English 420: Business Writing

The articles I read were "Junk Cover Letters Kill Good Resumes" and "Kairos and the Cover Letter". Both were very interesting articles that made me want to re-do my cover letter in a lot of ways. They mention not to be afraid to include the person's name you are contacting in your cover letter so as to make it a more personal and interactive situation. I never would have thought of something like that and think that is a very good idea. In the second article, I learned about the different kinds of approaches you can use to best suit your cover letter.

The two articles I chose to read were "Build the Resume Employers Want" and "How to Apply Online and Get an Employer's Attention." Both articles related to the employer's perspective of resumes. Particularly in "Build the Resume Employers Want," it was entertaining to read the pet peeves of prominent job recruiters.

I read the articles, Answering 6 Common Interview Questions and Kairos and the Cover Letter. I found both to be very informative on their topics. Answering 6 Common Interview Questions gives examples of how we can better prepare ourselves for questions that are important in deciding whether or not the applicant gets the job. After reading Kairos and the Cover Letter, I learned that it is not just the sentences that convey a message to the reader, but also the tone of the letter. They used four specific approaches that people tend to overuse, resulting in a weak cover letter.

The articles I read were “A Glimpse and a Hook” and “Build the Resume Employers Want”. Both articles had good, valid information that anybody could use, but the most useful information came from the first article. In this article the author talks about the different sections he reads and focuses on. He goes through his progression in looking at the resume, and talks about when he looks at each section. This was very helpful because he talks about how there are parts of the resume that are more or less just fluff.

I read the articles “Junk Cover Letters Kill Good Resumes” and “How to Apply Online and Get an Employer’s Attention.” I was surprised to read in the first article that a significant portion of cover letters do not even get read. This makes it even more discouraging to spend large amounts of time writing cover letters, but it is still a necessary part of most job applications. Although I found their tips very helpful, the one that said “write in layman’s terms” or a conversational tone seemed questionable to me.

The first article I read was "Build the Resume Employer's Want." I thought it was interesting because they took three different professionals who read resumes and all of them differed in what their first glance was while reading resumes. One thing they all did look at quickly was education, major, and GPA. Until reading this article I never realized how important it was to list job related skills on a resume. In the article they also said not to list activities unless they are relevant which I thought was interesting.

There was a lot of information I learned between the two articles. The first article I read was “Build the Resume Employers Want.” The first thing which jumped out at me was how different employers viewed different aspects of the resume. Some employers would first look at the education and the GPA while others would look at work experience first. This showed me to be a strong candidate for any job it was important to have a looking resume in both sections.

Junk Cover Letters and Resumes – According to the reading that I did, approximately 40% of cover letters are not read, meaning that the resume must get the job done itself. A general cover letter can ruin any effort to obtain a job. If the cover letter is made to be sent to multiple companies, it will make the task of finding a job a terrible experience. Although many aren’t read it is still important to send a cover letter, proving that you are professional and do have a message to get across.

Build Resume Employers Want-

Since I began developing my first resume for this class, I have been told different opinions by different people about where sections of the resume should be placed and what should be displayed in these sections. I've been trying to sort through the opinions and find the right balance. This being the first resume I have ever assembled, I found it very difficult to figure out where everything needs to be placed so that I have the best chance possible to gain the attention of the employer.