ENGL 420: Business Writing

While I was reading this document I was just assuming that the author had written these things for a reason, that someone had done these things. I understand that some people may want to impress with some nice paper for their resume but I agree that it's unnecessary. If i were an employer looking at a resume on a high-gloss, cardstockish piece of paper I would automatically assume that this person already has plenty of money and doens't need the job I have to offer.

The articles this week were not Chuck Palahinuick novels by any means, but I got through them and took away some valuable information. Creating a concise cover letter that sales my abilities the best is quite a challenge. First, it must be written to a cynical person who has zero time to even consider me. Second, the format is pretty important here as well as the resume. The eye needs to be able to pick out the key points easily, and rambling isn't a good idea. It is important to find the name of a person that will be reading the cover letter and not just "To Whom It May Concern".

I feel that the paper “Junk Cover Letters Kill Good Resumes” was a great paper for the class to read. It added a lot of information on the subject of why you should focus just as much if not more on your cover letter than you do on your resume. The first point brought up in the article is the fact that about 40% of cover letters are never even read. The reason for this is that the cover letter is not made special for that situation which makes the reader not care for the letter, just as the writer apparently did not care for the reader.

After reading the article Junk Cover Letters..I realized the significance of the cover letter. I always dismissed the idea of cover letters because they had never really been emphasized in any of my previous courses. I figured even if you did include a cover letter the company was more likely to toss it aside and simply look at your resume. However, after reading this article I realized that the cover letter is the first impression the company gets from you and how good or bad it is can determine if your resume even gets a glance.

Before reading the article Junk Cover Letters Kill Good Resumes, I was unaware of the impact a well written, or poor written for that matter, cover letter has on your resume. I assumed that the actual resume determines whether or not you get called for the interview. After reading through the article, it makes sense that an employer would not waste his time reading a bland and uninformative cover letter and then pay close attention to the resume; if he actually reads it in the first place.

After reading "Junk Cover Letters Kill Good Resumes" I have figured out that that isn't a template for cover letters. You can't just write one cover letter and just change the address and name for it to work. When I was working on my cover letter I asked my roommate to see his. I was reading it and seeing what he did for a guide. Then I tried to do what he did, then realized it isn't revelant to my job, so I changed it a lot. I've never really used cover letters before in my life so I'm still trying to find that perfect template for me, even though there is no such thing.

All the readings we were assigned this week have really helped me in writing my resume and cover letter. The OWL website has given me so many tips in how to make my resume perfect. The user-centered cover letter document helped me know exactly what I need to put in my own cover letter. I was pretty clueless on how to write my cover letter so it was very helpful having all these readings.

I thought that the reading on Evaluating your resumes design was very useful. It gave a lot of helpful hints to my resume. It gave tests that I can do myself for a better resume that will really "wow" the employer. Overall, I think that this has been the most beneficial reading we have had thus far.

As I write this reading response I am currently very sick and am under the influence of Vicodin. So unfortunately I can't really remember what I read. However I vaguely remember reading about all the different views on how a cover letter should look. Essentially what I am starting to note is the 'perfect cover letter' is impossible to obtain. Every person has a very different opinion on nit picky things that should be either included or omitted from a cover letter. They even differ on which paragraph you should include pertinent information.

I feel that the reading for this week and the project we have been working on have both been extremley beneficial for me. First, because the SMEF career fair was this week and the readings gave me good tips and ideas for improving my resume and writing cover letters, and second because the project has forced me to work on my resume and make sure that it is done well and done right. The reading about the cover letters was especially significant to me because it shows that your resume , cover letter, and entire application process is only as good as its weekest part.