Instructions
Paper 3 Guidelines: Cover Letter & CV (aka résumé)
How to Upload Your Assignment
Submit your cover letter and resume as a single MS Word document; your cover letter should come first, followed by your resume. (I know this may mess up your formatting a little – don’t sweat it).
Assignments MUST be uploaded to this dropbox as a Microsoft Word file (.doc or .docx file extension).
Do NOT submit a “Text Submission” by clicking the “Write Submission” button!
Do NOT submit a PDF!
Scenario
You’ve just graduated from college and are ready to apply for your first job!
Assignment
Length: Your cover letter should be no longer than 1 page long; your CV should be 1-2 pages
Your task is to produce two separate documents: a 1 page cover letter and a 1-2 page CV for a job in your field. These documents should be combined and uploaded to Blackboard as a single MS Word file, your cover letter should come first, followed by your CV.
You may use ChatGPT to help you on this assignment, but remember that your cover letter and CV need to reflect your unique personality and experiences.
Spend some time on the Internet and find a web site where jobs are posted in the field you’d like to work in. Responding to the specific guidelines you find in your job posting, and drawing on chapter 18 from Technical Communication, craft a carefully written cover letter and CV that represents you and your accomplishments in the best light possible for this specific job. The CV and cover letter should not include any made-up information – they should accurately reflect your own personal experience. (If there are things you know you’ll be doing before graduatation, like summer sea terms, etc., you can list these on your CV).
Cover letters and CVs might seem simple, but they are some of the most challenging documents we’ve had to write in this class yet. They are hard to write because they are so important—they’ve got to be perfect, otherwise your application will get tossed into the slush pile.
Be sure to start this assignment early so that you can return to your documents several times in order to revise, edit and proofread them. Read chapter 18 closely and follow the guidelines for CVs and application letters you’ll find on pages 411 and 419 respectively.
Chapter 18 contains a lot of useful information, and examples of different types of cover letters and resumes. For the purposes of our course, I’d like you to avoid using the sample CV on page 412 and the sample cover letter on page 418 as a model. The other sample CVs and cover letters in chapter 18 are more appropriate.
When writing your cover letter, keep these things in mind:
you should not simply be repeating information that you’ve already presented in your CV. Rather, use the cover letter as an opportunity to make yourself stand out.
A cover letter is actually a very carefully worded argument, the purpose of which is to persuade the reader that you are far and away the best candidate for this job.
Showing that you’ve done your homework and researched the company you’re hoping will hire you goes a very long way – make sure to include specific points about what makes you a particularly good fit to work at this specific company
CVs are also harder than they seem. When writing your CV, keep these things in mind:
Be a meticulous perfectionist when it comes to the formatting of your CV – it has to both look great and be very easy to read quickly.
You should never, ever be dishonest in a CV – work with what you have, but make sure to present it in the best light possible. THAT SAID, in this scenario you’ve already graduated from college. So, you can add professional experiences that you expect to have by the time you graduate if you’d
like.
for the CV just write down what I should say in the video put it in a different
page.
