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

2. 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

3. 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’?

4. 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

5. 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)

6. 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

7. 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.

8. Indented or justified
Texts must be on the left
Avoid justifying

9. Checklist
Turn to page 14

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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”

13. 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

14. 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)

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Turn to page 20
Now draft your educational information

19. 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

20. 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

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

22. 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)

23. 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?

24. 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 highlight the verb, noun phrase and adjectives

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

26. 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

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

28. 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.