When it comes to creating a resume and cover letter, it can be stressful trying to make yourself stand out from the rest.

Lynn Holley, academic programs coordinator for College of Media, said that for students interesting in writing it is important to know the publication, what they do, what stories they contain, and who their clients are.

Showing creativity in the cover letter is important because they expect writers to be creative, she said. Students need to show passion.

“You need to get across what you are going do for the company,” she said.

The format depends on the publication, Holley said. She said she knew a student who used pink paper for a resume for Glamour.

Holley strongly advised that multimedia and broadcast students create their own Web sites to compliment their resumes.

Sarah Zehr, assistant dean and director of Engineering Career Services, said that for engineering students, employers prefer the traditional format.

She says it is more about the content that will make students stand out.

Leadership experiences are important to list because employers are looking for those with leadership and communications skills.

Pnina Steiner, interim assistant dean of Business Career Services Business majors should also adhere to a more traditional format.

She also said that targeted resumes, where students tailor their job objective to fit the position.

“The best and most effective resumes and cover letters are those that are customized to the position they are applying for,” she said.

As for content, all accomplishments that students list should relate to the job description and what the employers are looking for.

It is important for the resume to be perfect with no spelling or grammatical errors, she said.

As for the cover letter, it is important for it to be specific to the company and position and not generic.

Steiner said that it is important to find an actual person to send your cover letter and resume to, not just a human resource department.

Business employers prefer a chronological resume, she said. Also, students should not list all of clubs and activities that they participated in. Instead, they should only list the ones they participated in actively and held leadership roles.

Internships are also important, Steiner said. In the past, students with internships did better than students without them.

Studying abroad and special skills such as a language or web design help students stand out, she added. She said to use high quality paper.

She said that many companies use a key word search to find key words in the resume related to what the company is looking for.

An essential to business resumes is quantitative data Steiner said. An example would be telling how much money you raised if you participated in a fund-raiser or if you were a leader in a group, listing how big the group was.

Katie Flint, assistant director of the Career Center said it is important use action words. Examples of action words are empowered, produced, marketed, developed, reduced, organized, researched, collaborated and strengthened.

She said to always refer back to the job description and use those same key words throughout the resume.

A cover letter is a place to tell your story, she said.

“You should only use prime, shining examples on your cover letter,” Flint added.

She said that it is important to change your cover letter and resume for each job.

As for the use of technology, students can supplement their resume with the professional Web site Linked In.

Nick Ciffone, senior in Media, created his own web page on YouTube to supplement his traditional cover letter and resume. The web page consists of a video of him talking about himself, examples of his ads, and his other accomplishments.

He said that it has been successful.

Ciffone said, “It makes people more interested in my work and in hiring me.”