Business Writing

English 3130 040 CRN 83895 Minimester 1 Fall 2008

Other Assignments:

• Participation
• Correspondence Suite
• Group Multicultural Project
• Workplace Writing Analysis

Assignment: Résumé Suite Project

Due: 9/22 Final version, Draft due 9/15
Worth: 20% of your final grade 

Purpose: To develop a resume and cover letter for a real job you could have in your career and to have you develop the necessary career applications materials that you will be using later in life.

This is a revision-based project in order for you to develop an accessible, usable, and relevant résumé suite. You will be required to write a resume and cover letter/application letter for a real job. A draft of the résumé and cover letter are due 9/15, with the final version due 9/22. You should revise your drafts as much as possible so when you hand in the final version in they should be "perfect". You will need to meet with me during the week of 9/15 to discuss your draft.

Your resume and cover letter will be delivered for an actual job in your career path that you could have in the next year and you will need to do a job search to find the job announcement for the job you are applying to. If you will not graduate in the next year then apply for a job that is a co-op or internship. If you cannot find co-op or internship job openings, feel free to take an entry level position and apply for it like it was a co-op or internship. If you have any problems finding job or if you are going to pursue a career that doesn't easily allow co-op or internship at your level then talk to me. You will need to turn in the job announcement with your project (draft and revised).

This assignment is excellent practice for real life activities. It is also a way to practice catering writing to particular audiences and purposes. Your resume and cover letter may be some of the most important documents you ever write; because they are the documents that will help you get a job. It is vitally important to have your résumés and cover letters be strong, clear, well-written, appropriately detailed, well designed, error-free, and persuasive. Thus, your résumés and cover letters must be “perfect.” This assignment is built with that in mind. Although I realize creating résumés and cover letters are difficult and making them perfect is even harder, the drafting process should help you work toward perfection. I do not expect perfection at the end of the project, but I do expect your final résumé and cover letter to as perfect as possible.

In class you will be learning how to create a “best practice” résumé and cover letter that should work for the majority of jobs. The general résumé and cover letter I teach is a combination of the best of several textbooks and based on the knowledge of many people who have reviewed résumés.  However, some areas may prefer a slightly different résumé. If you know your field prefers a different résumé you are welcome to submit your resume in that format. However, you will need to provide me with evidence and a strong example from your field (besides your résumé). 

Do check out the resources on Résumés & Cover Letters
 

Parts:

9/15: Draft Résumé & Cover Letter with job announcement
9/22: Revised Résumé & Cover Letter with job announcement
 
Draft Résumé & Cover Letter: These should be a full and complete résumé & cover letter. Polish this as much as possible—make it the strongest draft you can. Follow the guidelines covered in the class and reading for resumes and application letters (cover letters). Also turn in the job announcement for the job you are applying to. You will need this for peer critiques 9/15 and for meeting with me. This counts towards your Participation grade. Meeting with me is required component this project (missing your meeting and not meeting with me results in a letter grade deduction from this project). You can sign up to meet with me in class 9/10 for meeting times the next week.

Revised Résumé & Cover Letter: This is the final version of your resume and cover letter. This should show revision based on my comments, the peer critiques, the class discussions, and readings of the resume material. Include the job announcement for the job you are applying to and your draft with my comments. Turn in the résumé and cover letter on good quality "résumé" paper along with your job announcement.

Common Issues

Here are a few things I have seen in many previous student résumés and cover letters.

• Remember these documents must be perfect.
• Do include that required job advertisement.
• Don't say things like "I am confident" or "I am certain" this is just like the hedging mentioned below.
• Don't spend time generally telling us what a past job required (Nothing that sounds like a job ad. No "this job required good communication skills"). Instead specifically focus on what you actually did at this job and how those experiences quality you (Instead of the above say something like "During this job I improved my communication skills by ....".
• Keep your body font consistent in size and typeface. Use only bold or italics (not both at the same time) for emphasis. You may use a contrast typeface for headings.
• Keep first paragraph of the letter as short as possible. All you need is 1-2 sentences saying the actual name of the job, where and when you heard about it and that you are applying. Then you need one sentence providing both an overview to the letter and saying you are qualified. (Example: I am applying for the Entry-Level Information Architect/Usability Specialist position I received via email from the Usability listserv on August 17th. Through my education and work experience I am qualified for this job).
• Follow proper letter format for the cover letter. This includes your address, date, their address, correct greeting, complimentary closing, signature and written name.
• Don't tell them things they know, like what the job needs or entails. They know this if you are correct, and if you are not correct you'll look bad.
• Use parallel bulleted active verbs in your resume in your experience section. See the table on page 249 in the book for action verbs (active verbs) to use or one of these sites (Powerwords http://www.tech-writer.net/resume_powerwords.html action verbs http://www.quintcareers.com/action_verbs.html). Do not put your experience in paragraph form in your résumé—do use those bulleted lists. Example:
• Wrote restaurant descriptions and promotional advertisement
• Coordinated special events and private functions
• Managed financial transactions and record keeping
• Developed new marketing strategies
• Do actually say you are applying for the job. Don't say you are writing about the job or anything like that. Simply say you are applying.
• Make sure each body paragraph of your letter starts with a topic sentence that links your experience to their job, and, as a topic sentence does, overviews the paragraph. Here's a good topic sentence in a paragraph that focuses on education: “Through my education at Georgia State University I have gained skills and knowledge that further qualify me for this job.”
• Don't have your experiences bop you on the head. What do I mean by this? Remember you are the active person in your cover letter and not a passive recipient of your skills, knowledge, and abilities (you were not bopped over the head by them and they suddenly, bam, you could do something). Don't say things like "this helped me", "that encouraged me", or "such and such taught me". Be more active. Show you had a role in all this learning. So instead say things like "through this expedience I learned", "I gained expedience in managing teams" "I mastered these skills while working at...". These show that you had an active role in obtaining all these skills. People want active employees, not employees what have been bopped on the head by their skills.
• In your cover letter do not "believe" or "think" or otherwise hedge about your abilities and qualifications. For example you should not say "I believe I am qualified for this job." It sounds like you are not sure and are not confident with your own abilities. You need to be confident and you need to know you have these abilities. But also don't say "I know I am qualified" that is too obvious and give the potential employer room to argue. Instead, just simply state things like "I am qualified for the job".
• Never have a bulleted list with only one bullet. You should at least have two bullets. If you for some reason only have one item and can't find another, simply don't bullet it.
• In all your documents, indent or use a line space to show a paragraph break, but do not use both. I recommend you use the line space as this is more professional and up-to-date.
• Show don't just tell. When discussing your experience don't just tell us your experience show it. For example saying “I am a good communicator” is just telling. There is no proof that you are a good communicator and we just have to take your word for it. Instead you want to show us you are a good communicator and you do this through examples, details, and explanations. An example of showing:

  My current job requires myriad types of communication and through this I have improved my oral and written communication skills (so far this is still telling). For example, last year I gave 20 formal presentations varying in length from five minutes to an hour on our new product the XH9. I presented to various audiences from shareholders to potential customers and received excellent feedback from my audiences. Based on this feedback, I received the “Presenter of the Year” award.

  See how this last bit is showing? There is evidence that this person is a good communicator through the example and details.

• Do not include subjective information. Potential employers do not want this and don't care about it. They want hard evidence (all that showing we have been talking about). So, don't include things like “I am open to new experiences” or “eager to learn”. You could show these things with examples, details and explanations, but do not just tell them.
• No brownnosing. Don't tell them how great their company is or that you've always wanted to work there. This is a waste of space that could be better used discussing how qualified you are. Plus, they know how great/not great their company is and likely much better than you. They don't need to be told this and they might not even agree. Regardless, statements like this will not impress and not get you hired.
• Don't talk about how the job is good for you. Again, they don't really care, especially not at the cover letter level (this may be a good interview thing). Instead focus on how you are good for their job and what things (skills, abilities, experiences) you can bring to it.