Important Dates

Wednesday, October 18—discuss guidelines for Project 3

Wednesday, October 25—job ad due via e-mail (note: no class due to Founders’ Day)

Friday, October 27—work on Project 3 (no class)

Monday, October 30—draft of résumé and application letter due (peer review)

Friday, November 3—Project 3 due (note: date is different than syllabus)

Assignment

For this assignment, you will be asked to compile a career portfolio that consists of the following components:

results of a career aptitude test (to be taken in the Student Support Center);
résumé;
letter of application;
list of potential interview questions and responses (at least five); and
thank-you/follow-up letter.

You will first find a real job ad for a position in which you are interested (or might one day wish to apply). Then, you will tailor all of your career portfolio materials specifically to that job. As always, you should follow carefully the business writing process and ensure that your writing is correct for grammar, punctuation, style, and formatting.

Criteria

A successfully completed career portfolio will meet the following criteria:

It should be clear you have completed all stages of the business writing process (planning, writing, and completing);
For all of your materials, you should follow the guidelines discussed in class and in Chapters 14 and 15 of your textbook;
Tone, language, and style should be appropriate to the specific job to which you are applying and the specific audience;
Emphasis will also be placed on structure and organization. Think carefully about the composition of your résumé (for instance, will you use chronological, functional, or combination style) and letters;
Since this is meant to mimic a real job application process, careful consideration should be given to proofreading and editing your career portfolio. There will be significant grade deductions for grammar, spelling, punctuation, formatting, typographical, and style errors;
On Monday, October 30, we will have a draft workshop for the résumé and application letter. Not having drafts of these components on this date will result in a full grade deduction on your final project;
The final draft of this assignment will be due on Friday, November 3. On this day, you will need to turn in your folder with any prewriting and drafts. Your final portfolio should include: 1) results of the career aptitude test, 2) the job ad, 3) letter of application, 4) résumé, 5) list of potential interview questions, 6) follow-up/thank-you letter, planning. No late work will be accepted.

To help you work through this multifaceted project, I have divided it into a series of steps to help you best navigate the career portfolio process:

Step 1: Taking a Career Aptitude Test

I am in the process of making arrangements with Jessie Warren in the Student Support Center for all of you to take a career aptitude test to determine how your interests and skills align with specific careers. While I know many of you already have a very firm idea of your chosen profession, I still think this aptitude test will be useful to help you learn a little more about yourself and your aptitudes. While you are not required to apply for the specific job suggested by these test results, I do want you to turn in the results in your career portfolio. I will give you more specific information on this test as soon as I have it; however, we are canceling class on Friday, October 27 to free up time for this step of the project.

Step 2: Finding a Job Ad

The second step in your process will be finding a suitable job ad. You are welcome to apply for a job that you are qualified for now (such as an internship), or you can imagine yourself as a job candidate after you graduate from college. Either way, the job should be something in which you are interested and that you can actually imagine yourself doing. Make sure you do not just apply for the first job you find. Do some research into the company, position, and industry to find the position that best suits your skills and interests. I have posted on our class website (http://faculty.ncwc.edu/lakirby/English%20304.htm) a list of resources to help you find jobs in your specific disciplines. You are welcome to use those sites or any others that are useful. Please make sure you print out a copy of the job ad since you will be turning that in with your final project. I will also ask you to e-mail me a copy of the job ad on Wednesday, October 25, just so I can see that everyone is on track.

Step 3: Writing the Résumé and Letter of Application

The next step will be composing a résumé and letter of application specific to the job to which you are applying Make sure that these documents are not generic but instead are directly relevant to your job ad.

Step 4: Composing a List of Potential Interview Questions

Next, you should assume that you have successfully navigated through the initial stages of the job search process and have been granted an interview. As such, you need to compose a list of possible questions you think you might be asked during your interview and then respond to those questions. You should compose a list of at least five questions and responses. It might also be helpful to do some research into the specific company/organization to which you are applying in order to best prepare yourself for the interview.

Step 5: Writing a Thank-you/Follow-up Letter

In the fifth step, you should assume that you have completed the interview but have yet to hear anything more about the position to which you have applied. It is common courtesy to write employers a brief thank-you/follow-up letter after the interview has been completed. This will be the final stage of your career portfolio.

Parting Words

My hope is that you will approach this project not just as a class assignment but also as preparation for your own impending job-search process. Whether you are a semester or a couple of years away from graduation, if you carefully compose your résumé and other materials, you can simply update and revise those as needed in the years to come and actually use these materials when you go on the job market.