you have accomplished, the skills
you currently have, and what you can contribute. These are the areas
you should further showcase and emphasize in your cover leer.
•
Refer to the Sample Cover Leer Wring Process later in this secon
for an example.
11. Another great way to learn more about the company and recent news
that might be relevant to include in your cover leer is to look at the
company’s recent posts on LinkedIn. This further demonstrates your
interest in working for them!
12. Be sure to save the cover leer with your full name in the le name.
For example, Jane.Doe.CoverLeer.pdf. This way, you make it as
easy as possible for recruiters to locate your cover leer when going
through applicaons.
 
24
COVER LETTER FORMAT
Sam Smith
City, State Zipcode | 555.555.5555 | Email
Date (Month Day, Year)
Name of Hiring Manager
Title
Name of Company
Address
City, State ZIP
Dear Ms. / Mr. ______ [and/or Hiring Manager and/or Internship
Coordinator],
FIRST PARAGRAPH (Note: the following paragraphs do not need to
be double spaced)
The rst paragraph of your leer should state your interest in
obtaining the job/internship posion at the company/organizaon
[the reason why you are wring and the posion you are applying
for]. Include the name of a mutual contact, if you have one. Idenfy
2-3 skills listed in the post that qualify you as an excellent t. [“I am
very interested in this posion, and as you will see from my enclosed
resume, I have the educaon, skills and experience to meet the
posion’s requirements.”] Be clear and concise.
SECOND PARAGRAPH
Illustrate via an anecdote from past experience (academic or work)
what you have to oer, how your experience is valuable to their
organizaon and why you are the perfect candidate for the role.
Make strong connecons between your abilies and their needs.
Remember you are interpreng your experiences, not repeang your
résumé in long form. Formula: [Insert skill 1 from job post → relevant
experience using skill 1. Insert skill 2 from job post → relevant
experience using skill 2. Insert skill 3 from job post → relevant
experience using skill 3].
25
COVER LETTER FORMAT
THIRD PARAGRAPH
Highlight something unique/posive about the company/organizaon.
Seek out brand-specic informaon from its website or trusted
periodicals. Look to the mission and/or vision of the company/
organizaon. A great resource is their LinkedIn page as they post
recent news, developments and accomplishments from their
organizaon. This will also prepare you for the interview when
the me comes! The more knowledge of the employer you can
demonstrate, the more invested in the posion you seem.
CLOSING PARAGRAPH
Indicate that you have enclosed your résumé for their review,
emphasizing again that they will see on your résumé that you
meet the qualicaons for the posion. Lastly, indicate that you
look forward to the opportunity to meet with them to discuss
your qualicaons and how you can contribute to their company/
organizaon. Re-share how you are best reached [email] or via [phone
number]
Thank you for your me and consideraon.
Sincerely,
[Leave four spaces for a signature, in case they request a hard copy]
John M. Doe
Enclosure
26
SAMPLE COVER LETTER WRITING PROCESS
We will now walk through a sample cover leer wring process for an
internship!
Once you have found a posion you are interested in, copy and paste the
job descripon and qualicaons into a word document. If applicable, you
should also copy and paste their mission statement or any informaon
about what they value as an organizaon to help guide your wring.
Highlight the main values, qualicaons, and skills you have that you would
like to emphasize in your cover leer. See below for an example.
Posion: GlamourGals Nonprot Operaons Internship
Mission Statement:
GlamourGals is a 501(c)(3) nonprot whose mission is to inspire and
organize teen volunteers to provide ongoing companionship and
complimentary beauty makeovers to women living in senior homes.
Our volunteers build a deeper sense of community. They enact local
change, creang condence in their ability to make a dierence. Through
mentorship, training, and our leadership curriculum, the GlamourGals
Naonal team supports the personal and professional development of our
volunteers.
Job Descripon:
GlamourGals is seeking a college student to join our team as a Nonprot
Operaons Intern for Fall 2020. Our Operaons intern will assist our
naonal team with grassroots outreach, recruitment, grant research, and will
help manage our day-to-day operaons as a small nonprot.
GG oers our interns:
Mentorship and support from the GlamourGals team
•
Opportunies to connect with and meet professionals
•
Business and nonprot knowledge
•
Opportunies to parcipate in research, discussions, and
implementaon of programming strategies
•
Professional development
27
Qualicaons:
GlamourGals is always looking for creave and passionate college students
who are interested in making a dierence in the lives of teens and seniors.
Students should have:
•
Experience or interest in nonprot work, social services, volunteer
outreach, or youth development
•
A desire to work as an integral part of a small, dedicated team
•
Experience in Excel and G-Suite
•
Excellent communicaon skills, including email wring, speaking, and
phone equee
•
Aenon to detail and organizaonal skills
•
Iniave and a sense of ownership over their work
•
Experience with nonprot work, volunteer management, and grant
wring/research is a plus.
Summary of Highlighted Points
Values
•
Companionship
•
Deep sense of community
•
Mentorship
Job Descripon
•
Nonprot Operaons
•
Grassroots outreach
•
Recruitment
•
Grant research
Qualicaons/Skills
•
Interest in nonprot work, social services, volunteer outreach, or youth
development
•
Excel & G-Suite
•
Communicaon skills, including email wring, speaking, and phone equee
•
Aenon to detail and organizaonal skills
28
Jane Doe
New York, NY 10065 | 123.456.7890 | jane.doe@macaulay.cuny.edu
August 3, 2020
Amanda Kruzynski
Program Manager
GlamourGals Foundaon, Inc.
19 Fulton St #407
New York, NY 10038
Dear Ms. Kruzynski,
My name is Jane Doe and I’m a Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College student
majoring in Educaon. I am applying for a Fall 2020 internship with GlamourGals
Foundaon, Inc. As an Educaon major combined with my past work experience, I
have conducted outreach, employer recruitment and research to help students best
navigate the job market. I believe my past experience will add value to your team
and its mission by helping teen volunteers and seniors connect with one another
and build community.
As an intern at the Oce of Career Development at Macaulay Honors College, I
was in charge of curang our Internships by Field Guidebook for college students.
This project involved veng, researching, and curang company and relevant
internship informaon from 150+ employers across nine industries. Many
companies oer interdisciplinary opportunies outside of their main industry, so I
developed an alphanumeric code system to beer organize the guidebook and make
the process of locang these opportunies of interest more seamless for students.
My organizaonal skills developed through this process as I began to understand
best pracces for making data and informaon easily accessible. Addionally, I
was a moderator for several professional development panels where I researched,
prepared quesons and led discussions of career advice. This allowed my condence
to grow and I am excited by the opportunity to share my lessons with your key
demographic.
GlamourGals Foundaon’s mission emphasizes not only the importance of giving
back but the strength of companionship and community during tough mes.
GlamourGals’ ability to adapt to this unprecedented me by developing a virtual
pen-pal program bridges that gap of connecon and allows for deeper and more
meaningful experiences beyond the typical zoom call. Mentorship and guidance
have always been things I have given back to my community. Recently, I have
started my volunteer work at Reading Partners to help elementary school students
reading below their grade level. This work has also taught me paence and empathy,
which are integral skills for non-prot work.
I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to meet and discuss this posion
with you and the GlamourGals Foundaon team. I can be reached via phone at
123.456.7890 or via email at [email protected]y.edu.
Thank you for your me and consideraon.
Best,
Jane Doe 
29
ANNOTATED COVER LETTER
Jane Doe
New York, NY 10065 | 123.456.7890 | jane.doe@macaulay.cuny.edu
August 3, 2020
Amanda Kruzynski
Program Manager
GlamourGals Foundaon, Inc.
19 Fulton St #407
New York, NY 10038
Dear Ms. Kruzynski,
My name is Jane Doe and I’m a Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College student
majoring in Educaon. I am applying for a Fall 2020 internship with GlamourGals
Foundaon, Inc. As an Educaon major combined with my past work experience,
I have conducted outreach, employer recruitment and research to help students
best navigate the job market. I believe my past experience will add value to your
team and its mission by helping teen volunteers and seniors connect with one
another and build community.
As an intern at the Oce of Career Development at Macaulay Honors College, I
was in charge of curang our Internships by Field Guidebook for college students.
This project involved veng, researching, and curang company and relevant
internship informaon from 150+ employers across nine industries. Many
companies oer interdisciplinary opportunies outside of their main industry, so
I developed an alphanumeric code system to beer organize the guidebook and
make the process of locang these opportunies of interest more seamless for
students. My organizaonal skills developed through this process as I began to
understand best pracces for making data and informaon easily accessible.
Addionally, I was a moderator for several professional development panels where I
researched, prepared quesons and led discussions of career advice. This allowed
my condence to grow and I am excited by the opportunity to share my lessons
with your key demographic.
GlamourGals Foundaon’s mission emphasizes not only the importance of
giving back but the strength of companionship and community during tough
mes. GlamourGals’ ability to adapt to this unprecedented me by developing
a virtual pen-pal program bridges that gap of connecon and allows for deeper
and more meaningful experiences beyond the typical zoom call. Mentorship and
guidance have always been things I have given back to my community. Recently,
I have started my volunteer work at Reading Partners to help elementary school
students reading below their grade level. This work has also taught me paence and
empathy, which are integral skills for non-prot work.
Mirrors resume heading
Date of submission
Contact according to
LinkedIn & the GlamourGals
website
Mirrors job descripon: “our
Operaons intern will assist with
grassroots outreach, recrtuitment, and
grant research”
Emphasize the value you will bring to
the team and how you will contribute
to the organizaon’s mission
Use LinkedIn for recent
news/developments
Connect the organizaon’s mission to your
own life and use these parallels as a way to
showcase skills directly related to work in
that industry (e.g. community engagement
and volunteer experience)
The beginning anecdote and specic examples of work completed
mirrors the qualicaons secon. Skills emphasized: communicaon,
aenon to detail, organizaon, and research
30
OTHER HELPFUL RESOURCES
•
How to Write the Perfect Cover Leer from our Macaulay Career Blog
•
The Balance Careers Guide To Cover Leers
•
Cover Leer Arcles from The Muse
 
31
ACTION VERBS
Use these for resumes, cover leers, and professional proles when
showcasing your accomplishments and skills!
MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP SKILLS
administered analyzed appointed approved assigned aained authorized
chaired considered consolidated contracted controlled converted
coordinated decided delegated developed directed eliminated emphasized
enforced enhanced established executed generated handled headed hired
hosted improved incorporated increased iniated inspected instuted led
managed merged movated organized originated overhauled oversaw
planned presided priorized produced recommended reorganized replaced
restored reviewed scheduled streamlined strengthened supervised
terminate
COMMUNICATION/PEOPLE SKILLS
addressed adversed arbitrated arranged arculated authored claried
collaborated communicated composed condensed conferred consulted
contacted conveyed convinced corresponded debated dened described
developed directed discussed draed edited elicited enlisted explained
expressed formulated furnished incorporated inuenced interacted
interpreted interviewed involved joined judged lectured listened
marketed mediated moderated negoated observed outlined parcipated
persuaded presented promoted proposed publicized reconciled recruited
referred reinforced reported resolved responded solicited specied spoke
suggested summarized synthesized translated wrote
RESEARCH SKILLS
analyzed claried collected compared conducted criqued detected
determined diagnosed evaluated examined experimented explored
extracted formulated gathered idened inspected interpreted
interviewed invented invesgated located measured organized researched
searched solved summarized surveyed systemazed tested
32
TECHNICAL SKILLS
adapted assembled built calculated computed conserved constructed
converted debugged designed determined developed engineered
fabricated fored installed maintained operated overhauled printed
programmed reced regulated remodeled repaired replaced restored
solved specialized standardized studied upgraded ulized
TEACHING SKILLS
adapted advised claried coached communicated conducted coordinated
criqued developed enabled encouraged evaluated explained facilitated
focused guided individualized informed inslled instructed movated
persuaded set goals simulated smulated taught tested trained transmied
tutored
FINANCIAL DATA SKILLS
administered adjusted allocated analyzed appraised assessed audited
balanced calculated computed conserved corrected determined
developed esmated forecasted managed marketed measured planned
programmed projected reconciled reduced researched retrieved creave
skills acted adapted began combined conceptualized condensed created
customized designed developed directed displayed drew entertained
established fashioned formulated founded illustrated iniated instuted
integrated introduced invented modeled modied originated performed
photographed planned revised revitalized shaped solved
HELPING SKILLS
adapted advocated aided answered arranged assessed assisted cared for
claried coached collaborated contributed cooperated counseled
demonstrated diagnosed educated encouraged ensured expedited
facilitated familiarize furthered guided helped insured intervened
movated provided referred rehabilitated presented resolved simplied
supplied supported volunteered
33
ORGANIZATION DETAIL SKILLS
approved arranged cataloged categorized charted classied coded
collected compiled corresponded distributed executed ed generated
implemented incorporated inspected logged maintained monitored
obtained operated ordered organized prepared processed provided
purchased recorded registered reserved responded reviewed routed
scheduled screened set up submied supplied standardized systemazed
updated validated veried
MORE VERBS FOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
achieved completed expanded exceeded improved pioneered
reduced (losses) resolved (issues) restored spearheaded succeeded
surpassed transformed won
For more acon verbs, check out this sheet from MIT!
34
KEY TAKEAWAYS
RESUMES, CVS, AND COVER LETTERS SHOULD BE TAILORED
TO THE POSITION YOU ARE APPLYING FOR.
You should always take the me to edit, rearrange, and even rewrite
these documents to ensure they reect the job descripon and desired
qualicaons for each dierent opportunity you apply for. Try your best to
mirror the language the employer uses on the posng as they are describing
their dream candidate!
UTILIZE RELEVANT ACTION VERBS TO HIGHLIGHT A VARIETY
OF SOFT AND HARD SKILLS.
You can nd a comprehensive list of acon verbs in the previous secon.
A good balance of hard and so skills will let employers know that you add
to company eciency and work-ow. Great hard skills to showcase include
Microso Suite and coding languages. Excellent so skills to showcase
include public speaking and leadership.
REMEMBER THE RESUME BULLET FORMULA!
Acon Verb, What You Did, How You Did It and Why You Did It
This formula does not just apply for resumes. Keep these elements in mind
when wring cover leers and CVs as well. The best way to showcase
what you accomplished during a certain experience is to not only explain
what you did, but also oer specic examples of how you did it and the
purpose of the work. It is even beer if you can quanfy some of your
accomplishments (e.g. Increased follower engagement by 20%).
ALWAYS PROOFREAD YOUR RESUME, CV, AND/OR COVER
LETTER BEFORE SUBMISSION.
Oen, these documents are the only materials employers receive from
you before your interview. If your applicaon documents are professional,
organized, and well-formaed, you will denitely make an excellent rst
impression.