English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

Is the tone of the letter too technical?
Did I detail my experiences enough?

After getting through this week’s readings, it has become clear that most of the same rules for resumes apply to cover letters. Most importantly, know who your audience is, and tailor make your cover letter to their eyes. It is a little harder to do this for a cover letter compared to a resume, however. A resume is quantified and concise, displaying the black and whites of who you are and what you have accomplished. A cover letter is, in a sense, the lead-in the conversation that is your job interview.

I think this week’s readings serve up a ton of great information regarding your resume. While all of the readings differ slightly in some aspects as far as what to include and what not to, it should be clear to us now what makes a good resume good and a bad resume bad. I think what should be most important when producing your resume is trying to play the role of the recruiter or HR representative in your head, and thinking objectively about how he or she would judge what you’ve presented.

The position of Sales Engineer for Trane Commercial Systems involves the sale of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, components, and controls to customers. An ideal candidate for this position is someone with a technical background in an engineering discipline (specifically mechanical or electrical), is self-motivated, and has strong interpersonal skills and business demeanor.

This week’s reading, Chapter 8 – Organizing and Drafting, doesn’t really present any information that should be new to a college student, but I believe it serves as a good reminder of how our documents, technical or not, should be structured. I feel that the structure of a document can make or break its effectiveness. If you’ve ever come across a document that was all over the place, you could probably agree.

Chapter 3, Readers and Context of Use, dealt primarily with the importance of understating your target audience, and tailoring your writing style and presentation to best coincide with their needs and norms. The reading suggested ways to create a concise profile about your readers (primary, secondary, tertiary, and gatekeepers) by examining their needs as it pertains to the information you will be presenting, their overall company values, and their attitudes towards you and the information you will be presenting.