Project Description

The purpose of this project is to develop your strategies for research and response in the context of a job search. For this project you will find a corporation or an organization that you would like to apply to as an employee, intern, or for a co-op. Then you will develop a series of documents that are typically used to represent oneself to a prospective employer.

Because there is a possibility that you may be seeking employment both in the United Stated, as well as abroad, each of you will be required to consider audiences inside and outside the American borders. Each document you write will have to show evidence that it has been drafted with context, media, and audience in mind. You will also be required to write several documents that describe the research that you have done and explain the decisions that you have made.

Project Goals

• develop strategies to address various audiences and specific contexts
• develop strategies for researching appropriate employment opportunities
• understand how various medias influence one's rhetorical strategies
• understand the document design principles of employment documents
• plan and manage a short-term writing project in terms of drafting, designing, revising, and editing
  documents

Job Description Rationale (JDR)

Research

In this deliverable you will research two possible companies or organizations in which you seriously consider submitting employment documents to. To stick with the goals of the course, one of these potential employers has to be within the United States, while the other has to be outside of the United States.

Additionally, since not all countries have the same expectations for the format of a resume, you will be expected to do research about the conventions or formatting rules other countries place on their resumes.

• In PWOnline, use Career and Job Recourses
• Corporate Information
• USJobs.com -- contains job listings and company profiles
• NACCBjobs.com -- focuses on high-tech jobs & companies
• Engineering News Record -- links to a variety of general contractors
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
• Headstart Express -- focuses on British companies
• Monster.com -- Provides listings for both the US and outside the US.
• Overseasjobs.com -- "the leading source of information about international jobs"

As you look through these sites create of pool of four to six potential employers. For each possible employer, create a profile of the company that includes the following information...

• keywords associated with the company*
• geographical location
• company size
• benefits and promotion opportunities
• the company's goals or mission statement*
• employee/company relationships
• employee/employee relationships
• the company's policies*
• the company's history

  * this information can be found by looking at the companies mission statement or recent publications (e.g., press releases, speeches, advertisements)

This research is important because it helps you make an informed decision whether this corporation or organization fits your employment goals; it is unwise to take a job where you will be unhappy. Also this information will give you a clearer sense of who the audience of the your employment documents will be. As a result, you can draft your employment documents specifically to a company or organization by demonstrating to this audience how you can help them fulfill their goals.

Once you have chosen the American and the international corporation or organization that you will be applying to, you will want to learn how the corporation or organization expects to learn about their their prospective employees. 1) Look to see if the company asks for a resume, 2) Look to see if the company asks you to fill out an application, 3) Find out what the guidelines and rules are for writing resume to a specific international audience. To do this research, you should consider...

• emailing the Human Resource officer at the overseas company or organization that you are interested in,
• going to the library,
• doing web research (look at resume sites and the government page of the respective country),
• going to the CCO,

Memo

Once you have chosen your potential audiences for your documents, you will draft a 750-1000 word memo. The purpose of this memo is to 1) prove to yourself (and the instructor) that the employment opportunities that you chose are viable options, 2) develop an understanding of your audience for your employment documents 3) demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical features of the types of documents you will draft. The following "parts" are a recommendation for organizing your memo, but you are encouraged to organize the memo in any way that feel is rhetorically appropriate as long as the content listed below is present.

In the first part of the memo, you need to choose one American job and one international job; then develop an argument for both jobs that you are qualified for these job. Therefore, you will need to...

• summarize with details the qualifications that each employer is seeking in its applicants,
• explain how you match these expected qualification for each job; it will be most useful to you to list specific courses, projects, experiences, or activities that you have done that exemplify how you meet these qualifications.

In the second part of the memo, provide a detailed description of each prospective employer and develop strategies for responding appropriately to each employer. Therefore, you will need to...

• use the profile that you developed for these employers to draft a detailed description of each prospective employer; in addition to the details that you feel are most important, you should address the corporation's or organization's current goals or values.
• based upon this description of your audience, explain how you will approach each prospective employer; talk about what information that you will emphasize or de-emphasize with a rationale for your decisions.

In the third part of the memo, look at the guidelines and rules for each type of document that you will have to use to send information about yourself (i.e., American print resume, print resume for a specific country, application), and determine what the document allows your prospective employer to learn about you and what information does it not allow you to share. Therefore, you will need to...

• analyze a template of each document type that you will have to write for the prospective employers, looking specifically at the information that the document allows you to convey to the prospective employer, as well as the information that it does not allow you to articulate about yourself. Think about...
  
  • why the employer needs/wants this information, especially as opposed to other information
  • how does the purpose of the document (i.e., an efficient and effective overview of a prospective employee) influence the information requested
  • whether the information requested is appropriate or not; think culturally.
• looking at how the qualifications that you articulated in the first part and the strategies that you developed for addressing your audience in the second part, explain how the structure of the document will help and hinder how you develop the argument that you are the best employer for the position.

Include an appendix that includes...

• an exact copy of both job descriptions,
• a copy of the application, if applicable
• a document that shows the guidelines or rules for a resume written for another country. This document can be a web page, an email response from the prospective employer, a handout, an article, or another appropriate document (see instructor).

For the appendices, take screen shots of the information and insert the information into a MS Word document, or copy and paste the information into an MS Word document and reformat the information to make it look neat and readable.

Submitting the memo

Submit the memo in to the instructor as an MS Word attachment before class on January 29, 2002.

Grading Criteria

For this deliverable, you need to

• develop viable arguments showing that you are qualified for the position
• develop detailed profiles of each corporation or organization as an audience
• demonstrate an understanding of how document's guidelines and rules facilitate the document's purposes,
• effectively discuss how the writing strategies that you will use to respond to the specific audience, and the document's guidelines and rules,
• provide the reader with a brief, yet specific details that effectively exemplify the point you are making,
• follow the conventions of a memo

General Resume

A general resume can be described as a resume that covers every course, experience, and activity that you have participated in since the beginning of your college career (or in some circumstances, prior to college). The general resume is a good starting point for beginning the process of composing employment documents. Yet, you, like most prospective employees, will enter the job market with certain specializations, as well as many qualifications for many different jobs. As a result, the general print resume does a poor job at emphasizing the qualifications that are necessary for a certain job.

In this class, we will start with the general print resume and then modify it for a different media and for a specific writing context.

Writing the Resume

• Use the template in PWOnline to draft a general resume
• Bring in an electronic copy of your general resume on January 29, 2002.

Web Resume

The web resume uses the media of the internet to enhance a general print resume by giving your audience the opportunity to learn more about the work you have done, the experiences that you have had and the organizations that you have associated with. Because a web resume is intended to be viewed by multiple audiences, it tends to be more general.

Start with your general resume. Transfers the information into an HTML document. Modify the resume for the web using the following strategies:

• design the resume to take advantage of the media, but also to be read efficiently and effectively
• create links to projects that you have done (that are Internet accessible)
• create links to schools, academic programs, classes that you have experienced or currently experiencing
• create links to corporation or organization that you have worked or volunteered for.

Submitting the web resume

In the body of the email to the instructor...

• submit the URL of the web resume
• write a 250 word explanation of the rhetorical choices that you made. In other words, explain how you feel that the modification that you made will influence your audience.

Submit this email by January 31, 2002.

Grading Criteria

For this deliverable, you need to...

• develop a resume that demonstrates you are an employable individual,
• demonstrate an understanding of WWW as a media for conveying your employment information,
• demonstrate an understanding of document design for the WWW,
• provide viable and detailed explanations about specific rhetorical decisions that you made,
• follow the conventions of a web resume
• make sure both documents are error-free, concise, and written in a readable format

Print Resume & Cover Letter

Once you have decided the American and international corporation and organization that you are going to submit employment documents to, you will...

• choose one of the two jobs, preferably the one that you have a genuine interest in applying to.
• read through the sections in PWOnline about employment documents, paying attention to
  the ways that each document--resume and cover letter--helps or hinders the way information is accessed, received, and reviewed.
• write these documents as if you were applying for this job right now; do not pad your documents with false information or information about experiences that you anticipate having before you graduate.

Resume

• start with the profile that you developed for the the corporation or organization you have chosen; then look at your general resume and develop strategies for modifying it for the audience that this this profile describes. Think about...
  
  • what information to add
  • what information to delete
  • what information to emphasize
  • what information to de-emphasize;
  • how to emphasize or de-emphasize this information

• draft a print resume based upon the strategies that you developed above. Make sure that this resume acknowledges both the specific audience and a specific position. Also make sure the resume complies to the format of print resume.

Cover Letter

• read though your print resume and think about what information that you want this prospective employer to know more about that you are not able to articulate well because of the strict format of a print resume. Develop strategies for conveying this information in the cover letter.
• draft a cover letter that
  • demonstrates your interest in this corporation,
  • demonstrates your interest in this specific job,
  • develops a viable argument that you qualified for the position by including information that could not be conveyed sufficiently in the resume,
  • attempts to make you stand out above the other applicants,
  • provides appropriate contact information,
  • follows the format of a cover letter

Grading Criteria

For these deliverables, you need to

• make informed decisions about which type of resume is more applicable for which audience
• develop an argument that you are qualified for the position., or the most qualified person for the position
• demonstrate an understanding of your intended audience
• demonstrate that each document has been written to an intended audience
• make the resume and cover letter work together
• use rhetorically sound design strategies for a print resume and a cover letter
• make sure both documents are error-free, concise, and written in a readable format

Rhetorical Analysis Memo

The purpose of this deliverable is to give you, the writer, an opportunity to explain to the instructor how all of the deliverables in the portfolio work together and explain the rhetorical decisions that you made while composing the final drafts of the documents. This 500-700 word memo, will be placed on top of the revisions that you made to the other documents you are submitting. The content of this memo should include, in no prescribed order, the following:

• the URL of your web resume.
• an explanation to the instructor about the rhetorical decisions that you made when revising the web resume, the print resume and the cover letter. You may want to use this opportunity to respond to instructor's feedback on your drafts of these documents; however your explanations should go beyond "I changed this because you told me to." If you agree or disagree with the instructor, explain why using rhetorical principles.
• a discussion about what you would do differently if you were writing the memo for a different context. More specifically, if you chose your American position, explain what you would do to write these documents for the specific international audience that you chose. Or if you chose your international position, explain what you would do to write these documents for an American audience. Again use rhetorical principles to guide your discussion.
• a reflection about what you specifically need to do to better position yourself for this job between now and when you graduate.

Grading Criteria

For this deliverable, you need to

• demonstrate that you can articulate the decisions that you made while revising the series of documents for this project
• demonstrate that you understood your audience of these documents
• demonstrate that you understand how these documents would change if they were written for another context
• explain how this series of documents works together
• follow the conventions of a memo

Last Updated 2.10.02