Winter Break to-dos!

As the academic semester reaches its final stretch, I am looking forward to accomplishing some non-class related tasks over Winter Recess.  Here are some of the things I might think about accomplishing:

1.  Make a mix CD.  This is a dying art.  All the same, people love mix tapes.  I want to make a good one to distribute to everyone accordingly.

2.  Host dinner.  I want to plan out a dinner menu and invite some people over for dinner, so I can have the joy of cooking for a group of people.

3.  Knit and crochet.  I want to do as much knitting and crocheting as possible.  I also want to try my hand at needlepoint, to make things like this:

4.  Clean and organize my room, apartment, and storage space.  Not much explanation needed there.

5.  Plan trip to San Diego.  I want to visit Maureen in San Diego, so I need to plan when I can go and buy a ticket.  

6.  Spend time with friends and family.

7.  Do some pleasure reading.  I want to finish The Help and then read Cherry by Mary Karr.  

8.  Exercise.  I need to use my gym membership.  I haven't gone in over a month.  

Cover Letters and Resumes

While reading through some cover letters and resumes for my boss, I am making some interesting observations.  Here's some of my [slightly un-]professional opinions:

• Write a cover letter.  If you don't want the job enough to write the cover letter, then don't write a cover letter.  Your resume will be put in the "no" pile.  
• Don't overgeneralize in your cover letter, and don't use abbreviations.  Use full title positions and institution names.  And give specific examples.  Don't mention the weather in your cover letter either (true story).  
• Don't give a paragraph of description for every bullet of experience, and don't give me every single fast food job you worked 10 years ago.  
• Formatting is more important that you think.  Employers like to see attention to detail, and the resume is the first impression of this.  
• Sidebar:  I have a friend who went in for a job interview and the person interviewing him said that she combed his resume for grammatical errors and typos and was impressed that he didn't have any, which showed that he is highly attentive to detail. (Granted, the job is at an accounting firm, but it's relevant.)
• Don't write that you have good interpersonal skills.  Any schmo can write that on their resume.  
• DO include:
• social networking proficiency.  
• All computer programming and software skills.
• Languages, if you speak more than one.

Okay, now that I have a better perspective on what a good resume looks like, I'm going to go edit my own.