27 Jun IDS

Your Job Ad, Resume, and Cover Letter

Overview

For this Discussion Board, youll post three things: 

1.  the screenshot of a job ad (or internship)  that you feel might be a good match for your interests, skills, and experiences.
2. Your new resume —

   (1) Applying the advice from your own list of three DOs and three DONTs for building a resume. You can use other advice as well!

   (2) And designed to make it easy for the reader to see how your skills and experience are a good match for the job ad you found.

3. Your cover letter, tailored to match your skills and experience to the job ad

Step 1

Find a job ad for a job that you feel might be a good match for your interests, skills, and experiences. Take a screenshot of the ad to include with your submission for this assignment. 

Not sure where to find a job ad? Check out open jobs on the webpage. Interested or curious about non-profit jobs? Check out Idealist.org.

Step 2

Using the advice from your own Resume Dos and Don’ts from your own (or someone elses) post (Week 7 Discussion Board), write your complete and polished resume.

Advice for people who already have a resume: Don’t just drag out the old version and make minor changes. Because while doing so might save you time and intellectual effort on this assignment, it won’t help you to think deeply about your choices. A resume is a living document that should be deeply revised — not just when you add a job or academic degree but whenever you learn new and better ways to present yourself. Don’t miss this opportunity.

Step 3

Step 3. Using the advice from your Recommended Cover Letter Resources Guide from last weeks assignment, write a cover letter that assembles and explains your skills, experiences, attributes, and interests in such a way that they tell the reader a story of how well matched you are for the job posted in the ad you found. This is harder than it might sound. Allow yourself at least two hours to work on the letter. 

There is no word count requirement for your initial post or peer responses for this Week 8 Discussion Board post.

Always read the point distribution and word count specification (if there is one) for discussion board posts — this distribution may be different for later Discussion Board posts assignments.

Heres how youll be assessed on this assignment: 

• Content: Did you follow all parts of the instructions:
  
  • Satisfy the minimum word count? 
  • Is your submission thorough and complete?  (10 points)
• Quality: Does your post seem to indicate effort? Does it seem like you proofread? If the instructions ask you to make connections, do you? (4 points)
• Peer Responses: Do you make quality comments on your peers’ posts, paying attention to instructions about commenting? (6 points)

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