http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?IPath=QHKCV&...
Automation Engineer – Clarke Engineering Services, Inc.
The biggest reason I chose this job in particular was that it directly relates to my previous experience from my internship. When I selected mechanical engineering as my major 4 years ago, I had no idea what I specifically wanted to do with that degree. I only knew that I was mechanically inclined and would more than likely be a good mechanical engineer. When I accepted an internship with a company dealing with automation, I found that I loved the work and challenges that I met every day. Therefore, this job opening interests me greatly.
There were several other reasons I chose this job. It is located in Indianapolis, which is where I want to live when I graduate. I think Indianapolis is a great city and would be a great place to plant roots and excel in my field. Another positive aspect of this job is that it only requires at least 1 year of experience. So many of the jobs on www.careerbuilder.com or other such sites call for30 or 40 year old professionals with 10+ years of experience that it seems impossible to find an entry level job for you.
The job ad calls for a position in Indianapolis, with flexibility to travel being required. I love traveling and spent months on the road for my internship. I believe this is a very positive aspect that I can bring to a company because so many business professionals do not want to travel because of family or other commitments. The requirements of experience preferred in the position overview are many of the qualities I already have just from school and my internship. For example, I have worked with both visual basic and Allen Bradley Programmable Logic Controls equipment. I gained priceless knowledge from three summers working in the field that no one could gain from a textbook. I had days where I had to learn to assert myself to contractors and I had days where my superiors would pull me aside just to tell me how great they thought I was doing. They always noticed when I put in extra hours and work to make their products look better. I also enjoy hands-on work and troubleshooting and I am very good at interpreting schematics and wiring diagrams.
There is a transferrable skills desired section in the job advertisement that contains skills that I try to demonstrate in my everyday life. Some of the skills that are desired are effective oral and written communication skills, motivated, confident, well organized and disciplined. I believe I have all of these skills and can be an effective addition to their team.
After visiting the Clarke Engineering Services website, it seems to me that they are a medium sized company where their employees are not just a number and co-workers are able to establish a rapport with each other. The more I read about this job, the more it seems to fit my talents and desires in a potential job. On the company’s website in the ‘about us’ section there are areas where they talk about how they provide effective engineering support by providing trained engineers that can ‘hit the ground running’ on both large and small scale projects. It sounds like teamwork is important to them.
Instructor commentary
Overall, this is a strong analysis. You should focus on providing specific, concrete examples of how your experience connects to key concepts in the job ad. For example, you state:
Concrete examples of what you have done would improve this passage. How did you use visual basic and Allen Bradley Programmable Logic Controls equipment? What were the conditions? What was the outcome and benefit to your employer? What knowledge did you gain during field work? What examples do you have of times you put in extra hours to improve a product? The golden rule is to show, not tell. Specific, concrete examples will stick where general statements will not. This same advice is applicable to statements such as: "Some of the skills that are desired are effective oral and written communication skills, motivated, confident, well organized and disciplined. I believe I have all of these skills and can be an effective addition to their team." Prove that you have them by citing specific instances where you displayed them to cause a productive change.
Also, recall that the assignment description states: "Think of the Job Ad Analysis as a prelude to the Cover Letter." You should make tentative determinations about what the central theme or argument of your cover letter will be and how you will use the material in this analysis accordingly. You want to treat this analysis as groundwork for the documents ahead of you, which means attention to both content and structure.
Overall, however, this analysis is a fine start and there is much in it that you can build upon in your subsequent employment documents.