ucla cover letter template

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Need some assistance with your resume? VMock is a 24/7 online resume review tool available for all UCLA students. It provides instant personalized feedback on your resume based on criteria gathered from employers and UCLA community standards.

What is VMock?

• VMock is a 24-7 online resume review tool
• Leverages data science, machine learning, and natural language processing to provide instant personalized feedback on your resume based on criteria gathered from employers and UCLA community standards.
• The system analyzes three areas – impact, presentation, and soft skills – and offers feedback on highlighted areas to help make your resume stronger.
• Use the SMART Resume Editor to build a resume from scratch, or to edit a resume after receiving feedback. This feature is recommended only for those who are at the beginning stages of resume development.

Why use VMock?

• Receive an aggregate resume score to assess the strengths of your resume benchmarked against your own UCLA peer group.
• Get instant, detailed feedback on your resume anytime, anywhere, 24/7.
• Improve the overall content of your resume with actionable and targeted bullet-by-bullet feedback.

Who should use this?

• Students who are at the beginning stages of resume creation or who have never created a resume before.
• Students who want to improve their resume’s content.

Important additional information on VMock

• VMock is a starting point for resume building, and is not a replacement for career advising. It will help you refine your resume to the point where it makes career advising appointments and drop-ins more productive and meaningful.
• Focus on the feedback, not the score your resume is given. While the system will help you develop your resume with concrete feedback, the scoring is subjective.
• Students have 10 opportunities to  upload  a resume or  rescore  a resume each academic year. We advise that you use these uploads judiciously.
• For students using unique or creative resume formats, we recommend making changes to your resume on your original file, not through the SMART Resume Editor. VMock is only able to process PDF files that were created using conventional word processing applications such as Microsoft Word.

How do I use VMock?

• Go to  www.vmock.com/uclacareercenter
• Click red “Continue with University ID” button, and log in using your SSO credentials
• Complete your profile by answering the questions provided. If you are a PhD/Postdoc, select “N/A” for industry interest.
• Upload your resume in PDF format.
• Click “View Detailed Feedback” to explore the different scoring elements, and hover over highlighted portions to view detailed feedback.
• (Optional) Use the SMART Resume Editor to automatically update your formatting and make edits to your resume. This feature is not recommended for students using unique or creative templates/formats.

What should I do after using VMock?

Remember, VMock isn’t a one-time thing! Students have ten opportunities to upload and/or score a resume each academic year. You have access to VMock for an entire year after graduation.

Resume Format

Do you want to know why resumes fail? Here are the reasons given in a survey of employers:

• No accomplishments (78%)
• Negative visual impact (55%)
• Poor or no cover letter (40%)
• Format problems (32%)
• Irrelevant data (29%)
• Inadequate job information (12%)
• Time gaps unexplained (10%)
• Resume too long (10%)

Your resume is your most important calling card in your job search. It should include the following information:

• Contact Information. Include phone, mail and e-mail contact information. Your voicemail message should be professional. A message that is too casual can create a negative impression. Also be aware of My Space, You Tube and other places that you can be found on the web.
• Career Objective. You can choose to list or not list your career objective. If your objective doesn’t match the recruiter’s needs, you may miss out on a golden opportunity.
• Include your years of experience
• List pertinent skills
• Discuss your relevant leadership traits and work styles
• Professional experience. List each position held in reverse chronological order, dating back at least 10 years. If you held multiple positions within the same company, list them all to show advancement and growth. The body of each position description should describe your responsibilities and accomplishments.
• Other components. Include education, professional training, affiliations/appointments, licenses, technical skills and languages.
• Personal information. Do not include any personal information.

Top Accomplishments Employers Want to See

• Increased revenues
• Saved money
• Increased efficiencies
• Cut overhead
• Increased sales
• Improved workplace environment
• Purchasing accomplishments
• New products/new lines
• Improved record-keeping process
• Increased productivity
• Successful marketing campaign
• Effective budgeting

You only have one chance to create a favorable impression! Resume Do’s and Don’ts:

• Don’t use “I,” “he,” “she,” “Mr.” or “Ms.” when referring to yourself in your resume. Instead, list your responsibilities and accomplishments in a bullet point format. Note: Managers may not take the time to read a lengthy paragraph.
• Don’t skip a job to make your resume look better.
• Do remember that total honesty is mandatory. Your resume must be clear, concise and reflect a professional employment history.
• Don’t use a gimmick resume or colored paper.
• Do remember to print you resume on 20 – 24 pound white (or neutral color) paper. Keep in mind that your original resume becomes the master copy from which multiple copies are made. Colored paper doesn’t reproduce well.
• Don’t fax your resume directly from your PC without printing it first, thus insuring your resume reproduces and appears as you anticipated.
• Do remember to use your spell/grammar check feature, and do remember to have someone other than yourself proofread your resume to insure it reads well.
• Don’t use small type – less than 11 point font size – in order to get more information on a page. It would be better to edit/cut your copy than reduce the type size. Resumes that are difficult to read get passed over.
• Do remember to print your name on the second and all subsequent pages.

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You don’t have to be a coach to need coaching skills. Learning how to influence and motivate teams — and yourself — can serve you in any professional capacity.

Matt Gorlick (B.A. ’04, ’13) is executive director of student development at UCLA Anderson. He’s also a professional certified coach and an Anderson graduate who understands how coaching conversations can benefit any MBA launching into a career. As a member of Anderson’s 43,000-strong global alumni network, Matt partners with current students to help them develop self-awareness, be intentional and build trust as leaders..

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Regulators reject Berkeley plan that would have allowed ‘excessively high’ radiation at park

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Months after discovering that radioactive waste and toxic pesticides may be buried under two popular Bay Area parks, state regulators have rejected Berkeley’s plan to test for contaminants as insufficient.

In January, the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Board informed the cities of Albany and Berkeley that a former chemical plant had disposed of 11,100 tons of industrial waste at their municipal landfills decades ago. The revelation came after the Department of Toxic Substance Control shared a 1980 document detailing the disposal records of Stauffer Chemical Co.’s Richmond plant.

Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science.

Berkeley’s landfill has since been converted into 90-acre César Chávez Park , while Albany’s has evolved into a 40-acre recreational area called the Bulb.

The water board demanded the cities to submit plans by April to scan these areas for cancer-causing gamma radiation and sample for banned pesticides, including DDT.

Albany’s plans for the Bulb were approved and testing is expected to begin this month. Berkeley’s proposal for César Chávez , however, was denied as the water board cited major concerns with the city’s methodology.

Climate & Environment

Revelations of possible radioactive dumping around the Bay Area trigger new testing at parks

A former chemical plant dumped thousands of tons of industrial waste around the San Francisco Bay Area. The deposits were made in places that are now open to the public — and could contain radioactive material.

May 14, 2024

Berkeley’s contractor, SCS Engineers , called for an inspector to walk in long, straight lines across César Chávez with a radioactivity detector. But the plan allowed for spacing up to 100 feet between each walked path, meaning “it would result in a significant portion of the site not being surveyed,” according to a May 16 letter from Eileen White, the executive officer of the regional water board.

“A comprehensive surface scan should cover 100 percent of the landfill surface, or as close to that as possible,” White said in the letter to SCS Engineers.

SCS Engineers also recommended that the radioactivity measured at César Chávez be compared to Blair Southern Pacific Landfill, a hazardous waste dump in Richmond that accepted Stauffer’s waste and is fenced off to prevent public access. The Berkeley-hired firm proposed flagging areas for further evaluation if gamma radiation detectors reach 80,000 counts per minute or higher.

The typical background reading is 60 counts per minute.

White, the water board executive, said Berkeley’s proposed benchmarks for what warranted further investigation were “excessively high.” She argued that if SCS was intent on comparing radiation at César Chávez to background levels, it should find a nearby site that is unaffected by chemical waste.

The water board has given Berkeley until July 1 to submit a new plan.

Berkeley spokesperson Matthai Chakko said the city has complied with all regulatory requirements from the water board. Amending testing plans, he said, is commonly part of the process.

“It is standard practice for regulated entities to submit proposed work plans to regulators for guidance, review, and revision before the plans are ultimately approved,” Chakko said.

Explosive levels of methane have been detected near a Berkeley landfill-turned-park

Environmental regulators have found explosive levels of methane in a popular Berkeley park. Regulators and the city are sparring over the source of the gas and what to do about it.

April 11, 2024

Tony Briscoe is an environmental reporter with the Los Angeles Times. His coverage focuses on the intersection of air quality and environmental health. Prior to joining The Times, Briscoe was an investigative reporter for ProPublica in Chicago and an environmental beat reporter at the Chicago Tribune.

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