Handout 7: The Resume Packet
The life of the resume assignment extends over several weeks. You'll begin by working with data that should be very familiar to you--your own experiences both in and out of school and on and off the job. You'll code these experiences in terminiology familiar to employers. On successful completion of the packet you will understand how audience, media, and genre constrain and shape what you write.This is a straightforward assignment whose multiple steps introduce, rehearse, and/or reinforce the practical arts of professional writing:
List of Assignment Components and due dates (we'll spend lots of class time discussing, drafting, and reviewing):
Part I. Gathering and organizing biographical information: Bio
Chart Draft Due October 9
Part II. Finding a job description; reading it closely: Tentative
Job Selection Due for Review October
9
Part III. Reading resumes; reading about resumes:
Resume Drafts (print, web, email) Due October 23
Part IV. Reading cover letters; reading about cover letters:
Cover letter drafts Due October 25
Part V. Studying genre; studying media: In class across all dates
Part VI. Writing the final products: Final Packet
Due November 1
Part I: Biographical Information. Bio Chart Draft Due October 9. Create a table for cataloguing your school and work experiences. An example follows, but you can use whatever categories you find useful; if you think of a better scheme, by all means use it. Check sample resumes to see what sorts of information the job seekers provide.
Activity |
Place/dates |
Duties/job description |
Responsiblities /leadership |
Skills used and developed |
Comments |
Job 1 | Receptionist, Academy Veterinary Hospital | Coordinate appointments, maintain database, calculate bill, answer phone, talk to customers about their pets |
Assuring customer CONFIDENCE in medical treatment Keeping ACCURATE records Handling traumatic situations **Piloted new database and trained other receptionist |
Excel FoxPro Face-to-face interaction with different kinds of people Poise under fire Handling multiple tasks simultaneously |
I learned to be very good at keeping people under stress calm. My employers liked this quality a lot. |
Job 2 |
--- |
--- |
---- |
--- |
--- |
Schooling 1 |
Course: Eng xxx, Contemporary Drama UNM Fall 1999 |
Description of course material |
Discussion, research and writing, play attendance, * coordinated my collaborative research team activities |
Library research Critical analysis Collaborative writing Interviewing |
I developed knowledge of theater and the arts in the local community--met local actors and am especially well grounded in 2 theories of drama |
Schooling 2 | |||||
Volunteer work |
|||||
Clubs |
|||||
Sports |
Rugby 1996-98 ABQ club |
positions, co-captain |
Coordinating practices, PR work for funding, appearances for local schools, some teaching of skills to local school kids |
Physical fitness, team leadership, diplomacy and ability to energize teammates, Community service |
I might emphasize community service? |
Internships |
Part II. Job Selection. Tentative Job Selection Due for Review October 9
Using either online and print media, find A REAL job description in professional writing or related field that you qualify for or partially qualify for. You will use this description to practice close reading and audience analysis. When you examine job descriptions that you've placed under consideration, make careful note of the skills needed, e.g., writing, presentation, software, working with others, an ability to work on several projects simultaneously. Look for skills you have acquired via life experiences that are not necessarily tied directly to the jobs you've held or training you've undergone--people skills, management skills, and experience working in chaotic conditions or under deadlines. Reading descriptions closely enables you to tailor your cover letter and resume to a specific situation. You will NOT be graded on your qualifications but rather on your ability to shape what qualifications you DO have to the writing situation, that is, to the employer's vision of his or her future employee. Please do not fictionalize your qualifications. This is an exercise in shaping real information to fit a particular rhetorical situation. On the other hand, if the "match" is too easy, then you will not have learned anything and your letter and resume will turn out to be an exercise in doing the obvious!
Note: Do your searching from a campus location, as you'll need speed to do these searches.
Use the following key words alone or in combination, and keep parameters broad in order to pull up a good range of appropriate jobs. For example, if you don't find a position in New Mexico, go nationwide; if you don't find contract work, ask for permanent work or "all." Note other keywords that the site or individual job descriptions use and make use of them. Please post to the list any good leads you think your classmates should follow.
technical
writing
science
legal
copyedit
publishing
edit
proofread
publishing
web development
graphics design
document design
research
internship
www.unm.edu (click on Jobs)
Part III. Reading resumes; reading about resumes: Resume Drafts (print, web, email) Due October 23
Browse the following site for information about jobs and resumes. Read around a bit--there's lots of information on job hunts out there--some of it is good and some isn't.
http://www.jobhuntersbible.com/resumes/building.shtml
http://www.eresumes.com/gallery_rezcat.html
http://www.damngood.com/jobseekers/ScanGuide.html
http://www.eresumes.com/gallery_rezcat.html
Select several resumes and print them out IF you find them useful. Look for models and features that you would emulate AND models that you would not. Look for the following:
Over the week of October 16 and 18, read the following artilces in Kevin J. Harty's Strategies for Business and Technical Writing:
Part 5 introduction, pp. 301 and 302.
Munschauer, pp. 303-332.
Fox, pp. 351-355
Beatty, pp. 356-372.
Look over the packet of handouts very carefully. These are taken from Paul Anderson’s book on technical writing, which some of you may be familiar with. You have examples of three different kinds of resumes and 2 corresponding cover letters. We’ll use these as models to both critique and emulate, so know the differences among them. Look at both content AND design. Note: I WILL GIVE YOU PLENTY OF FEEDBACK ON YOUR RESUME DESIGN AND SO WILL YOUR CLASSMATES.
Deliverables in print November 1:
Deliverables in electronic form November 1:
Rich descriptions of deliverables: