ENGLISH FOR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION LEARNING UNIT 3 (Week 3 & 4) MARKETING YOURSELF TO PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYERS

LEARNING OUTCOMES At the end of this unit, students should be able to: use the simple past tense and adjectives use specific words and phrases to write a resume write a resume ask and answer questions on one’s resume

What’s a Resume? A formal summary of a person’s academic and work background (if any) The first contact the potential employer has with YOU, the applicant Have you heard of the expression ‘first impression matters’?

Why a Resume? A resume is the first contact a potential employer has with you. It has your photo, your credentials, your career objective How you project yourself should be reflected in that clean, error-free and professional-looking resume

So how does a Resume look like? It should be clear, clean, neat, error-free and appealing Arrange the content in this order: 1. according to level of importance and relevance  the most recent and most important points SHOULD be highlighted first 2. according to the most related facts (to that particular post you are applying for)

Fonts Most commonly used font type: Times New Roman or Georgia Tahoma, Arial or Verdana Size: 10-12 points for the body 12-14 points for the heading

Bullets and Columns Are acceptable but they need to be presented in a professional way neat and tidy. Remember, a resume should be professional looking and written in a standard and consistent format.

Indented or justified Texts must be on the left Avoid justifying

Checklist Turn to page 14

The Format Name, address, other contact information Objective (in a sentence what you can contribute/do for your employer Highest level of education Work experience Leadership activities/societies Honours/awards Skills Personal qualities References SEE SAMPLE RESUME 1 ON PAGE 15

1. The Career Objective Must be convincing Must be able to inform the employer about 1. what you can do 2. the scope of your expertise 3. how you can contribute and benefit the organisation

The career objective can (1) begin with an infinitive ‘to’ – go back to Sample Resume 1 “To build a career in IT with a major computer manufacturer that allows personal growth and provides opportunities to experience new challenges”

Guide to writing a convincing career objective statement To apply my knowledge in Communic-ation and Marketing with a major TV station that provides challenging oppoportunities for career advancement and persnal growth

Writing the career objective statement goal Try coming up with one career objective relevant to your field To apply… To seek… To build… To develop… (you may refer to Activity 1 on page 20)

The career objective can (2) begin with a noun Writing your career objective with a noun highlights your skills or experiences to match the job requirements TURN TO PAGE 18 AND 19 FOR MORE SAMPLES AND COMPLETE EXERCISE 2

2. Educational Background Provide your educational background immediately after your Career Objective Degree Area of specialisation Expected date of graduation For this course we will use the Double Column This includes

Single column or Double Column? For EPC we shall use the Double Column ‘divide’ the page into 2 parts Write your educational background on the left followed by the year obtained on the right Follow through with the rest of the information which follows such as work experience, and societies and activities

Turn to page 20 Now draft your educational information

3. Work Experience You may include any information related to past work experiences, no matter how small or trivial it may seem to you Internships, industrial training, part-time or volunteer work should be included Do not forget to list down the specific tasks you did and also skills you acquired

Work Experience-cont. Turn to page 23 for examples Follow the two-column format and include the : 1. month and year - Write in a descending order 2. specific name of the position you held, the name of the company/ organisation and 3. location/place Turn to page 23 for examples

LANGUAGE FOCUS Turn to page 24 for a list of vivid and meaningful verbs to use when describing your past working experiences

4a. Leadership in Societies/ Clubs/Activities Participations in the university’s clubs/societies or activities should also be given focus Turn to page 26 and complete Exercise 7 Analyse how possible posts held at the university are written. Some of you might have been/are holding similar post(s)

4b. Other Activities Any other involvement in extra curricular activities or even assignment requirements are also worth mentioning/listing in your Resume Turn to page 27 for a list of possible responsibilities and/activities What other verbs can you add to the list?

5. Essential Skills for Work-place Communication Use of verb, noun phrase or adjectives in highlighting your Communication Skills People-related Skills Field- Specific Skills IT Literacy Skills Turn to page 28-29. highlight the verb, noun phrase and adjectives

Go to page 30-31 Be consistent Let’s try to do Exercise 9

6. Personal Qualities How important is it to highlight personal qualities? What are your positive traits which you should highlight in your resume? Jot them down. Go through the note on page 33

7. References Who? Why Your lecturer 2. Your internship (Industrial Training/LI) supervisor * Do not forget to ask for permission/inform them that you’re putting their names as your referees

Turn to page 35 Work with a partner to continue with drafting your resume. Go through Steps 1-7 with your partner(s) Refer to Resumes 1, 2 and 3 as samples/guides.