Hi again! Last week, I left off my career journey with a definitive lack of plan, and a trip to CP&R that didn’t, as I had previously hoped, spell out my entire career path for me. Looking back, I admit that my expectations were a bit unrealistic, as my future is something that I can only figure out for myself. However, as I immersed myself once again into the internship application process this week, I remembered a wise little anecdote that the woman who I had consulted with at CP&R bestowed upon me: “Have you tried reading this?”
I recognize that out of context, this wise little anecdote doesn’t seem that wise-but bear with me. The book she offered me was the CP&R Career Services Guide– the same one that is given to all first years upon their first meeting with CP&R; the same one that had been laying dormant in my desk drawer ever since that initial meeting. Wanting to seem like a smart, confident, and professional woman, I said I had- but that I’ll take an extra copy of the book, because my other one was getting worn down from excessive use.
Later that evening, I cracked open the guide as I stumbled upon an internship that I was interested in applying to on idealist.org. I was curious to see if it could tell me more than I already knew about cover letters and résumés, which I had, of course, Googled the format of. What else could there be to know?

It turns out, there could be a lot more to know. If an internship search was another class, the CP&R Career Resources Guide would be the syllabus. The book contains pivotal information such as how to tailor your résumé in order to cater to the specific job you want (I thought all résumés were the same?!), and better words to highlight your own skills on your résumé. I used a bunch of these words to replace “worked on,” which had characterized my working experience for the past five years. The Career Services Guide is modern and consistent in the facts that it presents, such as that typing is not considered a skill in today’s society, and the “profile” section of résumés is outdated. Again, something that Google and my parents both failed to tell me. Furthermore, it tells you how to properly research the position you are applying to. I’ve begun to carry the guide around with me everywhere; it makes my career search feel more accessible and easy, something I can just do in my spare time. In summation, I am as enthused with the CP&R Career Services Guide as a Mormon is with the Book of Mormon, and I would not hesitate to travel the world in order to spread its word.

I became even more enthused with the guide when I saw that it provided a sample résumé for someone trying to get an internship in Communications, the very field that I had just stumbled upon a really, really interesting internship in. Feeling confident, I used the book as a guide to type up a new and improved résumé that specifically highlighted my previous experience in communications, making being an editor of my high school newspaper sound like I was head editor of the New York Times. I was able to read the position description carefully, and match the tone of the description in my cover letter and writing samples that I provided. While I’m uncertain if I’ll actually get the internship, I at least now feel more confident in the skill of actually applying to them- even if applying to internships isn’t a skill I can formally list on my résumé. Sometimes it’s best to use the resources that are right in front of you, or in this case, the ones that have been sitting in your desk drawer for months.