|
|
Dr. Mark Jordan ~ ENGL 2311:
Technical Writing
Final Examination: Personal Resume'
& Cover Letter
General Description
Your final examination will consist
of a personal resume' and letter of application written in
accordance with the general principles we have studied
(e.g., formatting, text, etc.), in accordance with the
specific guidelines for these two types of documents,
and in fulfillment of either
of the two options below. To
become familiar with the customs of a resume' and a letter
of application, you should read the section entitled
"Resumes and Job
Applications" in Chapter 19 (pp. 434-448). While those pages are most particularly
useful, you should also review the general guidelines for
letters, given earlier in that chapter, and you should also
note that this assignment can be even more useful to you if
you also pay attention to the chapter sections on electronic
resumes, interviewing, etc.
This exam is a "take-home" final.
You must have it IN MY
HANDS--not just in the mail--by Wednesday, December 8th.
If you are an
out-of-town student, this means that you must mail your
final exam sometime the week before. It might also be wise
to fax it to me also (see the
fax number at the bottom of this link), or send it by file attachment. I prefer to grade it in hardcopy so as to
get a better impression of neatness and other aspects of
professional presentation, but distant students will be wise
to submit the final in two different mediums, or else submit
it very early. You must
meet the due date, because the semester ends the very next
day, Thursday December 9th!!! I encourage you to submit
early.
Your purpose in this final
examination, in summary, is to choose one of the two
hypothetical job situations below and write both a personal
resume' and letter of application which applies to your
choice. However, even
though the job situation is hypothetical, your documents
must show only your actual qualifications, job history,
education, and any other information. Use of any fictional
qualifications is unethical! Nor would such use necessarily
help the grade, because
the point is not so much your qualifications as how you
present yourself. As you will see below, I have written
these two options so that one is meant for students with
considerable job experience, while the other is intended for
students who have worked little, if at all. In this way, I
have consciously "leveled the playing field" so that this
exam does not favor those students with more work
experience.
Topic Choices
Option One: For Students with
Little Work Experience
Assume you are applying for a
summer internship position within a field you wish to enter.
Such positions are often
used by large companies as opportunities to discover
talented individuals who may later become candidates for
full time positions. For students with limited work
experience, such positions are ideal ways to get experience,
make needed money for their educations, and sample a
possible career, all at once.
In this option, your resume' will be
built so as to highlight your educational and personal
achievements. Therefore, work experience, if any, usually is
placed last. The sample resume' on page 443 can serve as a
model for this option, though you should certainly adjust
both the style and the sections included according to your
personal circumstances and design preferences. Also, see the
sample letter on pages 446-47.
This option is well suited for
students with limited work experience, and also possibly for
students whose work experience does not pertain at all to
the field they are trying to enter.
Option Two: For Students with
Considerable Work Experience
Assume you are applying for a
full-time, permanent position within your field or within a
field you wish to enter.
In this option, either your
educational or workplace experience may be placed first,
depending mainly on which you deem more impressive in the
context of the position you are applying for. The sample on
page 441 shows a resume' featuring a fair amount of work
experience; see also the sample letter on pages
445-46.
This option is best for students
with a fair amount of work experience and/or pertinent
education.
Requirements
- Choose one of the two above options.
- Include only actual work experience, education,
and achievements. Do not
fictionalize your qualifications!
- Show familiarity with the specific format of
both a resume' and a letter of application.
- Show familiarity with the general formatting
principles we have studied.
- Show ability to both inform and persuade your
audience in a concise manner.
- Show a professional level of proofreading
ability. These documents should be error-free!
- Compose and design your resume'
so that it is either one
full page long or two full pages long. See under Tips below for suggestions on
doing this.
Lengths less than a full
page imply too few qualifications; resumes over two pages
seldom get read carefully, if at all. A resume' of a
length somewhere between one and two pages may give the
impression that the writer really has few qualifications
but is trying unsuccessfully to stretch them.
- If your resume' takes a second
page, include either a header or footer with your name and page
number on the second
page.
- Your letter of application
should be no more than one
page, and should
communicate a positive,
desirable image of your personality, which a resume' alone cannot do
effectively.
- Address your letter of
application to some
specific individual. This may be an actual person or a
hypothetical (imagined) person, but you should know the
person's name and title.
- Your letter should also
state what you wish to
happen next--to be hired,
of course, but what intermediate step do you desire? An
interview? A telephone confirmation that you are being
considered?
Tips
- Organization of your letter
should probably include three main sections or paragraphs
corresponding to an Introduction, a Main Body, and a
Conclusion, although letters do not feature headings or
subheadings. The introductory paragraph should clearly
state the letter's purpose, mentioning the specific
position you are applying for. The body paragraph(s)
should describe your special qualifications in a
straightforward, honest, but confident way.
This is the crucial part
of the letter, and it should stress the more subtle
strengths you possess which a resume' cannot fully
portray--like personality qualities, for instance.
The last paragraph should
sum up your case for yourself and should request
something in particular to happen next; most commonly,
letters request interviews.
- While both documents' purpose is
to persuade by presenting your qualifications in the best
possible light (of course while staying within the limits
of honesty), a resume' is more informative while the
letter tries more to persuade. The letter is also more
conversational and direct, using complete sentences
rather than just very concise descriptive phrases, as is
common with resumes'. In your letter, try to address the
question of why this company should hire
you, over other candidates. What special
skills, experience, knowledge, or personality traits do
you have to offer? Use your letter to emphasize those
things, which generally should appear on the resume' as
well but which may not stand out as much as they can
within the context of a descriptive and persuasive
letter.
- The two main traditional areas
for a resume' are work experience and education. However,
other areas are sometimes included, such as language
skills, hobbies, etc. which don't readily fall under
either job experience or formal education, but which are
pertinent strengths nonetheless. Study the samples in
your book and be imaginative in composing a resume' that
best highlights your
strengths.
- Be sure to take advantage of all
aspects of your experience that would single you out in a
positive way. This might include specific courses taken
(such as this
one), advanced skills
regarding computers or other equipment, management or
teamwork experience, applicable skills from other jobs
which deserve highlighting, achievements in your personal
life, and even personality traits. (If mentioning
personality traits, try to avoid empty claims; illustrate
a trait with a brief but appropriate example. Any such
material is usually placed in your letter, not your
resume'.)
- If you have job experience and
educational experience that goes years beyond high
school, your high school achievements matter little;
concentrate on more recent aspects. If you are still only
a year of two out of high school and have little work
experience, then it is appropriate to focus on high
school achievements.
- Normally, this type of document
is printed on watermarked "ragbond," that is, paper with
some cotton content. Colors are almost always white,
biege, or cream, unless you are applying within a field
where such conservative choices would be a clear
disadvantage (e.g., fashion design). However, because of the rapid end to this
course, I will accept standard paper with no
penalty.
- Tailoring your resume' so it
fills up either one full page or two full pages, and not
either less, more, or in between is admittedly a
challenge. There are several keys to doing this, however.
First, length can be adjusted by trying headings such as
are used in the resume' samples in your book (in which
the headings form a column to the left), or by instead
using headings which reach across the page, just like the
standard headings you have used in other documents. The
width of the headings column, if using the first
mentioned format, can also be adjusted.
- Another way to compress or
expand your resume' in terms of space is to adjust the
amount of white space. Use this method sparingly,
however.
- Yet another way is to revise the
text itself to be either more concise or more detailed,
as needed. Most things can be stated in either a more
compressed or more expansive way, and in a resume', every
word counts. In some cases, word choice revision can
shorten a sentence by one or two words, which can
sometimes gain an entire line, if that sentence ran into
the next line by only those one or two words.
- Font choice is also helpful for
this purpose; there are many condensed or expanded fonts
to choose from. Varying font design is better, usually,
than changing font size, though 11 or perhaps even
10-point font size may be acceptable for purposes of
condensation. Avoid garish or hard-to-read fonts.
- Lastly, the "references" section
which ends a normal resume' can make the most difference
of all in terms of space. If your resume' has little
space remaining, then keep this section to a single line,
usually saying "References available upon request" or
else directing the reader to your college placement
office. If on the other hand you need to fill a large
part of the second page of a resume', then you can list
names, titles, addresses, etc., for each reference. Three
or four strong references are customary.
Due Dates
Please be very aware of time
constraints this late in the semester, especially if you are
an off-campus student!
Your resume' and letter of
application must be in
my hands by no later than Wednesday, December
8th! I repeat, it
must not be merely mailed; it must be IN MY HANDS! This is near the end of the normal exam
period for this course. The Odessa College Fall 2004
semester ends only 24 hours later, and by then I must submit
a grade for you in this course. If I have received no final
exam documents from you, the grade submitted will be a
failing grade for the entire course. While changing such a
grade is possible, neither of us wants that trouble, and
stiff late penalties would likely be in effect. I take a
very dim view of being asked to change a grade due to poor
planning on the student's part.
With this deadline in mind, local
students can bring their documents to my office in WH220.
Off-campus students should either surface mail their finals
well ahead of time,
or better,
send them by fax (to
432-335-6559) so that they arrive no later than the above
date. You should also keep
in mind that surface mail may be slowed by normal holiday
mail traffic. If there is trouble faxing, as sometimes
happens, then I can provide an alternate fax number, or you
can possibly submit via file attachment, so long as you save
the file (or files) as Rich Text.
Note that any student may also
turn his or her final in early.
|
