As I start to prepare my resume and cover letters for future jobs, I found many ways to stand out from other applicants in Chapter 15 - Starting Your Career of Technical Communications Today. The most important is that there are many ways to create an effective resume and cover letter. The trick is learning which most effectively highlight your skills. Researching the process of applying for jobs may be as important as the work you put into creating effective documents.
There are two main types of resumes: archival and functional. Although funtional resumes can be very effective for applicants who have multiple years of experience, as a graduating student the archival resume better fits my needs. This type of resume is designed to highlight my education and work experiences rather than my abilities and skills. I will also put my educational experience above my work experience because I am just finishing my degree. One of the most interesting and important things I learned from the reading is to distinguish between related work experience and other work experience. I have always been told to list my jobs in chronological order, and that I have to list at least two skills under each. If I use other work experience as a heading, I can list the fact that I am employed right now at a video store without wasting space discussing the tasks I complete. I also have never heard of scannable resumes. The concept of companies using software to search for keyworks within a resume was new to me. This lead me to think about the audiences discussed in last week's reading. If there is any possibility that a company uses this technology to sort resumes, both the gatekeepers (the human rescources department) and your primary audience (the person doing the hiring) will appreciate you taking the time to include a scannable resume. The information above and the sample resumes within the reading will help me create the best possible resume I can for the Employment Project.
The reading also discusses cover letters. Previous positions I have applied for have not required a cover letter because I knew someone within the company. Along with great suggestions for what should be included in the intoduction and conclusion, chapter 15 helped me realize that I should highlight my education before my experiences within the body of the letter because I'm just graduating. I think that the key to a great cover letter is writing about your skills in a way that the person reading doesn't think that their company can go on without you. What are you going to bring to the table that will change their company for the better.
I think that I am better prepared to complete the resume and cover letter portions of the Employment Project now that I've completed the reading. I can also use a lot of the information to complete the job ad analysis. It is easier to evaluate employers when you have a better idea of what they are looking for in employees.
Reply
As you stated in your opening paragraph, the trick really is manipulating the format of your resume to highlight your skills, but rarely is this ever an easy task. Speaking of challenging tasks, as you wrote, “researching the process of applying for jobs may be as important as the work you put into creating effective documents.” This is true as written but I think researching the process is the rule rather than the exception. To me, this would better emphasize the importance of the concepts and techniques offered in chapter 15, including the research process, if written “researching the process of applying for jobs is equally important to the work…” Also, your closing argument could not summarize this chapter any better. It is most beneficial to us, as applicants, to evaluate potential employers and try to decide what exactly they are expecting so as to set the direction of our application.
Response
I also do not have much cover letter experience. If it is performed correctly, it can help highlight your skills and qualification better to a company. Most practices that I have had with companies do not require a cover letter. But when submitting your resume it is important to stand out from the rest of the crowd and cover letters provides that. Also, because resumes display only a small amount of qualifications and skills, a cover letter gives you the opportunity to add more valuable information. Parallel with the cover letter, sending follow up emails and thank you letters after an interview are also good ways of separating yourself from the other job applicants.
Scannable resumes and gatekeeping audiences
I really like the connection that you made between scannable resumes and gatekeeping audiences. I think it's perfectly acceptable to see the scanning technology itself as a legitimate gatekeeper. You have to follow the rules to get your document to its primary audience. It seems strange to position a machine as an audience, but it fits the description. It seems like a lot of positions are moving to scannable and online application systems and such. It's part of a larger shift toward increased quantification.
If I'm not mistaken, Purdue uses scannable resume technology to staff many of its positions. Does anybody know if I'm right about that?