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St. 3: Objective: To analyze and solve problems involving natural and pollution control systems as an Environmental Engineer.

St. 4: Job functions, subject area, position.

1)A full-time position in electrical engineering with emphasis on designing new equipment in automation and micro-processing.

2)Full-time position as a layout artist with commercial publishing house.

3)Full-time position assisting dentist in providing dental health care and counseling; especially interested in performing preventive dental treatments.

4)Full-time position with large real estate office in the Boston area with specific opportunities in real estate appraisals and tax counseling.

5)A summer position providing technical and marketing support of computers and their related products for business clients.

6)Full-time position with urban police force eventually allowing me to gain experience in correcting counseling.

7)Management trainee in personnel department providing opportunity for professional growth and advancement in insurance counseling.

8)Full-time position as staff nurse on medical-surgical unit with opportunity for team nursing.

9)A position with management potential in the system software area in a technically advanced environment.

10)Receptionist position in attorney’s office answering phones, taking messages, and greeting clients.

11)Intensive-care nursing in a teaching hospital with eventual goal of supervising and instructing.

12)Seeking corporate position where my expertise in editorial design will be employed in communications media for both external and internal circulation.

13)Entry-level position as a dietitian in a hospital, willing to relocate.

14)A full-time position as a programmer writing programs under UNIX and WNT.

15)Chemist with responsibility in product development and production. Willing to travel.

16)To obtain an editorial internship with a magazine.

b)An objective like “I want me be me – a creative individual” is useless for your prospective employer because it says nothing about your specific career goals. Say what is wrong with the following career objective statements. Use the words: vague, meaningless, too confining, catchall, too generalized or detailed, practical, etc. Remember that on the resume you should minimize the use of articles. Work in pairs. Trade roles.

Model:

St. 1: Job in a pediatrician’s office.

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St. 2: I think it’s too generalized and does not state the type of job you seek and its functions. An applicant either lacks direction or is unsure* of what his / her career goals are.

1)Position with a promotion emphasis.

2)Am looking for entry position in business offering me training and rewards based on my potential.

3)Want a job working with older people.

4)Desire a good-paying job, hours 9–18, with double pay for extra time. Would like to stay in the Buckhead area.

5)Full-time position with social security chain.

6)Computer operator with large financial institution.

7)Job in health sciences with an emphasis on working with preschoolers.

8)Want a job working with electric circuits.

9)Job in environmental sciences with fast promotion rate.

10)I want a career in fashion with fast promotion rate.

11)Any position for qualified inspector.

12)Want a career in large office.

13)To gain an internship where I can learn new skills, and use and develop my own ones.

12.Do you know how to construct a job objective statement? There are two basic patterns to do that. Note that on the resume you usually minimize the use of articles and auxiliaries.

I.If you choose to use a job title in your job objective statement, you may either simply state that job title (e.g. Senior Laboratory Technician), or use the infinitive before the job title (e.g. (To) be employed as / (To) seek employment as / (To) function as / (To) serve as

Senior Laboratory Technician).

II.If you want to use the words position, employment, career, appointment in your job objective statement, you may either make a phrase with these words (e.g. Position of / as

(a)driver), start your objective with the word seeking (e.g. Seeking a position as (a) driver), or use the infinitive phrases (e.g. (To) obtain / (To) secure a position of/as / internship with…; (To) secure employment as …; (To) be appointed …; (To) hold (an) appointment as …; (To) pursue / (To) continue (a) career of … (e.g. To secure a position of banker / as (a) banker).

a)Make transformations as in the model:

Model:

Investment Analyst – (To) serve as Investment Analyst – (To) be employed as Investment Analyst –– (To) seek employment as Investment Analyst – (To) function as Investment Analyst.

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The phrases to be used: Chief Administrator of rural general hospital; Airline Reservationist Cashier in a large retail store; Dietitian in (a) resort hotel or motel; Assistant Manager with (a) dinner-trade continental restaurant; Office Clerk to (a) New York industrial firm; Senior Editor with publisher of technical texts; Legal Assistant with a large consulting law firm; Medical Director in a large corporation.

b) Make transformations as in the model:

Model:

Entry-level management position … – Seeking entry-level management position … – (To) obtain / secure entry-level management position …

The phrases to be used: Entry-level position in the field of Management with preference in Marketing; Full-time employment as clerk-typist or typist receptionist in Boston firm; Appointment on teaching staff of small private institution in rural area; (A) position as Senior Editor with publisher of high-school texts; (A) career as Medical Director in (a) large corporation; (A) position in personnel with a salary commensurate with the opportunities afforded; Senior sales or marketing position with major software vendor; (A) public relations position managing publications, publicity, and special events.

c)Using the transformations in a) and b), write a statement of objective for your present (past or prospective) position.

d)Working together as a group, evaluate the job objectives made by your classmates in c) as realistic, precise, clear, concise, practical, flexible, or open-ended*, vague, meaningless, catchall, too generalized, etc.

13.On your resume, you cannot simply state that you are a great candidate for the position; instead, you should show your qualifications through identifying your relevant educational background, length of practical work in the area, skills within and outside your career area, etc. For example, when applying for a multi-national corporation, you might benefit from mentioning fluency in speaking foreign languages.

a)From Appendix 1 pick up a job ad for a position you qualify or want to apply. Match the requirements for that position and your qualifications as in the model:

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Model:

St. 1: In the Education section, mention specialized education; then, in the Activities section, state membership in professional organizations for a few years; and finally, in the Honors and Rewards section, identify professional awards.

St. 2: In the functionally organized Employment section, put down the relevant skills developed at previous related jobs.

c)Now, working in pairs, continue with the same activity for the other job ads.

14.Assume you are Personnel Director screening applicants. What specific qualifications would you require regarding their education, experience, age, physical ability, appearance, special skills, personality traits, attitude, outside interests, etc?

Text 2

15.Answer the questions before reading the text: 1. Does the resume get you a job or only a chance to come to the interview? 2. What should a resume contain to attract the employer’s attention?

16.Read the text. Is there a universal resume format? Or are there only guides you should follow?

RESUME TYPES AND TECHNIQUES

There is no single “right” way to design or organize your resume. The type you write depends on what you want, so stylistic preferences can vary greatly. If you are applying for a particular job, your resume should stress those qualifications that relate to that job. This is a brief resume. But sometimes you might want to know if there are any jobs that match your abilities, or if a business or institution needs someone with your skills. In this case you need to write a detailed resume, the one you write to fit your own needs. A detailed resume includes the same sections as a brief one, but while you write it, focus on your special interests and hobbies; places you have traveled, studied or worked; any special skills and achievements that you have obtained during your working career. Arrange these so that the employer will quickly see what you can do, generally by putting them immediately after the header.

Designing a resume is not a mechanical process but implies much thinking because you should organize facts about yourself in such a way that they could meet the requirements of the particular context or situation. An effective resume within one context may be a complete failure

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within another. So it is context that dictates selection and use of material. Here, four basic techniques may help.

Traditionally organized resume emphasizes your academic background and job history. Resumes should be organized in descending order, with the most recent, important or impressive information coming first. So the order of the two categories – education and experience – can vary. Whether you put your education or your job experience first depends on which will make a stronger impression on a prospective employer. If job experience is your best selling point, list it before education, but list education first if you are short of experience. This is usually applicable to entry-level people who enter the professional job market directly from college and have stronger academic credentials than work experience. Listing education before work experience emphasizes their current knowledge in the field. Exceptions to this might be students who have gained professional experience through summer or part-time jobs related to their professional area.

An experienced professional has both academic credentials and substantial job experience. Such people often place their job experience before education, particularly if their experience relates directly to the desired position. However, people changing careers may choose to place their education first, especially if their academic background relates more closely to the new position than their recent jobs.

Chronological technique organizes facts either in reverse or direct chronological order. This format effectively shows continuous employment and steady expansion of responsibility, and is best if your job experience has led logically toward the job you seek. One disadvantage of this format is that significant experiences in your background will not be highlighted unless they are recent. Moreover, this format is not particularly useful and appropriate for entry-level people who have little professional experience, and for people who have had breaks in their employment or have held a series of jobs for short periods of time. This is because chronological organization merely stresses what some employers might consider undesirable qualities.

The functional technique emphasizes the specific professional skills you have developed in your experience and organizes them into blocks. This approach works best if you wish to emphasize the skills and strengths you have developed in your career, rather than specific jobs you have had. Unlike the traditional resume, the functional resume ignores historical sequence and stresses skills and abilities regardless of where they were developed or demonstrated. Sometimes the skills built over time may be the best argument for your being considered for a position. The functional format is most useful to career changers and those with a considerable amount of diverse experience, often in widely differing fields. However, you may want to follow the functionally organized section with a brief employment history because most potential employers want to know where and when you worked. In case a position held may require different functions (e.g., Professor who delivers lectures, does research, and supervises graduate students), it is wise to include first your professional experience presented in functional categories, and then a job history that summarizes job titles, employers and dates.

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Organizational resumes stress the name or type of organizations. These resumes can be used by people who have worked for well-known and respected organizations though they may have had unimpressive job titles or have worked for short periods of time. This form of presenting professional experience emphasizes the companies while giving less attention to the status of a job itself. Separating the organizations a person has worked for into categories may highlight the variety and breadth of the person’s professional background.

A curriculum vitae (c.v.) is a comprehensive biographical statement emphasizing professional qualifications and activities. A c.v. consists mostly of lists: publications, research, grants, honors, awards, presentations, fellowships, consultations, workshop, etc. It is typically much longer than a business resume, and is used primarily by job applicants in fields like academics and consulting; as a supporting document with a grant or contract funding proposal; as a part of a periodic review by an employer; as part of application for membership in a professional society or organization; as part of an application to a graduate school; or as a background statement for an introduction at an important presentation. A typical c.v. begins like a typical resume with the following sections: a) The Header. It is also common to include the month the c.v. was last updated on the first page. b) Educational Background (degree, date, institution, area). c) Employment Experience (or History) – title, department within the organization, organization, date. The last two sections follow the format of the reverse chronological resume.

It is advisable to never submit a c.v. instead of a resume, unless specifically asked for one. Once you have interested them enough with your resume, they will probably ask you to fill in an “employment application” form that will list all of your past jobs, just like a c.v. (For a sample c.v. structure see Appendix 2, Fig. 5).

Whatever the resume techniques, however, design the pattern that best demonstrates your strengths within a particular situation. But avoid applying for positions for which you are either overqualified or underqualified, for you will only waste the employer’s time by applying.

EXERCISES

17.Go through the text again and answer the following questions:

1.How many resume types are discussed in this text? 2. How many techniques to write a resume are described? 3. What governs the process of writing (or designing, composing, compiling, constructing) a resume? 4. Which category goes first for an entry-level candidate and which for an experienced one? 5. Which technique emphasizes specific professional skills?

6.What does an organizational resume highlight? 7. What is a curriculum vitae and how does it differ from a resume?

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18.Discuss the questions below:

1.Why do you think the visual design of a resume is as important as its content? 2. What are they motivated by? 3. How many resumes during your life do you think you will write and why? 4. How does the resume differ from an autobiography, a company’s application form, your Fact Sheet or your school / college transcript? 5. How can you emphasize a piece of information on the resume? 6. How many visual emphasis techniques can you use on one resume and why?

7.Can different resume techniques (traditional, functional, chronological) be combined in designing a resume? 8. Do you write an objective to meet your own or employer’s needs? 9. Can you use a resume that is effective in one situation for another one? 10. Is there a fixed set of optional information on the resume and why? 11. What should you do to make your resume fit on one page or fill out a page? (Think of the use of margins, space between the lines, point type size, etc.) 12. Is there anything on the resume that could damage it? (Think of the main two parameters of the resume – its content and its visual design.)

19.What do you think these proverbs mean in the job hunt context?

1.Opportunity seldom knocks twice. 2. Practice makes perfect. 3. Self-praise is no recommendation. 4. Stretch your legs according to your coverlet. 5. When one door shuts, another opens. 6. Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse. 7. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. 8. All things are difficult before they are easy.

20.The order in which you present obligatory elements in a section depends on what you want to emphasize. Remember: information that comes first is always most prominent. Dates are often highlighted when given in bold at the end of the entry.

a) Which information is emphasized in these lines of the EDUCATION section?

SNorth Carolina University, Chapel Hill, NC; M.S. in Marine Sciences, 1998.

SBS in Mechanical Engineering, 1998. Stanford University, Stanford, CA.

SGeorgetown University, Washington, D.C., Division of Continuing Education, 77 credits of 130 required for BS in Business Law.

SContinuing Education Program, Virginia State University, Blacksburg, Virginia

SBS in Business Law expected in … (e.g. two years, June 20XX, etc.)

SElectrical Engineering, M.S. degree expected in April 20XX. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 1996 – present.

SPsychology, BA Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1996–1999.

SGeorgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 1996–1999. BS in Mechanical

Engineering.

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b)Working in pairs, discuss which order of elements would be most beneficial for your current position and why.

21.Using your personal Fact Sheets as a source of information, discuss which courses or training are relevant to your current position, and what other positions you may be qualified to take. Work together as a group or in pairs.

Your prospective employers are most interested in what you include beyond the obligatory details: specialized courses in your major that led directly to the job you seek; an impressive GPA (in the major, or during the senior year, etc.); relevant military education, or training provided by companies; academic honors; the skills you learned or acquired informally; exchange programs, etc. Extracurricular activities also go here.

Model:

St. 1: What courses in your training led directly to your current position?

St. 2: The course(s) in (subject or area). I took (number) hours in (subject or area), which prepared me for my present job.

St. 1: What other positions do you think you are qualified to take?

St. 2: I think I could take a position of … (in … area); or: I am qualified for a … (adj.) position with … (company).

22.Write an EDUCATION section on a resume for your current position.

23.Each individual listing in the EXPERIENCE (JOB HISTORY, EMPLOYMENT) section is often accompanied by a brief explanation of the job (or job description). Match the verbs in column A with the words in column B to form a verb phrase that describes job responsibilities.

Your prospective employers want to know what you actually did at your jobs. They are especially interested in your leadership abilities, financial shrewdness, maturity, responsibility, and tact in dealing with clients. So select strong action verbs and positive modifiers.

Model:

To provide technical support to customers.

To work with retail outlets in the Department.

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A

to interface with; to implement; to conduct; to supervise; to work with; to apply; to compile; to support; to provide; to control; to find and recruit; to develop; to ensure; to maintain.

B

retail outlets in the department; a department of 4–5 people; technological procedures; technical proposals for large telecom projects; the laboratory staff; new corporate clients; relations with customers; marketing activities; purchase of raw materials; administrative / secretarial support; quality control of materials and products; clients on continued maintenance*; marketing research; accounting software.

24.Sometimes you can write a job description as a noun phrase (see Appendix 2, Fig. 7). However, much more often it is a verb phrase.

a)A complete list of strong action verbs is given in Appendix 2, Fig. 6. Pick out 5–10 of them that can be useful for your job description.

b)Using those strong action verbs, make a list of verb phrases describing your job responsibilities.

You cannot just list every detail of your jobs for many years, so be selective and include your major accomplishments. Focus on a) the kind of documents you wrote or assisted in writing: articles, reports, papers, manuals, proposals; b) kinds of clients and how many you transacted with; c) technical skills you learned or practiced in doing the job; d) technical equipment you operated or supervised; e) money you were responsible for (a simple position may also involve real responsibility); f) personnel you supervised; g) services, programs or activities you participated in.

Model:

To write business letters, to organize files, to prepare schedules for part-time help, to assist the manager in preparing accounts.

25. Give a description of your responsibilities at your past, present, or prospective job.

Make sure you use the Active voice rather than Passive, parallel grammatical structures and consistent verb tenses: Past Simple to describe a completed job, Present Indefinite to describe your regular duties, Present Continuous to describe a continuing work. Provide a

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