English 421Y: Technical Writing Online

In Chapter 15 “Starting Your Career”, many subjects were discussed that would help with the first step in finding a job. Some of these steps included writing a resume, making a cover letter, and starting a portfolio. When reading the chapter I found mostly everything in it very relevant. The thing I found very interesting was the diagram in trying to find a job (The Job Searching Cycle). I thought that the Job Searching Cycle was a perfect way in finding a job. In my personal experience I have found that Personal Networking was the best way in finding a job.

First of all, I really appreciate the straightforwardness of the text, and once again, it offers direct and systematic methods for generating technical documents. I think that most people have, by now, made at least one version of a resume at some point, so there isn't much to say about this. But, 'Functional Resumes' are at least worth mentioning because I'm sure not many people have made this type of resume. The functional form seems to focus on experience related skills, where the archival resume is more of a list of 'what I've done so far' with a few skills listed at the end.

Although I may not be able to apply the methods in chapter 15 to a resume for more than a decade due to my career in the Air Force, there is still a lot of common ground that relates to me. One of the points in chapter fifteen that stuck out to me was the part about verb-first phrases that are used to save space. This is a technique used very often by the Air Force for awards and promotion packages. It’s for the same reason as what would happen in the resume process.

I found chapter 15, “Starting Your Career,” to be very interesting. At this point, I haven’t had much experience with job-searches. My job-searching has consisted of random applications in high school and distributing resumes at job fairs in college. After reading this chapter it seems that things won’t always be this easy. While I have had experience writing a resume, I hadn’t put much thought into tailoring my resume to suit each potential employer.

I, and most likely many others, benefited from reading Chapter 15 as it discusses correct manners for resumes and cover letters appropriate for potential employers. Most students spend days looking at their resume trimming and editing to perfectly suit a company’s best interest. However, a good amount of students over look common mistakes mentioned in this chapter including myself. It is difficult to focus on so many minute areas, and at the same time, keep strong continuity throughout such an important document.

This chapter taken from Technical Communications Today, entitled Starting Your Career, focuses on the varying aspects of finding and landing the ideal job. According to the text, the most important step in this process begins before the actual search, and involves setting one’s goals via the “Five W and How Questions”. These questions, initially introduced in the previous chapter, work to clearly pinpoint a job seeker’s ambitions and point him or her in the proper direction.

Chapter 15, Starting Your Career, for me, was a job search guide because it detailed different methods of searching. For instance, going to a career fair, submitting your resume directly to a company, or using a job search engine to post your resumes to companies. I have never posted my resume on a search engine like “monster.com” so going through the reading and learning about which words are prone with being picked from a list by a computer and not just read by a person.

The first part of the chapter that related directly to me was the section talking about writing the resume to make your skills look the best. For example, using the archival approach when looking for entry-level positions highlights the skills obtained from recent coursework. I used this approach when writing my resume recently because, like most recent college graduates, I do not have years of experience to catch the recruiter’s eye.

Chapter 15 gave excellent advice on how to search for a job. I was aware of many of the strategies they brought up in the chapter from my own experience in searching for summer internships the last few years. I have experienced a lot of the problems brought up in the chapter, like how you can tailor a resume for the job you want, or how to make your resume more scannable. I also agree with the importance of taking an active role in finding a job. Job hunting is a constant activity and to have the best chance for success, you cannot wait around for employers to find you.

Chapter 15’s focus on career building strategies was very pragmatic and somewhat interesting. I found some of the strategies and ideas discussed somewhat common sense and some others I had never really thought about. The chapter’s explanation of how to form your resume and cover letter to tailor to specific skill sets and specific audiences insightful and provided me with some new strategies I had never really considered.