JOB SEARCH MATERIALS

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JOB SEARCH MATERIALS

• Making Yourself the Ideal Job Candidate

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Contents

• Application (cover) letters
• Résumés traditional, scanned, web
• Follow-up letters no fault, thank you, accept,
  refuse, stall

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Application (Cover) Letter

• Purpose persuade your audience to move you onto
  the next step of the job search process
  
• Tone project self-confidence and maturity do
  not be apologetic, timid, stuffy, or arrogant
  
• Homework learn something about the company that
  you can mention in the letter. Can you tie your
  qualifications to what you learned or the way you
  might benefit the company?

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Format

• Letter conventions heading, inside address,
  salutation, complimentary close, end notations
  
• Single spacing
• Introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs
• Letter length-- one page (entry level job)

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Letter Format

• Heading your address city, state, zip code
  date
  
• Inside address audience name and job title,
  company name, address, city, state, zip
  
• Salutation or attention line
• Body of letter
• Complimentary close, signature block
• End notations

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Specifics

• Use an attention line when you dont have a
  specific person to address
  
• Ex. Attention Human Resources Department
• Choose a traditional complimentary closing
• Sincerely yours,
• Very truly yours,
• Respectfully yours,

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Specifics 2

• End notations
• Signature block typed name four lines below
  complimentary closing phrase with space for
  signature
  
• Enclosure can include name or type of
  enclosure. Use the entire word or abbreviate.
  
• Ex.
• Enclosure résumé
• Encl.

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Types of formats

• Block style all parts of letter start on left
  margin
  
• Semi-block style heading, complimentary close,
  signature block flush right margin all other
  parts on left margin
  
• Single space within paragraph, skip line after
  each paragraph

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Heading and Inside Address Example

• 4912 Starsplit Way
• Gwynn Oak, MD 21207
• November 28, 2006
• Dr. Freeman Hrabowski, President
• UMBC
• 1000 Hilltop Circle
• Catonsville, MD 21250
• Dear Dr. Hrabowski

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Complimentary Close, etc. Example

• Sincerely yours,
• Mattias Cowpens
• Enclosure résumé

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Introduction (paragraph 1)

• Begin by stating purpose (cold contact or
  advertised position)
  
• Tell how you learned about job
• Name drop if applicable
• Include specifics name of newspaper, date you
  saw ad, job title
  
• Describe self here or at start of body
• Tell name, student status, major/degree. Can
  include reference to research on company.

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Body (paragraph 2-3)

• Discuss work and education experience, one
  paragraph each
  
• For education, include specifics about work done
  in classes. Class titles without supporting
  specifics wont tell your audience much about
  you.
• For job, include specifics about duties,
  accomplishments, rewards, promotions

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Details

• Education example
• In my technical writing course, I designed a web
  site and worked on a collaborative manual on
  using Front Page.
  
• Job example
• During my 4 years of IT experience, I have spent
  time as a Level I Help Desk Specialist, providing
  end-user support via telephone, email, and the
  Remedy system.  

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Conclusion (paragraph 4)

• Ask for action from audience an interview
• Give contact information
• E-mail address
• Landline phone number(s) (mention answering
  machine or voice mail)
  
• Cell phone number
• End all letters with a courteous closing
  sentence
  
• Ex. Thank you for your assistance.

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Traditional Résumé

• Major categories personal data, education, work
  experience, references (almost optional)
  
• Optional categories job objective,
  computer/professional skills, organizations,
  awards, publications, interests, military
  experience, extracurricular activities
• Order personal first and references last. All
  other categories organized by importance.

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Personal Data

• List name, address(es), phone number(s), e-mail
  address(es), website URL. For online résumé,
  dont list address and phone numbers.
  
• Do not include marital status, race, ethnic
  group, health, date and place of birth, age

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Education

• Reverse chronological order-- list current school
  first and work backwards
  
• School name, dates of attendance (if no large
  gaps), major/minor/certificate, GPA (3.0),
  courses, internships, awards
  
• High school information not needed

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Work Experience

• Job title, company name, city, state, zip, dates
  of employment
  
• Job duties
• Verb phrases best for describing duties (present
  tensecurrent job, past tense former job)
  
• Descriptive action verbs administer, analyze,
  conduct, create, design, develop, direct, edit,
  evaluate, manage, operate, organize, supervise,
  write

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References

• Use phrase Available upon request if out of
  space, or omit this category if you dont have a
  list of references.
  
• Always ask before listing someone as reference.
• Give name, job title, company address and phone
  number for each person.
  
• Do not give personal address/phone.

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Optional Categories

• Job objective neither too specific nor too
  general
  
• Computer skills use separate sub
  categories--applications, languages, platforms,
  operating systems, etc. (must include)
  
• Honors, awards, publications brag if you can
• Organizations include offices held

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Functional Résumé

• Emphasizes skills and strengths before specific
  jobs
  
• Works better than chronological if there are gaps
  in history
  
• Use headings for skills, expertise, or roles
• Include descriptions of abilities in each
  section
  
• Can be problematic if employers cant match
  skills and jobs

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Functional Résumé 2

• Education and work categories placed after
  functional sections
  
• Other items that show your abilities may fit in
  these sections
  
• Job descriptions appear in functional section,
  rather than in the employment section
  
• Sample Functional Résumé
• Functional Résumé Template

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Scanned Résumé

• Can send both traditional and electronic
• Begin all categories on left margin, one column
  only
  
• Name, address, phone number
• Keywords to identify job titles, job related
  tasks, skills or special knowledge, degrees,
  certifications, colleges. Use terms from ad.

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Scanned Résumé 2

• Paper and typeface smooth white paper, black
  ink, simple fonts (use only one font) like
  Courier or Times Roman as long as letters dont
  touch.
• Dont use graphics, shading, script fonts,
  italics, underlining, bold, horizontal or
  vertical lines, parentheses, brackets,
  abbreviations.
• Dont fold or staple pages. Send in a 9x12
  mailing envelope.

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Scanned Résumés 3

• Dont use compressed lines of text, tabs, dot
  matrix printers
  
• Do use wide margins around text, 8.5x11
  paper.
  
• Send an original, not a photocopy
• Mail, dont fax

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WWW Résumé

• Definition résumé that contains clickable text
  and images created in HTML
  
• Hyperlinks
• establish at start of résumé to link to important
  categories
  
• should support data, not distract viewer
• should aid in navigating through résumé

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WWW Résumé 2

• Should be one web page long
• Provide prioritized keyword summary, 25-35
  keywords
  
• Only list e-mail address in personal section as
  contact information for security
  
• Use a variety of internal links
• Keep design simple
• Register résumé with search engines
• Choose most appropriate résumé for you from
  these types traditional, scanned, web

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Follow-up Letters

• Several types fit search situations
• Companies use them as invisible obstacle to
  narrow applicant pool
  
• One type chosen for this assignment

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No Fault Letter

• No response to initial mailing
• No fault approach
• ex. Because something might have happened to my
  original letter, I am enclosing another copy of
  my letter and résumé.
  
• 2 paragraphs long
• Final paragraph asks for notice of decision,
  positive or negative as well as contact
  information
  
• Dont forget the courteous closing sentence.

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Thank You Letter

• Thank you for the interview
• Say thanks and something flattering about the
  company-- 1
  
• Repeat a qualification that was impressive or
  give an answer that you couldnt think of at the
  time remind audience about your strengths-- 2
  
• Close with contact information, hope for
  continued participation, and courteous closing
  sentence-- 3

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Acceptance Letter

• Job acceptance direct approach
• Say yes and thank you-- 1
• Schedule interview, meeting, medical exam, etc.
  respond to any specifics mentioned with job
  offer-- 2
  
• Close with enthusiastic comment about working for
  company and courteous closing-- 3

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Refusal Letter

• Job refusal indirect approach
• Say thank you for job offer and something
  flattering about company-- 1
  
• Refuse job and give reason-- 2
• Close with hope that might apply again to company
  in future-- 3

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The Stall Letter

• More time needed to decide
• Thank you for job offer-- 1
• Ask for more time with the reason-- 2
• Assure audience that you will decide immediately
  if you cant get the extension and repeat contact
  information-- 3

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Letters Exercise

• Keyword summary
• Using the job youre applying for, create a 25
  word summary. Include specific key words and
  phrases from the job ad as well as from your
  personal background.
• Places to look for good keywords are the job
  duties/requirements.
  
• If you arent using a job ad, find one online to
  use for this exercise.
  
• Send this exercise to the Discussion Board.