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Locating a Job
Find a potential job by searching online career databases, search engines, newspapers or existing
knowledge. You must locate a job description for which you are now qualified—not one for
which you will be qualified in the future.
Application Letter
The application letter should appeal directly to the needs of the employer as indicated in the job
description. Make explicit references to these needs, incorporating specific and persuasive
statements about how your experience and accomplishments qualify you for the position. The
application letter should meet the following requirements:
Letter format: Use the eight letter components, and use a block- or modified-block letter
format that follows the formal conventions for letter writing.
Content and organization: Organize the following components using a forecasting statement
(or roadmap), topic sentences, and transitional phrases that work together to establish a
cohesive argument. Organize the content so that it includes approximately four major
paragraphs:
(1) an opening paragraph,
(2) a paragraph about your education,
(3) a paragraph about your work experience, and
(4) a closing paragraph.
Tone: Use an appropriate tone—be confident without sounding arrogant, sound personable
but professional.
Length: Use a length appropriate for the position. For most undergraduate students seeking
an entry-level position, a one-page letter is appropriate.
Résumé
The résumé organizes your qualifications into categories of information that highlight the
credentials you will bring to a company. Considering how employers will use your résumé will
help you make effective content and design choices.
Résumé Categories: Brainstorm information for the following categories and create
headings for these categories in your résumé.
• Identification – your name, address, phone numbers
• Career objectives – like a subject line in a memo, informs about your résumé’s
focus (one statement long)
• Employment – job titles, company names, company locations, time periods,
duties
• Education – degrees, areas of specialization, schools attended, school
locations, years of graduation or attendance (optional – GPA, memberships,
coursework, equipment used)
• Professional Skills – procedures you can perform, accomplishments, on-the-
job training, new techniques invented/implemented, numbers and types of
people managed, publications
• Military experience (if applicable) – rank, service branch, location, years,
achievements, training/seminars
• Professional affiliations – regional, national or international clubs or
professional affiliations
• Personal data (if applicable) – hobbies, languages spoken
• Honors and Awards (if applicable)
• Additional Training and Seminars (if applicable)
• References – three or four (colleagues, supervisors, teachers, community
members), names, addresses, phone numbers (If not mandatory, state
“Available upon Request”)
Résumé Formats: Arrange your categories and information depending on the résumé
format you prefer.
• Reverse Chronological Résumé – Traditional job applicant,
have training in the field you are applying, have made
progress in field you are applying, plan to stay in current
profession
• Functional Résumé – Nontraditional job applicant, entering
a field where you do not have training and/or education,
change jobs frequently, entering a new profession
Page 3
Maria Christian
September 9, 2007
Follow-up Letter
Follow-up letters are a respectable way of showing both appreciate and your interest in the job.
Follow-up letters are designed in the same letter format as the application letter; however, they
are much shorter (half a page in length). The follow-up letter should meet the following
requirements:
Follow-up Letter Type: First, decide what type of follow up letter you will write (accept
a job offer, decline a job offer, offer thanks for the interview, inquire about the job’s
status, supply additional information omitted from the résumé, inquire about why you
were declined for a job)