Resumes & Application Letters

Find a job that fits your current qualifications or those you'll have when you graduate, then write a resume and an application for that job. Use the two assignments below to plan what you want to be when you graduate!

Objectives

Upon completion of this module, you will be good at:

• Creating a properly formatted business letter.
• Using recommended content for business-letter introductions.
• Ending body text of business letters stating expectations of the recipient.
• Avoiding lengthy paragraphs.
• Using the "you" writing style.

Optional Revision

You can revise one of your previous assignments in this course.

Points: same as the assignment it is replacing

Caution: Address every comment made on your first draft! If you don't agree with or understand a comment, say so in the document, or discuss by e-mail with your instructor.

Readings

To get started in this unit:

1. Read about business correspondence in general
2. Read about resume design and content
3. Read about application letters (not cover letters!)

Practice: Business-Letter Format

You've read the business letters chapter, right?

Now use these notes to produce a professional-looking business letter (good karma for a flashy logo!).

Final-grade points: 2

Practice: Application Letter Details

The online textbook makes a big deal out of getting specifics into a resume or application letter: details like specific prpduct names, brand names, model numbers, version release numbers, customer totals, support calls answered, years worked, names of specific courses or certificates, and so on. However! If you are in college, you are likely at the beginning of your career—you don't have details like that!  Well, heck with that. Choose one of the application letters below and invent as much realistic detail as you can. Go wild!

Choose one of these and rewrite:

Detail letter 1. Special events planning major
Detail letter 2. Cyber security major
Detail letter 3. Media production major
Detail letter 4. Physical therapy major
Detail letter 5. Computer programming major

Practice: Resume Practice Formatting

You've read the resumes chapter, right?

Now use these notes to produce a professional-looking resume.

Final-grade points: 2

Resume Assignment: Recommendations

Final-grade points: 10

Caution: Name your assignment files with some identifiable part of your name: for example, davidmcm_resume.docx. Send files by e-mail attachment to davidm@austincc.edu; do not upload to Blackboard. SM5: Do you uplosd your files to Blackboard? Click for more options

Here are the recommendations for your resume:

On a page before the resume, include a brief note describing the audience and the job requirements. Indicate information about the requirements of your audience, and other details that affect how you develop your resume.

Remember that you will not get a chance to revise this resume; be your own editor. Your resume will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• How effectively you design your resume
• How consistently you handle details such as capitalization, spacing, indentation, and so forth
• How well the resume highlights your best qualifications
• How "scannable" your resume is
• How well your resume provides detail but remains brief. Be sure that your resume provides specific details and examples relating to your qualifications. Details with numeric quantities and capital letters are essential
• How effectively your resume either finds enough detail to avoid looking skimpy or consolidates detail down to 1 or 2 pages
• Whether you've used the standards of good writing style, grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling

Before you turn this writing project in, scan it for these errors which you studied at the beginning of semester:

• Comma splices
• Fragments
• Pronoun-reference agreement
• Apostrophes
• Introductory element commas
• Compound sentence commas
• Compound predicate commas

Remember that errors in the list will cause unfortunate problems with your grades.

Application Letter Assignment: Recommendatios

• Full heading, date, and inside address (logo letterhead design is optional)
• Salutation correctly punctuated (see textbook)
• Introduction that remains brief but announces the letter's purpose, indicate the souce of the job information, and seeks to gain the reader's interest
• Body paragraphs divided into logical parts (such education an experience or areas of work experience) and that are not so long as to become unreadable
• Most importantly, specific details and examples relating to your qualifications; details with numeric quantities and capital letters
• Indication of enclosure or attachment
• Complimentary close correct capitalized and punctuated correctly
• Good professional-looking format
• Writing style that is agreeable, positive, persuasive
• Standards of good writing style, grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling
• Also importantly, noticeable effort to make a case for yourself as the right person for the job

Note: Please notice that the note describing the audience for the letter and resume is a serious requirement.

Application Letter Planning Guide

Use these questions to define the key details for your application letter (not required):

• Explain which parts of your background—education, work experience, or other—you plan to highlight in this application letter.
• Explain how these areas of your background are specifically related to the employment you are seeking. (Remember that in the application letter you must draw the connection between your qualifications and the requirements of the job.)
• Remember that the opening paragraph of the application letter often contains an "attention-getter," some quick reference to the writer's best qualification. Describe the attention getter you could use in the opening paragraph of your application letter.
• Application letters are often less effective because they lack specific details about education and experience. In the box below, list as many specifics as you can concerning those parts of your background related to the employment you are seeking (for example, model or brand names, version numbers, dates, names, GPA, course titles, amounts of time or money).

Resume Planning Guide

Use these questions to define the key details for your resume (not required):

• Find an advertisement for a job you'd like to be hired for. It can be one for which you are qualified now or one for which you hope to be qualified for some day. Briefly describe what the job advertisement states in the box below.
• Describe the intended audience for your resume—who are these readers?
• Describe the employment your are seeking.
• Describe the three or four most important qualifications for this employment.
• List and describe the three or four most important areas of your education and work experience, and then for each one list your specific educational and work experience that applies to it.
• Make a list of each job you've had; and then list the job titles, duties, accomplishments, awards, and other such details for that job. (If you've held a number of similar part-time jobs, group them.)
• Do the same for each phase of your education: list the important courses you've taken, your GPA, awards, special projects, internships, and other such detail.
• Try constructing a highlights summary. Remember that this is the bulleted list, occurring toward the top of the resume, that shows your or six most important qualifications.
• Try constructing a goals or objective section for your resume. Remember that this section characterizes both the employment or career you are seeking as well as your main qualifications.

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