Jason,
I'd like to offer a few suggestions if I may...
1) Don't use past tenses in the first sentence of your cover letter. "I was very interested to see your advertisement for a Construction Associate..."
How about "I am very interested...."
2) Resume: 2000-2000 makes no sense. Just put 2000.
3) Try to avoid personal value judgements in your cover letter. "working at a grueling pace", or "in a chaotic environment". Try to provide concrete examples of your experiences only.
4) Talk about your work experience in your cover letter and what you learned. Rather than "friends come to you for advice".
5) Try to keep a consistent attitude in your cover letter. At times you sound really confident "I'm the type of person you need". Then right after you say "I feel I'm ready to enter the workforce." I get mixed messages reading this.
6) Proper nouns should be capitalized "MS Money, Outlook Express, etc."
7) Resume, Employment section:
I think it's great you started some paragraphs with action words "Helped with..."
Try to do this consistently. Instead of "Was responsible", say "Responsible for....."
Consider stronger action words. Assisted. Thoroughly familiar with. Developed. Produced. Created. Built.
"Dealt with" sort of implies passiveness. How about "Responded to". "Assisted with".
In short, you've got a good start. You're resume is pretty sound. I'd concentrate on your cover letter because that's what's going to get your resume read.
Good luck.
Kerry
