Cover Letter and Resume Project

An important skill for graduating seniors is the ability to construct a Resume and cover letter that will allow you to successfully start your career. We will be working with the University Career Development Center to help provide you the information to successfully construct your own Resume and cover letter. The cover letter will be written for a job, position, or post-graduate education that is currently available and will be due Sept 24th. The grading of this project will be determined by what was presented by the Career Development Center.

Cover Letter

The cover letter should be written for a specific advertisement for a job or post-graduate program. Please either print or photocopy the advertisement and turn it in with the cover letter. The purpose of the cover letter is to sell yourself so that the business will want to employ you or so that the program will want you to be a student. It is persuasive in its writing style.

Items that I’ll be looking for include: Why are you writing? Why are you the best person? What will we do about it? See page 33 in Job Choices magazine Expand on one or two items found in your resume that are important for the job in question Standard business format is recommended. Check for spelling and grammar

Resume

The resume should not be longer than 2 pages, especially at this point in your career. The resume should address the 3 areas outlined in the Career Development Center talk: 1. Name and Contact Information 2. Education/Experience -Education -Employment -Experience/Skills 3. Questions that you can raise to the interviewer -Activities/Interests -Values

Other items and hints: Use standard fonts and type. Check dates and addresses for errors Check for spelling and grammar errors Relevant courses could also be listed as a skill or experience Experience could include lab courses and/or independent research projects See page 27 in Job Choices magazine