Resume Assignment Specifics

 

Due Date:  February 15

 

  1. Biographical information.  Complete the table you drafted earlier.  Although you do not need to include every scrap of biographical information, you must include those experiences you use in your resume or letter.  I would expect to see complete education data, including dates, degrees or expected date of conferral, GPAs, honors, courses, academic interests.  I expect to see employment  histories with rich explanations of responsibilities, duties, leadership, and comments.

 

  1. Print-out of job description.  Do not paraphrase or make up a description. The description must be “real.”

 

  1.  Printed resume.  This is the one you design carefully, applying all of your Williams knowledge yet attending to genre expectations.  I’ll be looking for a match between content and arrangement of your material and the job description. A resume of high excellence will demonstrate some of the creativity described by Munschauer in shaping your material to fit the job.

 

  1. Cover letter.  Use the real address provided on your job description. Attend to design principles and genre constraints.  That is, the letter of application is a conservative document, not an opportunity to demonstrate design innovation; nevertheless, you’ll apply the principles of good design.  Follow the general format suggested by Munschauer on p. 310 and by the Anderson handouts.  Grammar and style are all important here; attend to them carefully.

 

  1. ASCII resume.  The ASCII resume has NO formatting features because it travels from you to your prospective employer via email. Although some email clients do format text, you have no idea what sort of client the recipient uses.  In addition, your prospective employer may scan your ASCII resume.  Consequently you have a more limited range of design tools available to you:  spaces between lines, caps, flush left alignment, dashes (in lieu of bullets).  Make good use of these elements.  Email your ASCII resume to me for review before you turn it in; I’ll tell you what I see at my end.  Then email it to yourself and print it out for credit.

 

  1. Memo.  Bundle your materials and present them to me with a concise memo describing a) what I’m about to see (the five pieces) and  b)  several key decisions you made when organizing resume material and composing the middle (or middle two) paragraphs of your letter—the Nancy Jones moves.