lesson

1. Communication for
Employment: Writing a Resume

2. What is resume?
• A resume (or “CV” outside of the US) is a formal document that
provides an overview of your professional qualifications, including
your relevant work experience, skills, education, and notable
accomplishments. Usually paired with a cover letter, a resume helps
you demonstrate your abilities and convince employers you’re
qualified and hireable.
• The spelling of resume originates from French, and means
“summary.” To this day, the purpose of a resume is still to provide
employers with a summary of your relevant qualifications. If you’re
applying for a job, you need at least a resume to be considered for
the position.

3. What is the purpose of resume?
• The purpose of a resume is to show employers you’re qualified for a
position and convince them to offer you an interview.
• Many job seekers wrongly assume their resume should provide a full
overview of their professional history.
• Instead, think of your resume as an advertisement of yourself. Your
resume should only emphasize your most relevant experience and
skills, and highlight your most notable strengths and
accomplishments.
• If your resume quickly makes your ability to handle the work clear to
hiring managers, you’ll catch their attention and get more interviews.

4. Your resume should include:
• Contact Details: when writing your contact information on your resume,
include your first and last name, phone number, and email address.
Additionally, you can add your LinkedIn profile. List your city if you want to
show you live near where the company is located.
• Introduction: a concise overview of your professional background and key
qualifications. Your introduction can be in the form of a resume
summary or resume objective.
• Education: Your resume’s education section can include your school
name(s), highest degree earned, majors and minors. Additionally, you
can add your GPA, Dean’s list (if you’ve been on it), and relevant
coursework if you lack experience or it’s related to the position.

5. • Experience: list any relevant work experience you have. Include your
title, the company you worked for, years worked, and bullet
points outlining your key responsibilities and
notable accomplishments.
• Skills: include skills on your resume that are relevant to the position.
Be sure to use a strong mix of hard skills and soft skills to
demonstrate that you’re a well-rounded candidate.

6. Types of Resume:
• Chronological Resume:
A chronological resume opens with an introduction, and then provides
an overview of your professional history in reverse-chronological order
(meaning your most recently held position is listed at the top).
The chronological resume format is the most common type of resume
used by job seekers today, and is suitable for candidates with various
experience levels.

7. Example:

8. • Functional Resume:
A functional resume is formatted to focus on your skills and abilities
rather than your career progression. It’s preferred by professionals who
want to draw attention away from their traditional work experience,
such as those who are changing careers or have significant gaps in their
work history.

9. Example:

10. • Targeted resume:
A targeted resume is a resume you write with a specific position in
mind.
Use this format to clearly highlight the skills and experience you have
related to the position — writing each part of your resume in a way
that best emphasizes your necessary qualifications.

11. • Combination Resume:
A combination resume is a format that combines aspects of a
functional resume and a chronological resume.
While a chronological resume focuses heavily on experience and a
functional resume emphasizes skills, a combination resume typically
balances both work history and skills equally to demonstrate your
qualifications.
Combination resumes are ideal for candidates who have extensive
experience or a highly developed set of skills that they want to
showcase.

12. Example:

13. Why resume is important?
• Your resume is an essential part of the hiring process and the base
requirement to be considered for a position.
• A good resume is the first part of your application any hiring manager
will see, so it’s important that it conveys your qualifications accurately
and convincingly.
• Your resume should offer employers a quick overview of your relevant
skills, employment history, education background, and
accomplishments. Based on this information, they can make an
informed decision about whether or not they want to interview or
hire you.

14. Communication for
Employment: Writing a Cover
Letter

15. What is a cover letter?
• A cover letter is a one-page document that you include with your
resume as part of your application for a job. A good cover letter grabs
a Hiring Manager’s attention and gets you to the next step of the
hiring process.
• While every job you apply for will have either a specific application
form or will ask for a resume, not everyone will ask for a cover
letter. But you should always include one – it’s a game changer.
• The upshot is that a resume is a summary of your work and
education experience, while your cover letter adds relevant context
to that experience for the specific job.

16. • A cover letter is tailored to a specific job you’re applying for, and it
highlights what your qualifications are and how they relate to that
role and company. You can use it to give examples of how your
experiences relate to the role and show how you’re the best person
for the job.
• Just as its name implies, a cover letter is written in a letter format,
including a greeting, three or four body paragraphs, and a closing.
Unlike a resume, your cover letter should be written in full sentences,
and you want to use the first-person – “I’m writing to you today to…”.

17. What to include in a cover letter?
• A header – This is where you’re going to include all the contact
info the hiring manager is going to expect to see. You want to be sure
to give them what theyère looking for.
• Opening statement – You can get right to it here and make sure this is
an attention grabber. Summarize your skills or experience and give
them one good reason why it’s important for the job you’re applying
to.
• Body – This paragraph should give some more details about you
personally. Employers often hire someone for who they are, not what
they know; this is your time to show them you’d be a great fit on their
team.

18. • Closing and Call to Action – You want to close your cover
letter with a thanks for the time they’ve taken and a professional
sign-off. You should also let them know you’re eager to hear
from them, and let them know to contact you to follow up.

19. Cover Letter: Format and Layout
• A hiring manager takes about 7.4 seconds to look at each resume that
comes across their desk, and there may be hundreds of those. A
strong cover letter design can grab their attention long enough for
them to set you into the callback pile instead of in the recycling bin.
1. Font- Always use a standard, easy-to-read font like Times New
Roman or Arial.
2. Heading – Always use a professional format of heading, which
includes your name and contact info, the date of writing, and the
contact info for the person you’re writing to.

20. • Spacing – You want to single space the body of your cover letter, but
leave spaces between the heading, the greeting, each paragraph, and
your sign-off.
• Length – We know that it’s tempting to try to fit in as much as
possible in the cover letter, but this is definitely a case of less is
more. You want the content to be about half a page, so shoot for
between 250-400 words.
• Put simply, it’s your chance to make a great first impression. It’s a tool
you use to grab a hiring manager’s attention long enough that they
look over your resume a bit closer and call you in for an interview.