Assignment
COMM 310: Business & Professional Writing
Employment Communication
Due: November 19, before class
Form: Word Documents
Submission: On Canvas, saved as Lastname_Resume.docx, Lastname_CoverLetter.docx, Lastname_FollowUpLetter.docx. ***Also, be sure to turn in the job ad for the position in which you are applying***
Value: 150 points(15% of overall grade)
Description and Rationale: Regardless of your profession, you will likely be using cover letters, résumés, and follow-up letters for promotion throughout your career. Your ability to create exceptional application materials can make the difference between getting an interview or not. As with all business writing and communication we have studied to this point, the documents you create for this project will give you an opportunity to think about a realistic audience and how you can creatively and professionally adapt to that audience’s expectations.
Assignment: For this assignment, you will create threedifferent one-page documents, each scored at 50 points apiece: an résumé, acoverletter, and a follow-up letter. Read the following guidelines and instructions for completing each of the three documents:
All Three Documents
When submitting a collection of documents together, you are creating a package. For personal branding purposes, you should match the look and feel of each document. A unified, professional design on multiple document will make you look polished, serious about the position, and attentive to detail and professionalism. Use the same fonts, similar headings, consistent voice, etc.
Résumé (50 points)
Develop from scratch or revise your current résumé. Either way, be sure to create a well-designed, well-formatted, professional and top quality résumé. Your résumé should include key words from the job description, it should be organized in a logical way, it should use strong and varied verb phrases, it should include relevant and specific noun phrases, and it should be free of any errors in writing or design.
You have the option to create a chronological or functional résumé, but you should have a specific reason for doing so. If the company you are applying for requests a creative résumé, you are welcome to attempt it; just make sure it is professional in every way.
In addition to the résumé, include a brief document that describes your reason for choosing between a chronological, functional, or creative résumé. Also mention the key words that you included from your job ad into the résumé.
Cover Letter (75 points)
Write a one-page letter of application on a professionally designed/formatted letterhead that matches your résumé. Following the guidelines in the book, make your letter strong through good organization, crisp writing, specific examples, and emphasis of strengths. Be sure to follow the poor vs. strong sentence examples in the book. Note that you want to do more than just name your skills and experiences, but phrase it so that your skills and experiences provide a value-add to what the company is looking for. A few tips:
+Design a letterhead that works well and includes multiple ways to contact you
+Address the hiring person by their real name (rather than just “hiring committee”)
+Refer to the source of the job ad (a person, search engine, website, etc.)
+Name the job for which you are applying (give the exact name in the ad)
+Show knowledge of the company
+Emphasize your skills and experiences as they relate to the job ad
+Close strong in a way that encourages them to contact you
+Sign your letter
Follow-Up Letter (25 points)
Keeping your branding strategy in design and tone, write a follow-up letter that thanks an employer for an interview. While your textbook doesn’t cover this type of letter specifically, this is an important letter to show enthusiasm for the position and gratitude for the time took to interview you. When writing this letter, be professional and friendly. Thank the people you interviewed with specifically, mention things you like about the company (in an indirect but specific way), and close by mentioning something about you being available and able to provide more information. Sign the letter.