{"id":7740,"date":"2021-06-07T22:16:01","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T22:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.uncc.edu\/aaron-toscano\/?page_id=7740"},"modified":"2023-02-13T22:11:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T03:11:34","slug":"resumerevisions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/engl2116-014spring2023\/engl2116february15\/resumerevisions\/","title":{"rendered":"Making R\u00e9sum\u00e9s and Cover Letters More Effective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Some Things to Work on for Your Portfolio Revision<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Below are a \u201cfew\u201d r\u00e9sum\u00e9 issues I\u2019d like to mention. Remember, your final cover letters and r\u00e9sum\u00e9s are due with your portfolio. If you want me to look over other drafts, please bring them to me during office hours. Remember, I\u2019m not commenting on these assignments as if I am the actual person hiring you for a job. I\u2019m a disinterested party who wants to keep you thinking about why you\u2019re making the choices that appear in your r\u00e9sum\u00e9s and cover letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there are different ways to construct your cover letters and r\u00e9sum\u00e9s, we discussed rhetorical strategies for efficient, effective documents. If you choose not to follow those guidelines, I expect your portfolio reflection to defend that choice. Why is your format the more effective one for your purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OVERALL QUESTION:<\/strong> Why do you want the career you seek? Very few of you explained why you want to be in a particular career. Some of you don\u2019t have as much work experience as others, so you should definitely be explaining what moves you to be in this career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the big cover letter\/r\u00e9sum\u00e9 issues I\u2019d like us to consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Try to keep to one page if you have less than 3 years of experience in a particular field\u2013adjust spacing if necessary<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Show don\u2019t tell\n
      \n
    • Telling: I’m a team player…I’m punctual…I’m a people person…I’m a self starter…<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Showing:\n
        \n
      • In this role, I work with several other employees to complete…<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • As a manager supervising X [number of] employees, I routinely arrive at the office before we open in order to…<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • At the front desk, I had to interact with customers\/clients to make sure their experience…<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Although I was hired to be a line cook, I quickly moved into the role of shift manager when …<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • What can you do for them, not what they can do for you.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Close properly\u2013\u201cPlease contact me at\u2026if you have any further questions.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Proper Business Letter Format<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • You don\u2019t have to have \u201creal\u201d addresses or people in your letters<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • \u201cEnclosure\u201d–this should come at the bottom of your Cover Letter if you actually send one in (unlikely with an email or upload)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • As my resume shows\u2026[specific skill]<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • SIMPLE DIRECT VERBS for duties\n
          \n
        • Supervised…<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Used…<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Developed…<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Prepared…<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Openings\u2013get to the point and offer a snapshot of yourself<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • How do your words work for you? What picture are you trying to \u201cpaint?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Full justification isn\u2019t very pleasing to read in letters<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Don\u2019t list qualities (hard worker<\/em>, lots of experience<\/em>, team player<\/em>, etc.) in your r\u00e9sum\u00e9s\u2013they should be obvious in your cover letter<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • When do you add courses to your r\u00e9sum\u00e9s and which ones are appropriate<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Is your high school important? What is NC-based and what might transfer nationally?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • What is your philosophy about the career field you wish to enter?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          Remember, I\u2019m commenting on your cover letters and r\u00e9sum\u00e9s as an English professor who is trying to get you to think about strategies that SHOW you\u2019re the ideal candidate. I\u2019m not in the context of the person hiring you, so the comments I give are for further thought.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Some Things to Work on for Your Portfolio Revision Below are a \u201cfew\u201d r\u00e9sum\u00e9 issues I\u2019d like to mention. Remember, your final cover letters and r\u00e9sum\u00e9s are due with your portfolio. If you want me to look over other drafts, please bring them to me during office hours. Remember, I\u2019m not commenting on these assignments […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":598,"featured_media":0,"parent":9651,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7740","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2HAOx-20Q","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7740"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9662,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7740\/revisions\/9662"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/aaron-toscano\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}