Employment Materials

MEMORANDUM

To:                  UWP 104A Students

From:            Dr. Andy Jones, Instructor

Date:              November 8, 2010

Subject:        EMPLOYMENT MATERIALS ASSIGNMENT

Securing a job interview is largely the result of a well-written and carefully designed résumé and cover letter. Writing and designing effective résumés and cover letters, however, is a skill that takes a great deal of practice. A business and technical communication class is the ideal place for students to practice this skill, as business and technical communication is all about clear, concise, reader-centered communication that gets results. For the employment materials assignment, then, you will complete the following tasks:

1. Identify a real job/internship with a real organization
2. Conduct research on the job/internship and the organization
3. Write an investigative report in which you create an accurate, composite picture of the organization and then analyze what your findings mean in terms of the résumé and cover letter that you plan to write and design.
4. Design a targeted résumé and cover letter; use your investigative report, the transferrable skills checklist (completed in class), assigned résumé and cover letter readings, and relevant course handouts to guide your content, organization, style, and design decisions

Whether or not you actually submit your résumé and cover letter to the organization is up to you.

Task 1

Find a job/internship advertisement that fits your major and interest, in a newspaper, magazine, the UC Davis Internship and Career Center website, Monster.com or another job bank, and make a copy of the advertisement.

Task 2

Do some research into the job/internship and the organization through various sources such as the following:

• The job/internship ad (pay attention to its description of job responsibilities and qualification requirements)
• The organizational literature such as the promotional materials produced by the organization (look for key words as well as information on the organization’s mission, size, location, product, or services provided)
• Published materials in newspapers, magazines, or other resources
• Friends, acquaintances, family members who know about the organization or the position
• The internet: review the organization website and other websites that provide information about this organization, such as
  • The Better Business Bureau
  • The Blue Pages
  • Business-related databases
  • www.datacenter.org/research/corp_res.htm
  • www.glassdoor.com

Task 3

Write an investigative report on the organization (see the entry “investigative reports” in the Handbook of Technical Writing). In your report, create an accurate, composite picture of the organization and then analyze what your findings mean (their significance) in terms of the résumé and cover letter you plan to write and design (which will, of course, need to be tailored to the specific position for which you plan to apply). Consider researching some of the content areas below for your report:

Organize your report logically, grouping material in ways that helps you to achieve your purpose for writing. You might want to follow the organization pattern suggested at the end of the entry “investigative reports” in the Handbook of Technical Writing. Be sure to use descriptive headings and subheadings to help me navigate your document. Consider using lists (numbered or bulleted) when they will help me better understand or easily compare information. I suspect that a thorough report will be two-three pages in length.

The following criteria will be used to assess your report:

Task 4

Write and design a résumé and cover letter that fit the position described in the job/internship advertisement.  Use your “Transferrable Skills” checklist, investigative report, the “Resume Content” and “How to Write a Cover Letter” handouts, the Career Resource Manual, and Munschauer’s, Reep’s, and Yate’s chapters in the Harty text to guide your content, organization, and style decisions. In addition to using these resources as a guide, consider the following questions:

Résumé

• Does your objective statement (optional) fit the position and the organization?
• Is the most relevant credential placed at the most important position in your résumé?
• Did you establish a professional identity that fits the responsibilities of the job?
• Did you provide specific, detailed descriptions of job responsibilities and accomplishments for your work experience and other professional experience?
• Did you try to use the key words in the job advertisement or organizational literature?
• Do you address transferrable (“soft”) skills such as written and oral communication skills, interpersonal skills, and leadership skills?
• Do you use parallel structure when listing skills, qualifications, and accomplishments?
• Did you create an effective visual hierarchy, using headings, columns, boldfaces, bullets, white space, etc.?
• Did you create first- and second-level headings that highlight experience and/or qualifications that will impress the employer (that attempt to match the language of the job/internship advertisement)?
• Did you try to avoid overemphasis or inappropriate emphasis of elements that are not important, like dates?

Cover Letter

• Are the name and address of the contact person accurate?
• Did you try to personalize the letter so that it doesn’t look like everybody else’s?
• Did you try to emphasize your key credentials and accomplishments that are most relevant to the position you are applying for instead of trying to say it all?
• Did you relate your description of your credentials to the job and the organization?
• Did you try to describe one key credential in each paragraph?
• Is there a topic sentence in each paragraph?
• Did you back up your arguments or claims with evidence (specific supporting details)?
• Did you use an appropriate tone (is it overly enthusiastic or overly unenthusiastic)?
• Did you use “reader-oriented” prose (in other words, did you focus on what the employer needs/wants and try to deemphasize what you want, minimizing “I” statements)?
• Did you use the block style or modified block style properly?

Due Dates

Wednesday, November 17—Rough draft of investigative report

¨    Post to SmartSite using the “Assignments” tool by 8:00 a.m.

¨    Bring to class two print copies of the job/internship advertisement

¨    Bring to class two print copies of your report for an editorial workshop

Monday, November 22—Rough draft of résumé and cover letter

¨    Post to SmartSite using the “Assignments” tool by 8:00 a.m.

¨    Bring to class two print copies of the job/internship advertisement

¨    Bring to class two print copies of your résumé and cover letter for an editorial workshop

Monday, November 22—Final draft of investigative report

Please submit the following in a manila folder at the beginning of class:

1. Final investigative report
2. The two copies of the report draft that you brought to the editorial workshop

Wednesday, November 24—Final draft of résumé and cover letter

Please submit the following in a manila folder at the beginning of class:

1. Job/internship advertisement
2. Cover letter
3. The two copies of the cover letter draft that you brought to the editorial workshop
4. Résumé
5. The two copies of the résumé draft that you brought to the editorial workshop