LING305 San Diego State Economics & Business Management Resume Cover letter

Resume Project

Assignment:Use what you have learned about resumes to write your own resume.Take this opportunity to research the community values and audience expectations of the discipline in which you intend to work.Try to find resumes produced by people working in your field as examples.

You will construct your resume to fulfill the expectations of the ad you selected at the beginning of the unit.

Content:

• Explore all experiences and education that qualify you for a position in the ad.
• Provide a section of the resume that presents detailed information about tasks and duties performed.
• Provide additional information about your special skills, interests, and memberships.

Organization:

• Organize your resume in a way that reflects audience expectations (from most relevant to least relevant is one way).
• Organize your information in parallel structure.

Language:

• Use no personal pronouns; have no spelling errors; use variant verbs of action.
• Use acronyms, jargon, and abbreviations as appropriate.
• Use past participles or gerunds as appropriate.
• Use parallel structure for all parts of speech.

Format:

• Follow parallel structure criteria (distinctive categories marked accordingly).
• Use various design devices (italics, bolds, underlines, caps, bullets, etc.) to make resume appropriately attractive for your field.

The resume is graded holistically, taking into account how well you have met or exceeded the above criteria.

Cover Letter

Write a cover letter to go with the resume you are using to apply for the job in the ad you found at the beginning of the unit.Remember that the purpose of a cover letter is to communicate your qualifications and request a job interview. You will write the cover letter in business letter format, using the same header as your resume.

Your cover letter should include:

Intro paragraph

• State which job position you are applying for
• Explain how you heard of the job position
• Explain why you are interested in the job
• Say that you have the appropriate qualifications

Body (1-2 paragraphs)

• Present the qualifications that make you a strong candidate for the job position using examples and details of your course work, degree, and pertinent work experience. Try to expand on the information in your resume, not just repeat it. For the purpose of this assignment, you will highlight experiences and qualifications that specifically relate to the ones asked for in the job ad.
• Relate your qualifications to the needs of the current job opening. Tell them how you will be of benefit to them, not the other way around.
• Show your interest in the company. Research the company online and in your cover letter address something about the company not evident from the ad and how it ties in to your skills or qualifications or interests. Highlight this portion of the text.

Concluding paragraph

• Repeat your interest in the position
• Request a job interview/opportunity to discuss your qualifcations
• Indicate how and when you will contact the reader to follow up (in case you never receive a response).
• Indicate how you can be contacted
• Thank the reader for his/her consideration.

Remember: Flawless writing is of utmost importance for this type of text. Therefore, spelling and grammatical errors will heavily influence your score.

Remember: Everything you write should be relevant to the company you are addressing and should be related to pertinent information gained from your research about the position or company/organization (In other words, always ask yourself, “how does what I’m writing relate to the needs of the employer?”)

The cover letter is graded holistically, taking into account how you have tailored your experience, education, and qualifications to the position; grammar and vocabulary, including accuracy, range, and sophistication; and professional tone. See the overview and syllabus for due dates.