EN.663.618 Chap.8 Resumes and Cover Letters for a Target Job
Resumes and Cover Letters for a Target Job
Why the job documents come before the interviews
Professional Presentations ends its interview unit with two graded conversations, but they start on paper. For one invented position chosen from the assignment packet, you prepare a resume, a cover letter and a pre-recorded video introduction. The packet is firm on two points: the materials must fit the chosen job, and every fact in them must be your own.
It also sends you to the Technical Communication Lab and the LifeDesign Lab for help.
The grade comes only from the interviews, yet the classmates on your panel read your documents first, so they shape the questions you will face.
Tailoring for software and for people
The resume slides start with research: the job information, the qualifications the employer wants, and its key values and vocabulary, found on its website, in the advertisement and in press coverage.
Many employers screen with applicant tracking systems that rank candidates against the job description, so a strong candidate who ignores the advertisement's wording can be filtered out before a human reads anything.
The practical answer is a separate version of the resume for each position, with earlier jobs framed to show transferable skills.
Sections, bullets and layout
The slides walk through contact details, an objective or a summary of qualifications, education listed from the highest degree down, related experience in reverse chronological order, activities and honors, and an optional skills section kept technical.
Each experience bullet should open with an action verb, keep tense parallel with its neighbours and follow the challenge, action, result pattern. Design checks follow: scanability before uniqueness, a quadrant test for balance, consistent fonts, the CRAP principles and a 20-second read by someone else.
The letter and the peer review
The cover letter slides give each paragraph a job.
The opening introduces you, names the position and says why this company; the middle paragraphs sell specific accomplishments tied to the posting; the close restates interest and invites a meeting.
A peer review worksheet then has a classmate mark strong, unclear and weak claims, test the key claim for being specific, significant and arguable, and check that the resume puts its best qualifications where a reader will see them.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Researching the job advertisement for keywords and values
- 02
How applicant tracking systems rank a resume
- 03
Resume sections from contact details to skills
- 04
Action verbs, parallel tense and the CAR model
- 05
Design checks: quadrant test, fonts, CRAP and the 20-second read
- 06
When a resume can run past one page
- 07
Cover letter paragraphs and what each must do
- 08
Running the letter and resume peer review
Worked example · free
Turn a duty line into a CAR bullet for a consulting listing
- 1Identify the challenge hidden behind the duty.
- 1Open the bullet with a past-tense action verb and state the action.
- 1Close the bullet with a qualitative or quantitative result.
- 1Write a letter sentence that adds the story and the link to the job.
Key terms
- Applicant Tracking System
- A computer program that organizes job applicants and ranks them by how closely their qualifications match the job description.
- CAR Model
- A structure for resume bullets that states a workplace challenge, the action taken with an action verb, and the beneficial result.
- Quadrant Test
- A layout check that divides a resume into four equal parts, each needing balanced text and white space, with key content in the first.
- Summary of Qualifications
- An opening resume section that states how the candidate would benefit the company, tailored to one position.
- Transferable Skills
- Abilities built in earlier roles that apply to a new job even when the earlier role looks unrelated.
Resumes and Cover Letters for a Target Job FAQ
Should I use an objective statement or a summary of qualifications?
Either can work if it is written for the specific position. An objective should name realistic goals inside the company rather than long-term ambitions, and it risks sounding focused on your own gain. A summary argues what you bring, but it can look thin if you have little relevant experience yet, which matters if your relevant experience is still limited.
Should I put my GPA on my resume?
The resume slides say to include it only when it is 3.0 or higher. Education entries also carry the university, majors and minors, and an expected graduation date if you are still studying, with the highest degree listed first. High school usually stays off unless it was a prestigious, widely known school.
What fonts work best on a resume?
The slides suggest sans-serif options such as Helvetica, Trebuchet MS, Franklin Gothic and Avenir, or serif options such as Georgia, Garamond and Cambria. Whatever you pick, use it consistently, because repetition of font types and sizes is one of the four CRAP design principles, and too many emphasis tools make a page harder to scan.
How do I know if my resume is easy to read?
Give it to someone for twenty seconds and ask what they learned about you. If they noticed what you wanted an employer to see, the layout works. If not, the slides suggest moving key information into the first quadrant, checking font consistency and cutting back on bold, italics and other emphasis.
Assessment move
Print the job advertisement and highlight every skill and value word. Draft the resume, then hand it to a classmate for a timed twenty-second read and ask what stood out. Revise until their answer matches your highlights, then write the letter's middle paragraph around the single strongest resume bullet.
