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Strategies in the Job-Search Process
Chapter Nine
Business Communication
Raymond V. LesikarMarie E. FlatleyKathryn Rentz
STEPS IN THE JOB SEARCH PROCESS
Build a network of contacts
Identify appropriate jobs
Find your employer
Prepare the application documents
Continue job search activities
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Building a Network of Contacts
Begin the job search by building a network of contacts
Broaden your circle of friends Know your professors Meet executives Make contacts through internships Work with community organizations
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Identifying Appropriate Jobs
Look at both internal and external factors Internal factors are used to analyze yourself
• Education, personal qualities, work experience, special qualities like languages, communications skills etc
External factors are current and projected job market, economic needs, location preferences, and family needs
Combine internal and external factors
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Identifying Appropriate Jobs
External factors are related to:• Where is the job you are seeking available?
• Are you willing to move?
• Does the location meet your lifestyle needs?
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Finding Your Employer
Search potential employers by using the following sources:
Career Centers (School career centers) Network of Personal Contacts Classified Advertisements Online Sources Employment Agencies Personal Search Agents Web Page Profiles Prospecting techniques (direct contact)
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Pursue job openings by personal visit, online, mail, email, or fax
You are most likely to use resume, cover message, and reference sheet in job search
Prepare them as you would prepare a sales mailing
Study the product (you) and the work
Then decide on whether to send a message alone or with a resume
PREPARING THE APPLICATION DOCUMENTS
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Decide whether to use a print or a digital format
Use traditional print in face-to-face interviews Use digital format when sending application by
e-mail or posting it via the Web
Decide on the length of resume Make your résumé as long as needed to sell
your skills to employers
Arrange the parts of your resume fitting the specific job you are applying for
CONSTRUCTING THE RESUME
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WHAT IS A RESUME?
A resume is a personal summary of your professional history and qualifications
It includes information about your career goals, education, work experience, activities, honors, and any special skills you might have
Three types of resume are:• Traditional Résumé
• Scannable Résumé
• Plain-Text Résumé for E-Mailing
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Creating Successful Résumés
Your résumé should convey the seven qualities employers seek in a candidate:
Thinks in terms of results
Gets things done
Is well rounded
Shows signs of progress
Has standards of excellence
Is flexible
Possesses strong communication skills
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Common Résumé Problems
» Too short or long
» Use personal pronoun
» Misspellings
» Grammatical errors
» Hard to read
» Wordy/not condensing
» Phrasing not parallel
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»Too slick
» Too amateurish
» Poorly reproduced
» Boastful
» Dishonest
» Gimmicky
Humorous
TRADITIONAL PRINT RESUME
Select background facts about yourself
Logically arrange the facts into groups
Construct the headings and subheadings
Include contact and objective information
Organize and present the facts for best eye-appeal, making it balanced
Write impersonally and consistently
Make the form attractive
Polish the resume
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Select the Background Facts
Begin by reviewing the background facts such as qualifications and skills about yourself that will help the reader evaluate you
Collect information relevant to the job
Include all the information covered in the cover letter
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Arrange the Facts into Groups
Sort the facts by conventional groups, job functions, time, or a combination
Most conventional three-part grouping is Education, Experience, and Skills or Personal Qualities
You can consider groups such as Achievements and Qualifications
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Construct the Headings and Sub-headings
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Usually, the name will be used as the main heading
The most common is topic head consisting of words that describe what follows
The next level of headings might be objective, education, experience, and skills
Talking head can also be used Use words that tell the nature of what follows
Include Contact Information
Anticipate changes in contact information
Avoid using a nickname to identify yourself
Consider including your URL address or fax number if you have one
RICK NASON 1401-1094 Wellington StreetHalifax, NS, Canada, B3H 2Z9
[email protected](902) 405-9312
Display your address, phone number, and email address prominently at the top of your resume
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Include a Statement of Objective
Include a statement of career objective only for a targeted job
Some disagree on the value of using objective
Write as complete sentences or as descriptive phrases with minimal punctuation
Statement should cover the job you seek, the skills, strengths, and experiences you have
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Include a Statement of Objective
Avoid over generalized statements:
A position allowing me to utilize my knowledge and expertise in different areas.
Avoid statements that focus only on what a company can do for you:
A position where I gain experience in working on biological problems.
Make the statement as specific as possible:
A position which allows me to apply my background in engineering and high performance computing to biological problems.
An entry-level position where my proven communication, accounting, and administrative skills could be utilized in a path leading to advancement into management eventually.
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Organize and Present the Facts
List the facts under headings
Cover work experience with details
Cover education with institutions, dates, degrees, and areas of study
When appropriate, show achievements
Use action verbs to strengthen the appeal
Cont.
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Avoid information on race, sex, religion, marital status, pregnancy status, citizenship status, age, etc.
Include information on activities and interests that tell about one’s personal qualities
Consider listing references although some don’t favor using it
Get permission for using referee’s name
Use a separate sheet for references Cont.
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Organize and Present the Facts
Select references that cover your background
Use accurate mailing and email addresses
Use the same grammatical form for all equal-level headings
Choose fonts carefully
Use right paper
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Organize and Present the Facts
Organize for Strength
Choose an organizational strategy that best presents your unique skills and strengths.
Use whatever combination of organizational styles you think best.
Highlight your individual qualifications.
The most common resume styles are: Chronological Functional Skills Imaginative Achievement
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If your work experience is significant and relevant to the position sought, place experience section before education.
Choose aChoose aRésuméRésumé
StyleStyle
Choose aChoose aRésuméRésumé
StyleStyle
CHRONOLOGICALCHRONOLOGICAL
Focuses on job historywith most recent
positions listed first
Focuses on job historywith most recent
positions listed first
Organize for Strength: Chronological Style
• Apply this style when job experiences closely parallel the positions for which you are applying, or you have no unemployment time between jobs.
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Organizie for Strength: Chronological Style
Work Experience:
1997-Present U.S. Postal Service, Indianapolis. Worked as a Station Manager, delivering mail, overseeing retail sales, planning delivery to new routes
1994-1997 All Right Parking, Inc., Indianapolis. Worked as a Manager, handling customer relations, overseeing accounts, supervising twenty-five employees
1992-1994 Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis. Worked as a District Sales Manager recruiting and
training new employees, managing crews of twenty-five carriers within nine counties, designing routes
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Adobe Acrobat Document
Choose aChoose aRésuméRésumé
StyleStyle
Choose aChoose aRésuméRésumé
StyleStyle FUNCTIONALFUNCTIONAL
Focuses on skillsFocuses on skills
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Organize for Strength: Functional Style
Adobe Acrobat Document
Organize experience by type of function performed.
Highlight experiences that directly relate to the job you are seeking.
Ignore experiences that do not relate to the job for which you are applying.
Place things in order of importance rather than chronological order.
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Organizie for Strength: Functional Style
Experience:Research Assistant (August 1998-August 1999)—Purdue U.Assisted Professor Robert Thompson in:
* updating statistical tables and charts* answering research questions via the Internet,
library, and by establishing resources to provide the needed information
President, Sociology Club (January-May 2000)* Raised over $2,000 for club expenses and
scholarships* Organized 10 activities for over 200 students* Designed and maintained club website
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Organize for Strength: Functional Style
Emphasize what you can do rather than where you have worked.
Try to match your skills to the position for which you are applying.
This style is ideal if you have gained valuable skills from a variety of unrelated experiences.
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Organize for Strength: Skills Style
Skills:
Communication Skills
*Counseled teens in an anti-drug initiative at Jefferson High School
*Received Employee of the Month Award for my work creating a positive environment at Wal-Mart while working as a cashier
*Presented a semester-long project on choosing a major to a group of prospective students
Training Skills
*Trained new employees in cashier procedures at Wal-Mart *Served as assistant coach for a Jefferson High School basketball team
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Organize for Strength: Skills Style
It demonstrates a combination of layout, graphics, text integration, and audience selection.
Make sure a company is open to this type of resume before submitting it.
Best style when your are looking for a job that demands creativity, such as graphic design or landscape architecture
Good to use color graphics on an imaginative resume, but the cost of duplicating will be increased.
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Organize for Strength: Imaginative Style
Rick Nason7431 Davenport Drive
Dallas, TX 75226(512) 598-9693 (512) 598-0017
Objective: Administrative Assistant Position
Education: Bachelor of Science in Office Administration
Northern State University, 1991GPA 3.0/4.0
Special Skills:Keyboarding at 90 wpm, WordPerfect,
Word,Ami Pro, Excel and 1-2-3, Paradox and
Access
Relevant Courses:Business Communication Office
ProceduresDocument Imaging Management
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Organize for Strength: Imaginative Style
Experience:
Secretary 1996-1998
Boatner King Insurance Company, DallasPersonal secretary to Mr. Carlos Boatner,
President
Data-entry Clerk 1993-1996
Thatcher Manufacturing Company, Dallas
File Clerk 1992-1993
J. C. Douglas Wholesale Company, Dry Creek
References:
Will gladly provide personal and professional references on request.
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Organize for Strength: Imaginative Style
This approach presents a picture of you as a competent worker
It puts hard number and precise facts behind skills and traits you have
Successfully managed the Austin store for two years in a period of low unemployment with these results:
Reduced employee turnover 55%
Increased profits 37% Grew sales volume 12%
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Organize for Strength: Achievement Style
Organize for Strength: Including Summary
Summary heading includes key points from three conventional information groups: education, experience, and personal qualities
This emphasizes the applicant’s most impressive background facts pertaining to the work sought
Experienced: 3 years of practical work as analyst in designing and developing financial databases for the banking industry
Highly trained: B.S. degree with honors in MIS
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Summary of Qualifications
An MBA Major in Finance with expertise in the following areas:
Working as CEO at Grameen Phone Communicating with customers in project
environments Working as Associate Consultant with BRAC
Organize for Strength: Including Summary
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An important section for recent graduates seeking internships or jobs.
Beginning with the highest level of educational achievement and include information such as university attended, degrees earned, major, minors, grade point average, date of program completion, and so forth.
Organize for Strength: Education
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Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, CanadaGraduation October 2007MBA Major in Finance GPA: 3.98/4.3
Do not include GPA on the resume; but if it isn’t included, employers may assume that it is lower than it really is.
Always state the grade point scale your school is using.
Organize for Strength: Education
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List relevant courses that:
Help you stand out from the crowd
Have provided you with specific skills or knowledge
Consider including this information in the education section of the resume.
Spanish (4 semesters)Computer ScienceBusiness WritingBusiness LawEthics
Only include courses taken in addition to your major or minor.
Refer to the course by name rather than by number.
Organize for Strength: Relevant Courses
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Include positions you have held which are related to the job (paid and volunteer positions) you are seeking
Be creative with this section by describing your experiences in the most relevant way possible
Organize for Strength: Employment Experience
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Hospitality Intern
(May 2008-Nov 2008)Mountain Jacks, New York
Oversaw the planning, production, preparation and prompt delivery of food
Assisted in training and retaining new and experienced employees
Created a positive and healthy atmosphere in the restaurant
Include information such as company name and location, job title, dates, and duties performed.
Make this section easy to read by using spacing and bullets.
Use action phrases to highlight the duties you have performed.
Organize for Strength: Employment Experience
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Organize for Strength: Activities and Honors
Include relevant activities and honors that you could discuss with your prospective employer or that have given you valuable experience or skills
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Organize for Strength: Specialized Skills
Include skills that make you unique, such as computer skills, foreign language skills, or military service
Be specific in describing your special skills; name computer programs you know, how long you studied a foreign language, or your dates of military service
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Write Impersonally and Consistently
List the information without use of personal pronouns (I, we, you)
Use the same grammatical form for all equal-level headings and for the parts listed under each heading
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Make the Form Attractive
Make the resume attractive
Design it as a graphic designer would and use balance and space for eye appeal
Choose fonts carefully
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References
Omit references (unless specifically required)
Better state that references are available upon request
Choose professional references rather than character references
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Reference SheetDr. AnsonHeavilon Hall, Room 226Purdue UniversityWest Lafayette, IN
47907(765) 494-3723 -Dr. Anson is my current academic advisor in theCreative Writing andScience Fiction Program
Include the names, addresses, and phone numbers of your references
Always ask permission before you include any information on your reference sheet
Consider giving your references a copy of your resume so they will be prepared to talk to employers
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Polish Your Résumé
Avoid including anything that could become a basis for discrimination: photograph, age, marital status, national origin, race, etc.
Do not send a photograph. Don't include your social security number. Don't include high school information,
references, or full addresses of schools or employers.
Don't put the word "résumé" at the top.
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Examine These Résumés
Discuss ways toDiscuss ways toimprove this poor résumé.improve this poor résumé.
Click icon to viewClick icon to viewan improved version.an improved version.
Adobe Acrobat Document
Adobe Acrobat Document
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Scannable Resume
A hard copy resume that can be scanned using OCR technology and read by computer
A resume that a person scans into a computer as an image
This makes it very easy for the employer to look through all resumes on file quickly and easily when there is a need to fill a vacant position, using simple search criteria.
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Preparing a Scannable Résumé
Use 10- to 14-point type.
Avoid unusual typefaces, underlining, italics, and double columns.
Be sure your name is on the first line.
List each phone number on its own line.
Use smooth white paper, black ink, and quality printing. Provide white space.
Avoid double columns.
Use smooth white paper, black ink, and quality printing. Provide white space.
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Maximizing “Hits” for a Scannable Résumé
Focus on specific keywords.
Incorporate words from the job ad.
Use typical headings (Objective, Education, Skills, etc.)
Use accurate names; watch abbreviations.
Describe interpersonal traits and attitudes.
Use more than one page if necessary.
Click icon to view
scannable résumé
Adobe Acrobat Document
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A Plain Text Résumé for E-Mailing
Follow the tips for scannable résumés.
Reformat with shorter lines (such as 4-inch).
Think about using keyboard characters to enhance format (=== or ~~~).
Move all text to the left.
Save your résumé in plain text (.txt) or rich text format (.rtf).
Test your résumé before sending it.
Click icon to viewplain text résumé Adobe Acrobat
Document
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Submitting Your Résumé
Word document
Plain-text, ASCII document
PDF document
Company database
Fax
Employers may ask you to submit your résumé in one of these ways:
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A focus groupA focus groupof nine expert of nine expert
recruiters gave theserecruiters gave theseindividual responses:individual responses:
What Turns Recruiters Off When Reading Résumés?
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“Personal data. That’s a major ‘red flag.’ Also typos, inconsistent punctuation, and huge paragraphs that look like job descriptions.”
“Odd-sized résumés from services saying ‘Presenting the candidacy of . . .’ I don't even read them anymore. They’re a major rip-off.”
“Résumés that show no research; not looking at the employer’s needs.”
“Omissions in terms of dates. And misspellings!”
What Turns Recruiters Off When Reading Résumés?
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“Long cover letters and résumés over two pages.”
“Excess cosmetics, substituting form for content. A résumé should look nice but not go overboard.”
“A photo. I have to remove them because managers must be color and gender blind.”
“Not sending the résumé to the right place.”
What Turns Recruiters Off When Reading Résumés?
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“The objective. Plus dates when things happened and accomplishments.”
“Information about skills that apply to the job; less about job history and past duties.”
“The candidate’s address and phone number. Lots of people put them only in the cover letter!”
What Do Recruiters Consider Most Important in a Résumé?
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What Do Recruiters Consider Most Important in a Résumé?
“Valid information in an easy-to-read, attractive style.”
“Meeting the qualifications for the job.”
“The presentation and the objective.”
“A clear objective, backed up with qualifying experience and continuity in the work history.”
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Body Closing
Address the letter to an individual by name.
For advertised jobs, name the source; include job title, date, and publication.
If someone referred you, name that person.
Show that your qualifications fit the job specifications, show your knowledge of the reader’s business, or show that your special talents will be assets to the company.
Opening
Writing a Customized, Persuasive Cover Letter
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Opening Closing
Demonstrate that your background and training meet the job requirements.
Summarize your principal assets from education, experience, and special skills.
Avoid repeating specific data from your résumé.
Refer to your résumé.
Body
Writing a Customized, Persuasive Cover Letter
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Opening Body
Ask for an interview. Consider hooking the request to a statement reviewing your strongest points.
Make it easy to respond. Tell when and where you can be reached (during office hours). Some recruiters prefer that you call them.
Closing
Writing a Customized, Persuasive Cover Letter
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Model Cover Letters
Click icon to viewsolicited cover letter.
Click icon to viewunsolicited cover letter.
Click icon to viewe-mail cover letter.
Adobe Acrobat Document
Adobe Acrobat Document
Adobe Acrobat Document
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Handling the Interview
Research the employer to impress
Make a good appearance through dress and grooming
Anticipate questions and plan to answer Standard, tough, illegal, critical thinking and behavioral
questions
Make a good impression by being at ease (calm, confident)
Help bring out the questions that show your qualifications
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Preparing your answers helps you choose a strategy
Question: What are your weaknesses?Possible Strategies:
Present a weakness that’s really a hidden strength
Cite a corrected weakness
Recall a lesson learned
Reveal a lapsed skill
Use an unrelated skill
Cite an objective
Try humor
Repeat your qualifications
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Writing Other Job Search Letters
Thank-you letter
Follow-up letter
Job acceptance letter
Job refusal letter
Job resignation letter
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