Writing Resumes and Business Letters Created by Hunter Brown Summer 2013 Writing Resumes and Business Letters

Resumes “A resume is a structured summary of a person’s education, employment background, and job qualifications. Before you begin writing a resume, make sure you understand its true function—as a brief persuasive business message intended to stimulate an employer’s interest in meeting you and learning more about you. In other words, the purpose of a resume is not to get you a job but rather to get you an interview.”

Created by Hunter Brown Summer 2013 This is a sample combination resume. Created by Hunter Brown Summer 2013

Name and Contact Information Resumes should begin with the following contact information: Name Physical address Phone number(s) Email address URL of webpage (if you have one)

Introductory Statement The introductory statement can be structured in a number of ways: A career objective statement identifies either a specific job you want to land or a general career track you want to pursue. Avoid using unless you have no qualifications for, or employment background in, the career you are attempting to enter. A career summary offers a brief recap of your career. Use if you have a long work history. A qualifications summary offers a brief overview of your key qualifications. Use if you have a reasonably focused skill set but don’t yet have a long career history. John Smith has chosen to use a qualifications summary.

Education Section The education section is your strongest selling point if you are still in or freshly out of college. Starting with the most recent, list the name and location of each school you have attended, the month and year of your graduation (or “anticipated graduation in ___”), major and minor fields of study, significant skills and abilities developed, and degrees or certifications gained.

Employment Section In the employment section, starting with the most recent, list the name of each company or establishment in which you’ve worked, your position in the company, the name and location of the employer, and a brief description of the organization’s purpose (optional).

Employment Section Include all full- and part-time jobs and internships that are relevant to the position for which you’re applying. Also list military service, which is applicable to all jobs, and any bilingual or multilingual skills and experiences you have gained.

Employment Section Devote the most space to jobs that are directly related to your target position. John Smith is applying for an English teaching job, so he spends more time discussing his position as a Grammar Tutor than as a Piano Tutor.

Employment Section Notice that this applicant avoids using I and, instead, begins his bullet points with strong verbs.

Staying Polite and Emphasizing the Positive Business Letters Staying Polite and Emphasizing the Positive Try to maintain a courteous tone. Look for positive ways to relay negative news. When appropriate, use euphemisms—words or phrases that express a thought in milder terms: senior citizens for old people restructuring for laying off  

Staying Polite and Emphasizing the Positive   Change this: To this: You have once again failed to follow protocol. Let’s review company protocol and ensure that we are remaining compliant. After calling your firm multiple times without receiving the necessary information, we’re beginning to get frustrated. The successful completion of this project depends on information only your firm can provide—please send it to us at your earliest convenience. We won’t be able to fill your order until next week. Your order should be filled by the end of next week. In the meantime, help yourself to our free online samples.

Style and Tone Style is made up of your word choices, sentence structures, and paragraph organization. These stylistic choices create a certain tone. When writing business letters, you want to use a tone that is more professional than conversational, but without sounding stuffy.   Too Stuffy Professional Too Casual It has come to my attention that your efforts to stimulate company growth have met with considerably less success than initially anticipated. I just learned that your plan for improving workflow is falling short of expectations. So I found out that your big plan is basically failing. Ya’ll have really let the ball drop.

Improving Readability Be generous with “white space,” a term referring to blank areas, such as margins, indents, and horizontal spaces between paragraphs. These white spaces make documents easier on the eyes. Your letter should be centered vertically (but not horizontally) on the page. If you need to add extra white space to center the letter, adjust the number of lines between the date and the inside address only.      Centered Vertically Vertically Unbalanced 1 blank line July 11, 2013 Ms. Gambling 5050 Chance Blvd. Wetumpka, OK 3 blank lines

This is a sample business letter with letterhead. Date   Inside address Salutation Body Complimentary close Signature block

This is the same business letter without letterhead. Heading Date   Inside address Salutation Body Complimentary close Signature block

Standard Letter Parts Heading When letterhead stationary is unavailable, the heading should include a return address (without a name) and should start 13 lines from the top of the page, leaving a 2-inch top margin.   2. Date Place the date at least one blank line beneath the lowest part of the letterhead. If letterhead is unavailable, place the date directly below the return address. Standard date format includes the full name of the month, followed by the day, a comma, and then the year: August 31, 2012.     

Standard Letter Parts 3. Inside Address   3. Inside Address The inside address identifies the recipient of the letter. Precede the recipient’s name with a courtesy title such as Mr., Ms., or Dr. For businesswomen, the generally accepted business title is Ms. There are many personal, professional, and governmental titles, so do the necessary research to ensure that you use the correct one.    4. Salutation If the first line of the inside address is a person’s name, the salutation should be Dear Mr. or Ms. Name, followed by a colon.  

Standard Letter Parts 5. Body Single-space the body of your letter, and insert one blank line after the salutation, between paragraphs, and before the complimentary close.   6. Complimentary close Try to stick to one-word closings such as Sincerely or Cordially. 7. Signature Block To leave space for a written signature, insert three blank lines below the complimentary close, and then include the sender’s name.  

References Bovee, Courtland L., and John V. Thill. Business Communication Today. 11th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.