Reading Job Descriptions

[syllabus] [calendar]

The purpose of today's lecture and activity is to emphasize how to rhetorically develop employment documents for a specific audience. As a result, you will use this opportunity to look specifically at the corporation that you will be applying to.

Before Class

• Research for a job description that you are or will be qualified for; bring a hardcopy of a sample Job Description.

During Class

Task #1

As an individual, address the following questions in the body of an email addressed to the instructor and yourself. You will have twenty-five minutes to answers these questions.

1. Explain what the job ad tells you about the company or organization.  Look at 1) what the employers say about the company's or organization's goals, and 2) what they value in their prospective employees. 
   
   
2. Explain what the job ad explicitly tells you that the company or organization expects from the applicant.  Look at 1) the qualifications (i.e., expertise, skills, degree) the company asks for, and 2) the qualities they seek in their prospective employees.
   
   
3. What instructions are clearly stated for the applicant in terms of submitting employment documents or contacting the company? (Please write these out)
   
   
4. What information or instructions do you feel is missing from this job ad? In other words, what were you expecting to be in this job description that was not there? Or is there some thing that you are confused about that the description does not help clarify?

Task #2

In the groups listed below...

• share with your peers what you learned from analyzing your job description.
• look for strong similarities and differences between the various job description from your group.
• based upon these similarities and differences, develop at least three statements of advice about responding to job ads; remember this is based upon what you have learned from looking at the job descriptions.
• write these statements of advise in the body of an email and send it to the class.