Careers Education & Placement Centre

1. Careers Education & Placement Centre Resume Session - BBA I & II Date : 1 December,1999 (Wednesday) Time : 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Venue : P2, CYM Physics Bldg

2. Careers Education & Placement Centre Ms Cindy Chan Acting Senior Manager Email: cpychan@hkucc.hku.hk Homepage: http://www.hku.hk/cepc

3. Objectives This session will help you to be aware of • why are you interested in being an intern • why are you interested in being an intern with that particular company • what is the intern expected to do • what primary tasks do you think you can do • what personal attributes, skills and achievements and academic strengths do you have that make you do the job well • what contribution do you think you could make • what is in it for the employer to hire you

4. Available opportunities Internship positions (in various depts) in • Morgan Stanley Dean Witter • Merrill Lynch • Goldman Sachs

5. Application Letter Contents • where did you learn about this position • why are you interested in being an intern • why this particular company • what do you have that make you do the job well • what contribution can you make • what is in it for the employer to hire you • when are you available for interview

6. Covering Letter Basic knowledge of cover letter • Limit it to one page • A4 size quality paper • Be brief and specific - don’t re-produce your resume • be addressed to the relevant named person in the organization

7. Why am I interested in being an intern • to gain valuable first-hand experience in the industry. • to gain exposure to one of the world's premier financial services firms • to have an opportunity to work with an unmatched team of professionals Add value • to apply research skills learnt in school to business context

8. Why are you interested in the company?? Research!! • recruitment talk • career booklet • company file/newspaper cutting file • world wide web (e.g. South China Morning Post Archive) • alumni contact/friends

9. Websites • Morgan Stanley Dean Witter <http://www.msdw.com> • Goldman Sachs <http://www.gs.com> • Merrill Lynch <http://www.ml.com>

10. Why that company? Merrill Lynch - respect for individual, opportunity to work with bright individuals with diverse skills and experience, employee-friendly policies Morgan Stanley Dean Witter - sets standards of expertise and leadership

11. What are you expected to do and how well can you perform • Do Exercise One e.g Investment Analysts Make sophisticated financial analysis Conduct research • Give presentations

12. What qualities are required • teamwork • problem solving • creative thinking • communicate persuasively • adventurous • analytical • comfortable working with numbers • make the most of every opportunity • leadership • interpersonal • client-focused…etc

13. Can you do the job well? What REVELENT personal attributes, skills, achievements, academic strengths do you have that make you think you can do the job well? Give specific examples

14. Exercise Telling: I can provide investment advice to your clients and update market news for your company. Selling: I enjoy reading xxx News to keep abreast of the stock market and to identify investment opportunities. With a strong business sense, I managed to made of profit of HK$5,000 from a principal of 50,000 in the last 3 months. With an increasing confident on my analysis, I have been sharing my insights with my family members.

15. Exercise Telling: I am a self-starter with excellent leadership abilities. I believe these qualities will be an asset to your company. Selling: In my last summer job, I took the initiative to help the supervisor set up a systemic filing system, ...This system allows the team to retrieve information easily and effectively.

16. Format for Cover Letter Your Address Date The person’s name Job title Employer name Address Dear (Mr/Mrs/Ms Surname), Ref: (Position) Introduction - Explain why you are writing Middle paragraph/s - Match your qualification, experiences, and achievements with the primary tasks of the appointee. Make them interested in meeting you!

17. Format for Cover Letter … cont’d Penultimate paragraph - Say what you are attracted by this employer and occupation. Closing paragraph - Leave the way open for further communication. Yours sincerely, Your name

18. Opening - Example 1 Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me at the recruitment talk on November 24 at The University of Hong Kong. Being a business student in my final year, I am writing to express my sincere interest in the position of Investment Analyst with Merill Lynch.

19. Opening - Example 2 I am delighted to learn from my course supervisor Mr Edward Chiu that you are looking for a high calibre student with strong teamwork skills to join your Human Resources team as an intern, I take the liberty to introduce my backgound to you.

20. 2nd para - Why me? Being an outgoing student with above average academic results, I was selected to participate in a XXX program organised by my secondary school. Apart from attending a series of leadership training courses, I worked closely with 5 other classmates to assess the mobile phone industry in Hong Kong. By analysing the raw data that we collected from magazines and senior managers of leading telecommunication companies, we were able to project the future development of the industry. The results and presentations of this projects were beyond our supervisor’s expectation and it was awarded the xxxx . .

21. 3 rd para - Why me? To prepare myself for the business world, I used the last summer vacation to gain more work experience . My main responsibilities as an Promoter at Aeon were to pursuade the passing-by apply for our company’s visa card during road shows. My customer-focused attitude succeeded in attracting over 30 applications per day, which was among one of the top five records. On several occasions, I managed to convince people who have bad impression on credit cards to apply for for one.

22. 4th para - Why Goldman Sachs I am particularly interested in Goldman Sachs because of its strong reputation worldwide, long history and its philosophy to provide the best possible results for its clients. I believe that my personal qualities would enable me to work in a challenging and fast-pace working environment as in Goldman Sachs.

23. Closing I am excited to further my relationship with Goldman Sachs and I look forward to hearing from you soon. Thank you for your time and consideration.

24. Resume Contents • Personal particulars • Summary statement • Career objective • Schools attended • Qualification and examination result • Thesis/project • Awards received • Working experience • Extra-curricular activities • Skills • Hobbies • Reference

25. Basic Knowledge of Resumes • Keep it to 1-2 pages • Use quality A4 paper and matching envelope • Neat and clear presentation • Include information that is relevant to the job • Leave out expected salary unless asked for

26. Information to be included Personal Information • Include only relevant information (e.g. telephone number, address, e-mail) • Information on your height, weight, place of birth, gender, marital status etc is not needed. • Don’t take up too much space with this section

27. Information to be included (cont’d) Summary Statement (value adding) • It underscores the important message in the cover letter • It repeats the key words in the cover letter • It leads into the career objective

28. Summary - Example An undergraduate at the University of Hong Kong with a major in Business. Able to work under pressureand possess effectivecommunicationand interpersonal skills. Willing to face challenges and have commitment and drive to succeed. Actively participated in extra-curricular activities during University career and enjoy team work. Proficient inEnglish and Cantonese.

29. Information to be included Career Objective (value adding) Tell the employer • what type of job you are looking for, • what type of industry, • what skills would you like to apply to his position.

30. Career Objective me-me trap: “ A trainee position in a well established investment house where I can gain experience in buying and selling stocks” Revision: “ A trainee position in a well established investment house where I can use my background in finance to buy and sell stocks .”

31. Information to be included Education • Start with your MOST RECENT education and work backwards • Give the name of the University, the title of the degree in full, date of graduation and final year project title, if relevant • Other relevant training courses that you have attended

32. Information to be included Work Experience • Start with your most recent or most relevant experience, • Give the company name, period of employment and job title, • Describe your duties and responsibilities, • Show what your have done rather than simply tell (statement of achievements, showing result).

33. Information to be included Extra-Curricular Activities • Include student activities, committees, sports or responsible positions that you have held, • Include related achievements, • Include title, period, statement of responsibilities, and statement of achievement as with “Work Experience”.

34. Information to be included Skills • Include other qualifications that are relevant to the company e.g. language and computer skills

35. Hobbies and Interest • Useful if they are relevant to your career objective. • Avoid being too general such as “reading” or “sports”, • Be specific and list achievement, if any e.g. reading detective stories, war game strategies, literature classics etc., bird-watching and keeping log book of species seen, hiking, improved from grade __, walks to grade __ walks.

36. Professional Membership • If it is relevant to your career objective, put it down e.g. Student Member of The Institute of Bankers

37. Expected Salary • Leave it out unless it is asked for. • Do some research and find our what news recruits are paid in that industry. • state a range ?? HK$ 10,000 - HK$20,000 HK$ 10,000 - HK$12,000

38. Resume Format Name Address Contact Numbers Summary Career Objective Education Extra-Curricular Activities: (Position, Organisation, Period, Statement of responsibilities (use action words to show skills)) Statement of achievement (showing results)

39. Resume Format • Work Experience (Position, Organisation, Period, Statement of responsibilities (use action words to show skills)) Statement of achievement (showing results) • Hobbies and Interest • Skills and other qualifications relevant to the company • References (Ideally three referees, not relatives, to comment on your ability, character, attitude to work, achievements) • Expected Salary (unless asked for)

40. The DOs • write the resume yourself • make it error free • make it look good • stress your accomplishments • be brief and specific • be honest • keep it lively - use action words (e.g. organised, participated, handled..etc) • address to the right person

41. The DON’Ts • Incomplete Information • Poor layout • Too fancy/complicated • Incorrect dates (e.g. date of birth, year of graduation)

42. Your Challenge To show where you are different or better than your competitors! Add value - your experiences inside and outside of school will set you apart from your peers.

43. Remember The resume and covering letter are your own personal marketing document no standard format Your can read examples of resumes, but don’t copy them. Make one for yourself.

44. Other Resources • The Resume Writing Workbook • Write for the job • Getting the job you really want • Write, giving full details (video) • The Miracle Resume (video) • Language Centre • More ....... Careers Library, 3/F, Meng Wah Complex

45. Tell me • why are you interested in being an intern • why are you interested in being interns with that particular company • what is the intern expected to do • what primary tasks do you think you can do • what personal attributes, skills and achievements and academic strengths do you have that make you do the job well • what contribution do you think you could make • what is in it for the employer to hire you

46. ANSWERS QUESTIONS