Career Guides

Your Alumni Association is here to guide you at every stage of your career. Whether you’re a first time job-seeker or looking to brush off your interviewing skills for a career change, access these Terp-exclusive career guides to stay up-to-date with best practices and industry trends in your professional world.

These guides will provide you with:

• Sample language and formatting used in your professional career (resume, cover letter),
• Access to resources at the University of Maryland Alumni Association as well as notable resources online,
• Example scenarios and wording for high-stress, high-reward professional scenarios,
• Tips from Terp industry professionals and career-coaching experts, and
• Valuable information that you can access anywhere, anytime and at any stage of your career.

60% of employees accept their first offer and don't negotiate their salary. 44% of people don't bring up the subject of a raise during a performance review. Whether you like it or not, you need to advocate for your financial worth as an employee by having these tough conversations. If you don't, no one will for you. Follow this guide to figure out how to negotiate your starting salary.

Networking: The big, scary career buzzword that is everywhere. What is it? And how can you master the art of it to advance your career? Follow this guide to learn (or refresh you on) the do's and don'ts of networking, as well as tools and techniques to ensure your success both in-person and online.

While 76% of people say that mentors are important, only 37% actually have one. This percentage is even lower for women and minority populations. Meeting the perfect mentor can be a scary and daunting process. Use this guide to take advantage of plenty of strategies and foolproof ways to build a mentor-mentee relationship.

With only seconds to spare, creating a resume with purpose is essential. In an increasingly competitive job market, you must ensure that you have a clean, well-formatted and easily digestible resume. Hiring managers want to quickly identify who you are, what you’ve done (and how it relates to the job you’re applying for) and why you’ll bring value to their company.

Your cover letter is a crucial step in the application process. It introduces to the hiring manager who you are, what you can offer to the company and why you want the job. You have to accomplish all of this in one page, while leaving the hiring manager wanting more, in the form of an interview. Follow this guide to learn how to tailor the look and feel of your cover letter to stand out and land you more interviews in today’s challenging job market.

With only two to three percent of applicants receiving interviews after resume submission and a third of hiring managers knowing they would hire someone within the first 90 seconds of an interview, this stage in the job search process is of utmost importance. Follow this guide to better prepare, practice and perform during your interview.

Let us know what guide we should develop next by contacting our team.