Today’s job market is highly competitive. An attempt to get a desirable job or an internship with notable companies may prove difficult if you do not know how to present your skills and experiences in a spot-on and professional manner. This disadvantage is apparent to employers when they look at your cover letter and resume.

Employers use resumes to get acquainted with your past education, experience and strengths in order to make the decision of whether or not they will contact you for an interview. Therefore, having an outstanding resume is necessary.

Career Services at the Compass recommends the online program called Optimal Resume for building a strong resume. Optimal Resume is one of the top-ranked online resume builder systems in the country. It allows students to create a resume, cover letter, website and portfolio on a free account.

Optimal Resume offers a lot of resume examples, all of which look professional and are easy to customize. It also gives the option of starting from scratch or uploading your own. The program even automatically does spell checks and suggests skills related to your major to add to your resume.

Optimal Resume can present your resume to a worldwide network of over 100,000 employers. You can upload or download your resume in many formats such as PDF, HTML, DOC, etc.

Another thing that Optimal Resume does is give you access to manage your resume anywhere and anytime. You can add a quick update in just a second, just a simple click and your resume is right there.

After you complete your resume, you can have the Career Services staff review it by clicking the review button on your account. They will then send their feedback to you.

Oswego State also encourages students to upload their resume to LakerLeads, a job and internship database built especially for Oswego State students and alumni.

The option of sharing your Optimal Resume with world does not stop at LakerLeads. Your resume, cover letters and general information can be shared on professional websites and social networks such as Google+, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Optimal Resume also offers great tips for those who wish to develop their interviewing skills. There are option to select the type of interview questions, such as high pressure or just screening. The site also allows you to record a video to put on your portfolio or website. The video, like the resume, can be submitted to Career Services for feedback. Including a video that gives students an opportunity to show that they are capable of using modern technology to its full potential.

To get started today, access the Oswego State Optimal Resume website and create an account for free. It is fast and very easy. For further assistance, make sure to stop by Career Services at the Compass. The staff is ready to help every weekday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. They can critique and help edit resumes before they are printed. They also can print up to ten resumes at a time.

“Ninety-nine percent of students who visit say their expectations were exceeded or met,” Oswego State’s director of Career Services Gary Morris said.