Welcome to APICS WWU

1
Welcome to APICS _at_ WWU
On the agenda tonight 600 Food Opportunity
to Mingle among the crowd 615 Cover Letter
Workshop 645 Interactive CPIM Actual
Module 1 QA
2
What is a Cover Letter?

• A cover letter expresses your interest in and
  qualifications for a position to a prospective
  employer.

3
What should it Accomplish?

• Your cover letter should introduce the main
  points of your resume.
• It should also help you to sell your
  qualifications to the prospective employer.

4
Introductory Paragraph

• Your first paragraph should
• Get the readers attention, stimulate interest,
  and be appropriate for the job you are seeking.
• Clearly state which position(s) you are applying
  for.
• Make your goal clear to the reader.
• Identify how you heard of the opening (e.g.
  through the MSCM program)

5
Goals of the Body Paragraphs

• Highlight your strongest qualifications for the
  position for which you are applying.
• Demonstrate how these qualifications will benefit
  the employer.
• Refer to key points of your resume.

6
Detailing Your Experience

• Show (dont tell) employers your qualifications
• Include specific, credible examples of your
  qualifications for the position.
• Use numbers, names of equipment you've used, or
  features of a project that may apply to the job
  you want.

As a production supervisor, I met productivity
target goals of 15 increase per year while
maintaining QDC. Through kaizen events, I
reduced WIP inventory levels by 30.
7
Using Active LanguageDonts

• Dont be vague in your descriptions.
• Dont use weak verbs such as endeavored, tried,
  hoped, and attempted.
• Dont use sexist language such as chairman and
  manpower.

Vague I worked as a ramp agent at
Comair. Weak I attempted to attract customers.
8
Using Active LanguageDos
Vague I worked as a ramp agent for
COMAIR.  Specific As a ramp agent, I assisted
in loading baggage, oversaw fueling the aircraft,
and stocked commissary items on the
aircraft. Weak I attempted to attract
customers. Strong I initiated a program to
attract customers to Pizza Hut, which resulted in
a 5 increase in sales for the month of June.

• Use concrete words to describe your experience.
• Use present tense to discuss current activities
  and past tense for previous job duties or
  accomplishments.
• Be as specific as possible in descriptions list
  dollar amounts and figures when you can.

9
Organizing Your Letter

• In general, cover letters should be no longer
  than one typed page.
• Organize your body paragraphs to emphasize your
  strongest and most relevant qualifications. Only
  include the two or three strongest qualifications
  from your resume.
• Make it easy for readers to scan your letter by
  beginning each paragraph with a topic sentence.

10
Concluding Your Letter

• Conclude by asking for a personal interview.
• Be flexible regarding a date and time for the
  interview.
• Be specific about how the interviewer should
  contact you.
• Include a thank you.

• I would welcome the
• opportunity to discuss
• these and other
• qualifications with you. If
• you are interested, please
• contact me at (317) 555-
• 0118 any morning before
• 1100 a.m., or feel free to
• leave a message.

11
Other Tips (from careerbuilder.com)

• Do your research
• Go to company website
• What YOU can do for the company
• Not the other way around
• Keep it brief, succinct, and simple
• No more than one page
• Make it easy on the eyes
• Is this something you would want to read?

12
Key Points to Remember

• Appeal to company values, attitudes, goals,
  projects, etc.
• Elaborate on the information in your resume.
• Provide evidence of your qualifications.
• Proofread carefully for grammatical and
  typographical errors. The letter should be
  error-free.

13
Where can you go to find extra help with your
cover letter?

• WWU Career Services Center
• Old Main 280
• Check their web site http//www.careers.wwu.edu
  
• Email questions careers_at_wwu.edu
• Help with drafting, revising, and editing your
  resumes and cover letters

14
CPIM EXAM

• 110 per exam for APICS members
• TESTING CENTERS
• Everett Promissor Center 4820
• 906 Everett Mall Way
• Suite 403
• Everett, WA 98208
• Seattle Tacoma Promissor Center 4816 12720
  Gateway Drive Suite 208 Tukwila, WA 98168
• [phone]

15
CPIM Exam Practice Questions
Basics of Supply Chain Management

• 1. Which of the following is generally a function
  of the physical distribution system?
• production activity control
• production planning
• packaging
• bill of material

2. A forecast is typically more accurate for A.
groups of items rather than for individual items
B. daily rather than monthly periods of time
C. physical units rather than monetary units
D. far out in the future rather than nearer
time periods
16
Master Planning of Resources
3. The removal of outliers from demand data to
provide a reasonable historical base from which
to forecast is called... A. regression B.
time series decomposition C. filtering D.
smoothing
4. Which of the following is used to convert the
master production schedule into detail
requirements? A. production planning B.
rough-cut capacity planning C. production
activity control D. material requirements
planning
17
Detailed Scheduling and Planning
5. End-of-line inspection often fails to improve
quality for which of the following reasons? A.
It requires extensive personnel. B. It lacks
source accountability. C. It excludes quality
circles. D. Its costs are significant
6. Materials should be moved from point of
manufacture to point of use when A. production
is completed at point of manufacture B. the
materials are needed at point of use C.
material handling equipment is available D.
material at point of use is zero
18
Execution and Control of Operations
7. Which of the following would be manufactured
in a continuous-production process? A. combines
B. clothing C. vitamins D. gasoline
8. Which of the following statements is true
about obtaining a high level of accuracy for
inventory records? A. It would usually lead to a
reduction of inventory levels. B. It is not
necessary to achieve because of safety stocks
and safety lead time. C. It would result in
savings that are likely to be small and
difficult to determine. D. It is probably
impossible to achieve and will be costly to
obtain.
19
Strategic Management of Resources
9. When a company is pursuing a program to
achieve manufacturing excellence, which of the
following objectives should receive the highest
priority? A. delivery reliability B. quality
improvement C. cost reduction D. volume
flexibility
10. Which of the following is most likely to be
the order winner in the early stages of a
product's life cycle? A. quality B. design
C. support D. price