Overview
For this writing project, you will create two workplace materials tailored for a specific job or internship: a resume, and a cover letter. I recommend that you choose a real job or internship that interests you and is connected to the field you intend to pursue after you wrap up your time at College. For job/internship ads, consult professional listings, trade journals, internet sites, your academic advisor, or a professional in the field. Include the job/internship ad at the beginning of your submission.
Criteria for Completion:
The resume should be 1 page, single spaced document, unless you’ve been employed in the same field for 10+ years. The cover letter should be 1 single spaced document formatted as a standard letter, regardless of experience or industry. The letter should also include the organization and moves detailed on page 2 under Overall Process. The resume and cover letter should be shaped by the job description and the cover letter should further explain the resume with examples and stories, not be a replication of the resume.
I will be reading both documents to check that you address the following:
Do your documents reflect comprehension of workplace writing with this regards to the rhetorical situation (audience, context, and purpose of the documents for your selected job/internship)?
Are the design of your documents consistent and easy to follow?
Does the design reflect an understanding of the genres’ (cover letter & resume) expectations?
Does your cover letter balance your skills and experience with specific stories/anecdotes that illustrate your skills/experience?
Does your resume have relevant content with comprehensive information?
Do your documents communicate your story effectively?
Overall Process
The Resume: You may write a chronological, skills, or combination resume—whichever seems most appropriate for your field. For most jobs, your resume gives a potential employer a first impression of who you are and what you value. Your resume must be clear, efficiently descriptive, tailored to the specific job/internship description, aesthetically organized and consistent, and error-free.
Generally speaking, most resumes have the following headings: summary, education, professional experience, skills (or honors), and references. The order in which you list those headings indicate what you value the most. Be sure that the information you provide is in reverse chronological order (most recent first) and follows a consistent logic of headings, font, bolding, underlining, italic, etc. If you find that your resume is slightly more than one page, then you can write “upon request” under the references heading to save space.
The Cover Letter: In order to write an effective cover letter, you must first analyze your audience. Review the job/internship description and then research the company, find out anything and everything you can. Just like your resume, your cover letter must reflect what the company desires in a candidate and values as a business. Your cover letter must convince a company that you are the right person for the position. The best way to be persuasive in this particular rhetorical situation is to humbly emphasize your education and your accomplishments in ways that correspond to what is described in the job description and on the company’s website.
Cover letters follow an expected format. Paragraph one informs the reader of what job is being applied to, where the job ad was found, and how your education, experience, and skills meet (or exceed) the description of the job/internship. This last part is called a forecast. It not only organizes the rest of the letter but it makes the argument that you are the right person for the job. The next several paragraphs follow exactly what the forecast says, in the order you said it. For each body paragraph, be sure to provide specific examples and/or stories that demonstrate your education/experience/knowledge and how it aligns with what this particular company/organization is looking for.
Finally, your last paragraph thanks the reader for his/her time, tells him/her how to contact you (phone/email), and closes with something anticipatory, such as “I look forward to speaking with you in the future.” All in all, the cover letter is a very specific genre, with many expected conventions that must be met. If they are not, you lose credibility and likely won’t get an interview.
