Don’t post a résumé on any public website unless you understand its privacy and security policies.

websites, so verify this information and follow it carefully. Beyond that, here are some general distribution tips:

■Mailing printed résumés. Take some care with the packaging. Spend a few extra cents to mail these documents in a flat 9 × 12 envelope, or better yet, use a Priority Mail flat-rate envelope, which gives you a sturdy cardboard mailer and faster delivery for just a few more dollars.

■Emailing your résumé. Some employers want applicants to include the text of their résumés in the body of an email message; others prefer an attached Microsoft Word or PDF file. If you have a reference number or a job ad number, include it in the subject line of your email message.

■Submitting your résumé to an employer’s website. Many employers, including most large companies, now prefer or require applicants to submit their résumés online. In some instances, you will be asked to upload a complete file. In others, you will need to copy and paste sections of your résumé into individual boxes in an online application form.

■Posting your résumé on job websites. You can post your résumé on general-purpose job websites such as Monster (http://home.monster.com and http://college.monster

.com) and CareerBuilder (www.careerbuilder.com), on more specialized websites such as Jobster (www.jobster.com) or Jobfox (www.jobfox.com), or with staffing services such as Volt (http://jobs.volt.com). Roughly 100,000 job boards are now online, so you’ll

need to spend some time looking for sites that specialize in your target industries, regions, or professions.41 Before you upload your résumé to any site, however, learn about its privacy protection. Some sites allow you to specify levels of confidentiality, such as letting employers search your qualifications without seeing your personal contact information or preventing your current employer from seeing your résumé. Don’t post your résumé to any website that doesn’t give you the option of restricting the display of your

contact information. Only employers that are registered clients of the service should be able to see your contact information.42

Forthelatestinformationonrésuméwritinganddistribution,visithttp://real-timeupdates

.com/bce6 and click on Chapter 13.

1 OBJECTIVE List eight key steps to finding the ideal opportunity in today’s job market.

The eight steps discussed in this chapter are (1) writing the story of you, which involves describing where you have been in your career so far and where you would like to go in the future; (2) learning to think like an employer so you can present yourself as a quality hire; (3) researching industries and companies of interest to identify promising opportunities

and to learn the language of the hiring managers; (4) translating your general potential into a specific solution for each employer so that you look like a good fit for each opening;

(5) taking the initiative to approach interesting companies even if they haven’t yet posted any job openings; (6) building your network so you and your connections can help each other in the job search process; (7) seeking career counseling if appropriate; and (8) avoiding the easily avoidable mistakes that can ruin your chances of getting a job.

2 OBJECTIVE Explain the process of planning your résumé, including how to choose the best résumé organization.

Planning a résumé starts with recognizing what it is: a persuasive message designed to get you job interviews. Gathering the necessary information involves learning about target industries, professions, companies, and specific positions, as well as gathering information about yourself. Choosing the best résumé organization depends on your background and your goals. A chronological résumé helps employers easily locate necessary information, highlights your professional growth and career progress, and emphasizes continuity and stability. If you can use the chronological format, you should because it is the approach employers tend to prefer. A functional résumé helps employers easily see what you can do for them, allows you to emphasize earlier job experience, and lets you downplay any lengthy periods of unemployment or a lack of career progress. However, many employers are suspicious of functional résumés for this very reason. The combination approach uses the best features of the other two and is often the best choice for recent graduates.

3 OBJECTIVE Describe the tasks involved in writing your résumé, and list the sections to consider including in your résumé.

Adapting to the audience is crucial, because readers are looking to see how well you understand their businesses and can present a solution to their talent needs. The major sections to consider including in your résumé are (1) your name and contact information; (2) an introductory statement, which can be a career objective, a qualifications summary, or a career summary; (3) your education; (4) your work experience; and (5) activities and achievements that are professionally relevant. Most résumés do not need to include any personal data.

4. Why is it important to find and use relevant keywords in your résumé? [LO-3]

Apply Your Knowledge

To review chapter content related to each question, refer to the indicated Learning Objective.

1.If you were a team leader at a summer camp for children with special needs, should you include this in your employment history if you are applying for work that is

unrelated? Explain your answer. [LO-3]

2. Can you use a qualifications summary if you don’t yet have extensive professional experience in your desired career? Why or why not? [LO-3]

3.Some people don’t have a clear career path when they enter the job market. If you’re in this situation, how would your uncertainty affect the way your write your résumé? [LO-3]

4.Between your sophomore and junior years, you quit school for a year to earn the money to finish college. You worked as a loan-processing assistant in a finance company, checking references on loan applications, typing, and filing. Your manager made a lot of the fact that he had never attended college. He seemed to resent you for pursuing your education, but he never criticized your work, so you thought you were doing okay. After you’d been working there for six months, he fired you, saying that you had failed to be thorough enough in your credit checks. You were actually glad to leave, and you found another job right away, at a bank doing similar duties. Now that you’ve graduated from college, you’re writing your résumé. Will you include the finance company job in your work history? Explain. [LO-3]

4 OBJECTIVE Characterize the completing step for résumés, including the six most common formats in which you can produce a résumé.

Quality is paramount with résumés, so the tasks of revising and proofing are particularly important. The six common résumé formats are traditional printed résumé, scannable résumé, electronic plain-text file, Microsoft Word file, PDF, and online résumé (which might be called a personal webpage, an e-portfolio, or a social media résumé).

Test Your Knowledge

To review chapter content related to each question, refer to the indicated Learning Objective.

1. Why is networking an essential part of your lifelong career planning? [LO-1]

2. What is the purpose of a résumé? [LO-2]

3. Why do most employers prefer chronological résumés over functional résumés? [LO-2]

Practice Your Skills

Activities

Active links for all websites in this chapter can be found on MyBCommLab; see your User Guide for instructions on accessing the content for this chapter. Each activity is labeled according to the primary skill or skills you will need to use. To review relevant chapter content, you can refer to the indicated Learning Objective. In some instances, supporting information will be found in another chapter, as indicated.

1.Career Management: Researching Career Opportunities [LO-1] Based on the preferences you identified in the self-assessment in the Prologue (see page xxvii) and the academic, professional, and personal qualities you have to offer, perform an online search for a career opportunity that matches your interests and qualifications (starting with any of the websites listed in Table 13.1). Draft a one-page report indicating how the career

378 Unit 5: Employment Messages and Job Interviews

you select and the job openings you find match your strengths and preferences.

2.Message Strategies: Planning a Résumé [LO-2]

Identify a position in an interesting career field that you could potentially be qualified for upon graduation. Using at least three different sources, including the description in an online job posting, create a list of 10 keywords that should be included in a résumé customized

for this positioning.

3. Message Strategies: Writing a Résumé [LO-3] Rewrite this résumé so that it follows the guidelines presented in this chapter.

Sylvia Manchester

765 Belle Fleur Blvd.

New Orleans, LA 70113

(504) 312-9504

smanchester@rcnmail.com

PERSONAL: Single, excellent health, 5’7”, 136 lbs.; hobbies include cooking, dancing, and reading.

JOB OBJECTIVE: To obtain a responsible position in marketing or sales with a good company.

EDUCATION: BA degree in biology, University of Louisiana, 1998. Graduated with a 3.0 average. Member of the varsity cheerleading squad. President of Panhellenic League. Homecoming queen.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Fisher Scientific Instruments, 2004 to now, field sales representative. Responsible for calling on customers and explaining the features of Fisher’s line of laboratory instruments. Also responsible for writing sales letters, attending trade shows, and preparing weekly sales reports.

Fisher Scientific Instruments, 2001–2003, customer service representative. Was responsible for handling incoming phone calls from customers who had questions about delivery, quality, or operation of Fisher’s line of laboratory instruments. Also handled miscellaneous correspondence with customers.

Medical Electronics, Inc., 1998–2001, administrative assistant to the vice president of marketing. In addition to handling typical secretarial chores for the vice president of marketing, I was in charge of compiling the monthly sales reports, using figures provided by members of the field sales force. I also was given responsibility for doing various market research activities.

New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, 1995– 1998, summers, tour guide. During the summers of my college years, I led tours of New Orleans for tourists visiting the city. My duties included greeting conventioneers and their spouses at hotels, explaining the history and features of the city during an all-day sightseeing tour, and answering questions about New Orleans

and its attractions. During my fourth summer with the bureau, I was asked to help train the new tour guides. I prepared a handbook that provided interesting facts about the various tourist attractions, as well as answers to the most commonly asked tourist questions. The Bureau was so impressed with the handbook they had it printed up so that it could be given as a gift to visitors.

University of Louisiana, 1995–1998, part-time clerk in admissions office. While I was a student in college, I worked 15 hours a week in the admissions office. My duties included filing, processing applications, and handling correspondence with high school students and administrators.

4. Message Strategies: Writing a Résumé; Collaboration: Team Projects [LO-3], Chapter 2 Working with another student, change the following statements to make them more effective for a résumé by using action verbs and concrete keywords.

a.Have some experience with database design.

b.Assigned to a project to analyze the cost accounting methods for a large manufacturer.

c.I was part of a team that developed a new inventory control system.

d.Am responsible for preparing the quarterly department budget.

e.Was a manager of a department with seven employees working for me.

f.Was responsible for developing a spreadsheet to analyze monthly sales by department.

g.Put in place a new program for ordering supplies.

5. Message Strategies: Writing a Résumé [LO-3] Using your team’s answers to Activity 4, make the statements stronger by quantifying them (make up any numbers you need).

6.Message Strategies: Writing a Résumé; Communication Ethics: Resolving Ethical Dilemmas [LO-3],

Chapter 1 Assume that you achieved all the tasks shown in Activity 4, not as an individual employee but as part of a work team. In your résumé, must you mention other team members? Explain your answer.

Expand Your Skills

Critique the Professionals

Locate an example of an online résumé (a sample or an actual résumé). Try Monster (www.monster.com) and VisualCV (www.visualcv.com), among other sites. Analyze the résumé following the guidelines presented in this chapter. Using whatever medium your instructor requests, write a brief analysis (no more than one page) of the résumé’s strengths and weaknesses, citing specific elements from the résumé and support from the chapter. If you are analyzing a real résumé, do not include any personally identifiable data, such as the person’s name, email address, or phone number, in your report.

Sharpen Your Career Skills Online

Bovée and Thill’s Business Communication Web Search, at http://websearch.businesscommunicationnetwork.com, is a unique research tool designed specifically for business communication research. Use the Web Search function to

CASES

Learn how to get started on Facebook. Visit http://real-timeupdates

.com/bce6, click on “Student Assignments” and then click on “Facebook Screencast.”

CAREER SKILLS / EMAIL SKILLS

1. Career Planning: Researching Career Opportunities [LO-1] Knowing the jargon and “hot button” issues in a particular profession or industry can give you a big advantage when it comes to writing your résumé and participating in job interviews. You can fine-tune your résumé for both human readers and applicant tracking systems, sound more confident and informed in interviews, and present yourself as a professionalclass individual with an inquiring mind.

Your task Imagine a specific job category in a company that has an informative, comprehensive website (to facilitate the research you’ll need to do). This doesn’t have to be a current job opening, but a position you know exists or is likely to exist in this company, such as a business systems analyst at Apple or a brand manager at Unilever.

Explore the company’s website and other online sources to find the following: (1) a brief description of what this job entails, with enough detail that you could describe it to a fellow student;

(2) some of the terminology used in the profession or industry, both formal terms that might serve as keywords on your résumé and informal terms and phrases that insiders are likely to use in publications and conversations;. (3) an ongoing online conversation among people in this profession, such as a LinkedIn Group, a popular industry or professional blog that seems to get quite a few comments, or an industry or professional publication that attracts a lot of comments; and (4) at least one significant issue that will affect people in this profession or companies in this industry over the next few years. For example, if your chosen profession involves accounting in a publicly traded corporation, upcoming changes in international financial reporting standards would be a significant issue. Similarly, for a company in the consumer electronics industry, the recycling and disposal of e-waste is an issue. Write a brief email message summarizing your findings and explaining how you could use this information on your résumé and during job interviews.

CAREER SKILLS / TEAM SKILLS

find a website, video, PDF document, podcast, or presentation that offers advice on creating effective online résumés. Write a brief email message to your instructor or a post for your class blog, describing the item that you found and summarizing the career skills information you learned from it.

employment history section on your résumé can sometimes be a challenge to write. A brainstorming session with your wise and creative classmates could help.

Your task In a team assigned by your instructor, help each other evaluate your employment histories and figure out the best way to present your work backgrounds on a résumé. First, each member of the team should compile his or her work history, including freelance projects and volunteer work if relevant, and share this information with the team. After allowing some time for everyone to review each other’s information, meet as a team (in person if you can, or online otherwise). Discuss each person’s history, pointing out strong spots and weak spots, and then brainstorm the best way to present each person’s employment history.

Note: If there are aspects of your employment history you would rather not share with your teammates, substitute a reasonably similar experience of the same duration.

CAREER SKILLS / TEAM SKILLS

3. Writing a Résumé [LO-3] The introductory statement of a résumé requires some careful thought, both in deciding which of the three types of introductory statement (see page 365) to use and what information to include in it. Getting another person’s perspective on this communication challenge can be helpful. In this activity, in fact, someone else is going to write your introductory statement for you, and you will return the favor.

Your task Pair off with a classmate. Provide each other with the basic facts about your qualifications, work history, education, and career objectives. Then meet in person or online for an informal interview, in which you ask each other questions to flesh out the information you have on each other. Assume that each of you has chosen to use a qualifications summary for your résumé. Now write each other’s qualifications summary and then trade them for review. As you read what your partner wrote about you, ask yourself if this feels true to what you believe about yourself and your career aspirations. Do you think it introduces you effectively to potential employers? What might you change about it?

PRESENTATION SKILLS / PORTFOLIO BUILDER

4. Message Strategies: Completing a Résumé [LO-4] Creating presentations and other multimedia supplements can be a great way to expand on the brief overview that a résumé provides.

2. Planning a Résumé [LO-2] If you haven’t begun your professional career yet or you are pursuing a career change, the

Your task Starting with any version of a résumé you’ve created for yourself, create a PowerPoint presentation that expands

380 Unit 5: Employment Messages and Job Interviews

on your résumé information to give potential employers a more complete picture of what you can contribute. Include samples of your work, testimonials from current or past employers and colleagues, videos of speeches you’ve made, and anything else that tells the story of the professional “you.” If you have a specific job or type of job in mind, focus your presentation on that. Otherwise, present a more general picture that shows why you would be a great employee for any company to consider. Be sure to review the information from Chapter 14 about creating professional-quality presentations.

Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics,

and Usage

You can download the text of this assignment from http:// real-timeupdates.com/bce6; click on Student Assignments and then click on Chapter 13. Improve Your Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage.

Level 1: Self-Assessment—Numbers

Review Section 3.4 in the Handbook of Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage and then complete the following 15 items.

For items 1–15, correct number styles wherever necessary.

1.We need to hire one office manager, four bookkeepers, and twelve clerk-typists.

2.The market for this product is nearly six million people in our region alone.

3.Make sure that all 1835 pages are on my desk no later than nine o’clock a.m.

4.2004 was the year that José Guiterez sold more than $50 thousand dollars worth of stock.

5.Our deadline is 4/7, but we won’t be ready before 4/11.

6.95 percent of our customers are men.

7.More than 1/2 the U.S. population is female.

8.Cecile Simmons, thirty-eight, is the first woman in this company to be promoted to management.

9.Last year, I wrote 20 15-page reports, and Michelle wrote 24 three-page reports.

10.Of the 15 applicants, seven are qualified.

11.Our blinds should measure 38 inches wide by 64 and one-half inches long by 7/16 inches deep.

12.Deliver the couch to seven eighty-three Fountain Rd., Suite three, Procter Valley, CA 92074.

13.Here are the corrected figures: 42.7% agree, 23.25% disagree, 34% are undecided, and the error is .05%

14.You have to agree that 50,000,000 U.S. citizens cannot be wrong.

15.We need a set of shelves 10 feet, eight inches long.

Level 2: Workplace Applications

The following items may contain errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, abbreviation, number style, word division, and vocabulary. Rewrite each sentence, correcting all errors. If a sentence has no errors, write “Correct” for that number.

1.Speaking at a recent software conference Alan Nichols; ceo of Tekco Systems; said the companys’ goal is to reduce response time to 2 to 4 hrs., using software as an enabler.

2.Selling stocks short are the latest rage on wall street, where lately things have just gone from bad to worst.

3.As Electronic Commerce grows people are trying to find new ways to make money off of it.

4.We give a notification not only to the customer but also our salespeople that the product has been shipped because they will want to follow up.

5.When deciding between these various suppliers, we found that each of them offer both advantages and also disadvantages.

6.I found the book, “Marketing is Easy, Selling is Hard,” for three different prices on the Internet: $14, $13.25, and $12.00.

7.United Agra Products, a distributor of fertilizers and seeds, in transmission of customer orders over it’s private network faced the possibility of serious bottlenecks.

8.The answers you receive on your questionnaire, are influenced by the types of question you ask, the way they are asked, and your subjects cultural and language background.

9.The creation of hazardous by products, like silver in film processing, require us to collect our used chemicals for disposal at a hazardous-waste-facility.

10.As a source of ingredients for our products, we try to establish relationships with small cooperative or farming communities - often in developing countries– because, we believe that the best way to improve peoples’ lives is to give them a chance at self reliance.

11.A entrepreneur really should never be in any organization that get’s so big that it looses intimacy.

12.Racecar Driver Eddie Cheever, is founder of Aleanza Marketing Group, a seven-person company that handles $10 million dollars in sponsorship campaigns for Cheevers’ team Red Bull Cheever Racing.

13.Over the last six years, Business Cluster Development have started 13 technology related incubators, that they call ‘business clusters.’

14.In an interview, Gary Hoover said “When I dreamed up Bookstop, we asked people, “If there was a bookstore that carried a huge selection of books and had them all at discount prices, would you go there”? and we got a lot of yawns”.

15.The chief attraction of vending machines are their convenience, they are open 24 hours a day, on the other hand, vending machine prices are no bargain.

Level 3: Document Critique

The following document may contain errors in grammar, capitalization, punctuation, abbreviation, number style, word division, and vocabulary. As your instructor indicates, photocopy this page and correct all errors using standard proofreading marks (see Appendix C) or download the document and make the corrections in your word processing software.