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another person. He is trying to shake off duties. Ask him WOULD YOU RATHER questions. Give his answers with I’D RATHER.

Model:

S.: Are you going (Would you like) to review the letter to this customer yourself or would you rather I did it for you?

B.: I’d rather you (Hiring Manager / Mr. Keaton) did it.

1) Settle things with another customer; 2) inform Mr. Harrison of promotion; 3) make a draft of the speech at the annual meeting; 4) interview applicants; 5) answer an important call; 6) tell his wife he is going on business tonight; 7) ask his wife to call back later; 8) get a Christmas present for his wife; 9) drive him to the airport or get a taxi.

59.Practice asking and speaking about preferences using the phrases above. Could you suggest your own choices?

Model:

–Would you prefer to stay home or visit your friends this weekend?

–I’d like to stay home. I’d rather not move anywhere now.

1) Conduct your job search yourself or go to recruiter agencies; 2) involve your family or look for advice outside your family; 3) make your friends aware of your problems or keep it secret; 4) write a letter or give a call to your friends; 5) send a form letter or tailor it to a particular person; 6) ask for advice or directly for a job; 7) make your network grow cold or follow up; 8) hire people you know or a total stranger.

60.People say “You never know how many friends you have until you rent a place at the beach”. Does it make sense to you? Could you suggest your own version of this saying?

Model:

St. 1: You never know how many friends you have … .

St. 2: … until you win a million dollars in a TV quiz.

St. 3: … until you get an important job with a big company.

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write blindly – to send a letter to a company without knowing the name or titles of the addressee

follow-through – to continue and finish an action, to bring to an end

severance pay (package) – extra pay given to an employee who is dismissed through no fault of his / her own

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Unit 3 Designing a Resume

READING, SPEAKING, AND WRITING

Text 1

1.Answer the questions before reading the text: What do you know about resumes? Have you ever written a resume?

2.Read the text. Why do you think the resume is so important in the application process? Who benefits more from the resume – the reader or the writer?

RESUME AS IT IS

“What do you have to offer?” is the question that all employers want you to answer whether you are looking for your first professional job or changing careers. Your answer is your resume that should convince the employer who sees many job requests every day to invite you for an interview.

A resume is a document which summarizes your qualifications for the job. Though a resume is a compilation of facts – a record of dates, important courses, names, places, addresses, jobs, and job responsibilities, it is neither your autobiography, a college transcript, nor a company’s application form. Actually, it focuses the reader’s attention on those aspects of your background which are most relevant for the job you seek and provides factual information to support your application letter.

Employers generally spend less than a minute to scan a resume. Therefore, the resume should be short enough to be read in a moment but long enough to include all pertinent information. An entry-level* applicant should condense it to one page, but if you are an experienced professional who has special accomplishments, your resume can run to two pages, which is also appropriate. However, it is always better to have two pages than to omit important information about yourself just because it did not fit.

Almost every resume has eight basic sections:

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1.Identifying information. Under this first heading include your full legal name, the address with the zip code to which you want your mail to be sent, and your phone number with a proper area code. If you have two addresses and phone numbers, it is wise to list both, labeling them clearly so that you can be reached easily. Center this information at the top of the resume. Capitalize all the letters of your name to make it stand out.

2.Summary or resume capsule. This includes information that summarizes your qualifications for the position sought. Here is your opportunity to highlight those aspects of your background that have been acquired over a period of many years in a number of different positions or in an early job. The resume capsule has to be adjusted to suit the specific needs of a targeted employer, so it involves rewriting the resume for each potential employer.

3.Job and career objectives. The objective briefly describes the type of work desired, the type of place where you want to work, and may contain a phrase about a specific interest area, shortor long-term professional goals. Be prepared to have different statements of objectives to meet the requirements of different job descriptions. When answering a job ad, however, state only goals and duties explicitly mentioned or clearly implied. Otherwise the employer may not consider you.

Sometimes it is better to not include a career objective on a resume. If you do not have a very clear idea of what you want, it is better to explain your interest in a cover letter* or during the interview.

Place the job objective entry immediately after the address and align* it with the rest of the entries.

4. Education. As you compose this section of your resume, carefully emphasize what in your background meets the requirements for the particular job. Obligatory information includes your degree, Institution, its location, the dates of attendance and graduation listed in reverse chronological order. You may also include any other institutions you attended beyond the high-school level, even those at which you did not earn a degree, any special certificates or short-term training done in addition to college work or provided by military service or companies. In listing courses, be selective and choose those that will be of particular interest to your reader.

The education section is the easiest part of the resume to adapt for different positions because you can list different courses and skills directed to different potential employers.

Include your GPA* (grade point average) if it is really impressive; otherwise, indicate your GPA in just your major, or during the senior year. Generally, the GPA and other such numbers are of little interest after about 5 years.

5. Employment (or Work Experience). This is the most important category for many employers. It shows that you are responsible and knowledgeable about the obligations of being an employee.

Under this heading, list all jobs held fullor part-time or summer work, including company’s name and location, and the positions you held. Do not mention why you left a job. Briefly describe your duties and responsibilities for each job, particularly those which

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provided practical experience most relevant for the job you seek, and give carefully selected details. In describing your position, use strong active language (arranged, calculated, handled, managed, maintained, supervised, performed, etc.). Employers are also favorably impressed by promotions you may have earned. If you include your military experience, show how it relates to the civilian work you seek. If you have held a lot of short-term positions, list only those in the last 10–15 years in which your responsibilities were relevant to your present search for job. If you are willing to relocate, state that explicitly.

6. Hobbies, Activities, Sports, Awards, Minors, Skills, Membership, Publications, Presentations, Patterns. Most resumes use some of these headings to provide the reader with additional information which will be a drawing card* for your employer. These sections are optional, and if included, should be listed either separately or grouped together, e.g. Honors and Awards, Interests and Hobbies, Activities and Membership

Some information, however, could logically be placed in two or even three different locations, so you will have to decide where it may make the best impression, e.g., academic honors or minors may be grouped with “Education”; computer or foreign language proficiency or holding driving licenses and other certificates can be listed under “Personal Information”, etc. However you handle these sections, they should be brief and not detract from the longer, more significant sections described previously.

7.Personal Information (or Personal Data). You will have to determine whether listing such personal details as height, weight, health, marital status, religion, national origin, etc., will enhance your chances for a job. If you believe that any of this information could advance your prospects, by all means include it. However, most resumes today include none of these items because such personal information is considered irrelevant to a person’s ability.

8.References. There are two main approaches to this section of the resume: a) Writing “Available (up)on request” at the end of the page; b) Listing names, addresses, and phone numbers at the end of the resume. The first option is usually best.

Careful choice of references is as important as careful writing of the resume. Solicit references only from persons who know your work best and for whom you have done the best work. You should have at least three. The most preferred strategy here is to list the names of previous employers, the least effective one is to list members of your family, or close friends. Be sure to get permission from people who have agreed to write strong, positive assessments on your behalf.

Preparing a resume involves skills highly valued in many jobs – neatness; the ability to organize, summarize and persuade; and most important, a sense of proportion. Employers are impressed with a resume that: a) looks good (conservative, tasteful, uncluttered*, balanced, on quality paper); b) reads easily and quickly (distinctive headings and subheadings; clear layout; sharp, unbroken letters; generous margins and spacing; punctuation; on one side of the paper only); c) is completely free of error (grammar, usage, spelling); d) provides information the

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employer needs for making an interviewing decision or discarding the one that does not meet these requirements.

Your final version can be duplicated for similar targets, but each new type of job requires a new resume that is tailored* to fit the advertised needs of that job and the organization to which you apply.

EXERCISES

3.Study the text and try to find answers to the following questions:

1.In which situations do you need a resume? 2. What function does the resume fulfill?

3.How long should a resume be and why? 4. What are its parts? 5. Which aspects of your background do you present on the resume? 6. Which sections are obligatory and which are optional? 7. What do you start your resume with? 8. Do you write the job objective to meet your own or employer’s needs? 9. What is the main principle for listing information on the resume?

10.What is the easiest part of the resume to adapt for different positions and why? 11. What is more important on a resume – its content or its visual design? 12. What qualities should a resume have to be effective?

4.Replace the words and phrases in italics by those from the text.

1.A resume is a paper which summarizes your qualifications for the job. 2. Employers usually spend less than a minute to glance briefly at a resume. 3. An entry-level applicant should cram everything into one page. 4. … your resume can amount to two pages, which is also appropriate. 5. As you design this section of your resume, carefully emphasize… 6. Include your GPA if it is really high. 7. These sections should not draw the attention away from the longer more significant ones. 8. …whether listing personal details will enhance your prospects for the job. 9. But most resumes today include none of these entries because such information is irrelevant. 10. Ask for references only from persons who know your work best. 11. The first alternative is usually best.

5.Look at the phrases and words below. Can you put them differently, through synonyms, antonyms, or definitions?

1.to scan resumes; 2. pertinent information; 3. entry-level applicant; 4. accomplishments;

5.to capitalize all the letters; 6. job requirements; 7. to earn a degree; 8. your major; your minor;

9.promotion; 10. willing to relocate; 11. a referee; 12. sense of proportion; 13. an interviewing decision.

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6.In your job search campaign, it is important that you collect all data about yourself and keep them organized into blocks. Here your Fact Sheet may help. Fill it out for yourself. You might need to include other sections (categories) to cover your experience.

A Fact Sheet is an all-inclusive record of facts about you, your accomplishments and background. It is a sort of database about yourself for your own use in class or at home. It will help construct your resume or customize it for each position and company you are applying for. Moreover, you can regularly update your Fact Sheet to keep track of your expanding professional experience. But you should use the information from your Fact Sheet selectively and cut out the details of no interest. Your personal Fact Sheet is not an official document, so there is no special form for it, but a possible one is given in Appendix 2, Fig. 1.

7.Have a look at the sample resume layout in Appendix 2, Figs. 2a,b–4a,b and try to analyze it.

a)Answer the questions:

How long should a resume be? Is a resume a structured document? What categories (or sections) does it contain? Are they similar to those of your Fact Sheet? How does your Fact Sheet differ from your resume? Which categories are obligatory and which are optional? What types of emphasis are used and how many? Is large amount of white space also a type of emphasis?

b)Visual design is very important for the readability of a document. Effective visual design of a resume implies hierarchical organization of its categories and subcategories. To understand it more clearly, draw vertical lines to connect the first letters of the categories, subcategories and the descriptive information on the sample resumes in Appendix 2, Figs. 2a–4a. Use a ruler.

8.The first category you start compiling your resume with is the HEADER.

You do not need to begin your resume with the word “Resume” because most employers know what resumes look like. If they do not identify it as such, the label will not help. The only exception is the header “Confidential Resume”. This should be placed on every page if you want to keep your career plans secret because you are concerned that you will be dismissed as soon as your present employer learns about your job search efforts. The HEADER on a resume should consist of your name, address, and telephone number (both home and business / office) arranged so that the reader could easily pick up information about you.

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Consider two basic patterns to write the Header: a) Center all the information in a column, like this:

Patricia D. Jensen

6025 Willowdale Road, apt. 713 Chicago, Illinois 60651

(321) 555-6666 (home)

(321)555-5555 (office or business)

b)Center only the name, all other information lining up like this:

Patricia D. Jensen

9.Write the HEADER to your resume following one of the above patterns. Use the information from your personal Fact Sheet.

10.The use of the SUMMARY or RESUME CAPSULE section is optional and mainly used by candidates with more than five years of experience. The summary should consist of two or three strong sentences, four at the most. Note that on the resume you should minimize the use of articles.

a) Study the summary / resume capsule paragraphs:

More than 9 years involvement in C++, SQL, MFC, and Java for Web site design and development. Programming both for internal requirements and external clients. Thoroughly experienced in graphic design, content, layout, and implementation. Proficient in (French).

Extensive background in financial analysis and accounting systems. Fourteen year’s experience as Mutual Fund Accountant for leading national corporations, also including nine year’s experience in bookkeeping. Accomplishments in all positions are substantiated by rapid salary growth.

Results-oriented Production Manager with proven ability for creative effort. Broad background in concept design, client relations and logistics planning with management positions of increasing responsibility. Self-education through employment in different types of industries. Excellent verbal skills; strong in interpersonal relations.

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Twenty five year’s experience as Industrial Foreman, with high production efficiency, superior mechanical ability, leadership. Currently as Foreman responsible for hiring and supervising employees, training operators, establishing working hours and shifts. Excellent record in labor relations.

b)Write down every skill, responsibility, job duty, or any achievements or capabilities you have that would demonstrate or suggest that you can do the job better than anyone else. Cut down your list to five or six points. Combine those that are similar in function. Be brief and choose your words carefully.

c)Write the SUMMARY / RESUME CAPSULE paragraph for your resume focusing on the length, extent or type of your experience, areas of expertise or specializations, positions previously held or currently holding, responsibilities, your skills or abilities, type of institutions you worked for, etc.

Model:

St. 1: Network specialist with extensive experience in installing, customizing, and upgrading all major applications and system packages, object-oriented modeling and design.

St. 2: Fifteen years’ public relations experience in multi-division corporation. Direct experience included financial and product publicity; business and technical articles and speeches; shareholder* and employee relations. Supervised department and directed successful efforts of public relations and advertising agencies.

11. JOB OBJECTIVE lets a reader know what position interests you.

It briefly describes the type of work you seek, the type of place you want to work at, the type of clients you want to work with. It may contain a phrase about a specific interest area or your willingness to advance in the organization. If not, say nothing. If you have several quite different career options, you might want to design a different resume for each job description, rather than writing a job objective that takes in too much space.

a) Analyze the following job objectives focusing on the aspects mentioned. Identify its parts. Work in pairs. Trade roles.

Model:

St. 1: Objective: Customer relations for a hospitality chain, eventually leading to market management.

St. 2: Subject area, type of organization, long-term professional goal.

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