Marketing Yourself in Employment Communications
Due Date: Due to the assignment dropbox (upload both Word and PDF documents) on the date listed in the course schedule.
Purpose[1]: The purpose of this assignment is to create a professional resume to market yourself to a prospective employer. It is recommended for you to create your own template, though you may use one of the templates in Microsoft Word (or other word processing programs with templates – avoid Canva).
Note: A word of caution about templates. Templates tend to be really frustrating to work with from a formatting standpoint. In addition, templates begin to all look the same to an employer because so many people use the exact same ones, which removes the “uniqueness.” I’d recommend creating your own template, but it needs to be professional. Feel free to look at template ideas and then create your own; they’re much easier to work with.
Skills: You will learn a multitude of skills from this assignment for marketing yourself to an employer.
- Marketing and selling your key attributes and experiences.
- Demonstrating key attributes and experiences in brief, specific, active verb starting statements.
- Resume formatting and design.
- Seeking guidance from a career consultant and applying feedback to create a better product.
Knowledge: Creating a resume can be a long process, and one of the best starting points is brainstorming all the experience you have had in a single working document. The Resume Prep Worksheet (attached to the assignment) is a nice tool to help you begin to brainstorm your experiences. Oftentimes, you will find that you have had more experiences than you thought. In addition, understanding how to display and demonstrate experience is an art to this process. You must think deeper, and bigger picture. For example, if you worked in retail as a cashier, instead of saying, “worked in retail as a cashier,” think, how many dollars of inventory did you handle or sell daily? Maybe your statement should instead be, “Sold over $15,000 worth of merchandise on a weekly basis.” Think more about how you’re translating your experiences to your selected career field.
Aftermath: My goal is that after this class, you will have a professional resume that you are proud of that will be helpful to you in obtaining a job or internship immediately, and/or can serve as a good starting point for continuing to build upon as you continue in your education and prepare for applying for jobs or internships in the future. Remember, creating a resume is the first step. Maintaining a resume is a lifelong process. As a UCO student, you have access to career development resources while you’re in school, and even after you graduate and become at UCO alum. Learning how to utilize those resources are helpful to you now and will continue to serve you well into the future.
Task: You will create a professional resume for the job that you identified from the job posting you used for your cover letter.
Required: Your resume must meet the following specifications (use the boxes as a checklist!).
- No longer than 1-page, 10–12-point font, 0.5-1-inch margins, using one of the following fonts: Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Cambria, Georgia, Garamond, or Avenir Next.
- Your resume must be a reverse chronological resume (not a functional resume).
- At a minimum, your resume must contain all of the following components: Contact Information, Education, Experience (e.g., work, volunteer, etc.), and an “Added Value” section (more info to follow below).
- At a minimum, the Contact Information header at the top of the resume must include: Name, Permanent Address, Phone Number, Email (professional).
- At a minimum, the Education section must include: Degree(s) earned/anticipated (including the specific degree name and major), institution(s) and location(s) – city, state from which the degree(s) were earned, date the degree(s) were completed (or expected graduation dates – month, year), GPA.
- At a minimum, the Experience section must include at least two (2) experiences with the following information: Job title, name of the organization, location (city, state), dates of employment (month, year), at least three (3) bulleted statements under each experience that begin with proper action verbs and specifics to reflect the skills desired by the employer (e.g., Led a team of 10 trainers; Sold $1,500 worth of merchandise on a weekly basis).
- “Added Value” section: Your resume can benefit from adding other sections/subsections, such as relevant coursework, awards/certificates/achievements, volunteer activities/community involvement, leadership activities, language/computer/technical skills. Title your “Added Value” section however you see fit, but make sure it makes sense for the content included within the section (and do not call it, “Added Value”). Include only pertinent information.
- No more than three (3) different font formats throughout your resume, and any changes should be consistent throughout (e.g., Bold, Bold Italics, Italics, Regular, Underline, etc.).
- Your resume must have proper grammar, mechanics, and formatting.
Do Not Include: The following information should never be included in a professional resume.
- Objective statement (this has been superseded by a cover letter and is not necessary).
- High school information (trump anything that was from high school, including a degree).
- Personally, identifiable information (i.e., gender, race, ethnicity, photograph, hobbies, religion, etc.) – this information, if included, may open you up to discrimination in the hiring process.
- Graphics or images.
- References or the statement, “References available upon request.”
Other Considerations and Resources: Remember, a shorter resume is not better, and neither is a longer one, necessarily. Do you want me to hire you? Show me why. Cutting corners on this assignment will show me why I would absolutuely not hire you. And you never know, there just might be an employer who contacts me looking for a candidate—I may even be that very employer. Approach this opportunity with that in mind, because it certainly happens!
- UCO Resume & Cover Letter Guide (also includes samples of action verbs).
Note: Do NOT include an objective statement, even though the example shows you otherwise.
- O*NET OnLine (this is a helpful tool for looking up sample occupations and getting a feel for experiences desired, skills necessary, etc. as you’re brainstorming ways to display experience).
Criteria: Please see the attached rubric.
Rubric
| Level 5: Great “A” | Level 4: Good “B” | Level 3: Fair “C” | Level 2: Poor “D” | Level 1: Unsatisfactory “F” | ||
| The resume is exactly 1-page. | All or nothing. | /5 | ||||
| The resume is in reverse chronological order. | All or nothing. | /5 | ||||
| Resume is typed using an approved font style, 10-12 point, with 0.5-1-inch margins. | All or nothing. | /5 | ||||
| Contact Information Section | Heading is professional, easy to read, and includes full name, permanent and/or local address, email address (professional), and phone number. Name is formatted in a larger or bolder font to draw attention to it. Formatting is appropriate. | Heading is mostly professional and includes most, if not all, pertinent contact information. Email address may be personal instead of professional. Name may not stand out at the top of the résumé. Formatting is mostly appropriate. | Heading is partially professional and includes most, if not all, pertinent contact information. Email address is personal instead of professional. Name does not stand out at the top of the résumé. Formatting is somewhat distracting to the reader. | Heading is missing one or more of the required pieces of contact information. Email address may be inappropriate. Formatting is distracting to the reader. | Heading is missing more than one of the required pieces of contact information. | /10 |
| Education Section | Education section is well laid out and complete. It includes the institution, location (city, state), degree, major, date of completion (or expected), and GPA. The full name of the degree and major are written properly. Section may include study abroad experiences, academic honors/awards, and relevant courses. | Education section includes most, if not all, of the required information. Section is mostly organized. There may be some slight adjustments needed to the way information is displayed to make it more clear and professional. An abbreviation for the name of the degree may be used instead of the full name of the degree or the institution may be listed without a location. | Education section includes much of the required information. Section is slightly disorganized, making it difficult to read. Section may be missing 1 of the required components. An abbreviation for the name of the degree may be used instead of the full name of the degree. Institution may be listed without a location. | Education section is incomplete and disorganized to the point of distraction. Section is missing 2-3 of the required components. Name of institution may be missing. Major may be listed without a degree. Graduation date may have been omitted. | Education section is incomplete and disorganized to the point of distraction. Section is missing more than 3 of the required components. | /15 |
| Experience Section | Experience section is well organized and contains at least two (2) experiences. Descriptions intentionally reflect the skills desired by the employer and include details including the name of the organization, location, title, and dates of employment. Bullet points are used to break up text into concise phrases that begin with action words in the appropriate tense with at least three (3) bullets under each experience. Descriptions explain skills developed. Results are quantified. | Experience section is mostly organized and contains at least two (2) experiences. Descriptions mostly reflect the skills desired by the employer and include details including the name of the organization, location, title, and dates of employment. Bullet points are mostly used to break up text into concise phrases that begin with action words in the appropriate tense with at least three (3) bullets under each experience. Descriptions mostly explain skills developed. Results are mostly quantified. | Experience section needs improvement. The section may contain two (2) experiences, though they are on the thin side. Three (3) responsibilities were listed under each experience but bullet points have not been used to break up text into concise phrases. Too much or too little information has been included, leaving the employer confused about the applicant’s skills and abilities. Weak phrases simply define the tasks completed during each experience instead of describing the skills developed. | Experience section is disorganized or incomplete. The section may contain only one (1) experience with limited or missing bullet points using action-verb phrases. Pertinent information about experiences cannot be found quickly or is missing altogether. There are little to no descriptions about job duties. The structure of phrases is inconsistent and distracting to the employer. | Experience section is incomplete and disorganized to the point of distraction. The section may contain only one (1) experience. Section is missing more than 3 of the required components. | /30 |
| “Value Added” Section | “Value Added” section is well organized and adds value to the resume. The section is appropriately titled, formatted, and placed within the resume. The information is detailed and specific. | “Value Added” section is mostly organized and adds value to the resume. The section is appropriately titled, formatted, and placed within the resume. The information is mostly detailed and specific. | “Value Added” section is somewhat disorganized but adds some value to the resume. The section may need some attention to the title, format, and/or placement within the resume. The information may need more details and specifics. | “Value Added” section is disorganized and distracts from the resume. The section may need some attention to the title, format, and/or placement within the resume. The information needs more details and specifics. | “Value Added” section is incomplete and disorganized to the point of distraction. The section needs attention to the title, format, and/or placement within the resume. The information needs more details and specifics. | /10 |
| The presentation content includes appropriate grammatical structure and mechanics. | There were no errors in spelling, punctuation, format, or basic grammar. Applicant has personally reviewed every section to ensure an error- free résumé. | There were 1-2 errors in spelling, punctuation, format, or basic grammar. Applicant has personally reviewed every section to ensure a mostly error- free résumé. | There were 3 errors in spelling, punctuation, format, or basic grammar. Information may have been abbreviated when it should have been spelled out. | There were 4 errors in spelling, punctuation, format, or basic grammar. A persistent pattern of errors is distracting, making the résumé difficult to read. | There were more than 5 errors in spelling, punctuation, format, or basic grammar. A persistent pattern of errors is distracting, making the résumé difficult to read. | /10 |
| Formatting | Résumé fills one page but is not crowded. White space has been utilized effectively. Font style and layout are consistent throughout. Important information stands out immediately. Résumé can be easily scanned by an employer in a minute. | Résumé fills one page but is not crowded. White space has been mostly utilized effectively. Font style and layout are mostly consistent throughout. Important information mostly stands out. Résumé can be easily scanned by an employer in a minute. | Résumé fills one page but may be a bit crowded. White space has been partially utilized effectively. Font style and layout are partially consistent throughout. Important information partially stands out. Résumé may take an employer over a minute to scan. | Résumé has been formatted inconsistently. Use of bold, italics, underlining, or bullet points are distracting instead of helpful. White space does not break up text, making résumé difficult to read. Important information is difficult to find. | Format is unappealing and information cannot be found quickly. Multiple fonts are used. Font size is too small and margins are too narrow. Graphics, such as clip art or borders, distract the employer from the information. | /10 |
| TOTAL POINTS | 90-100 points | 80-89.9 points | 70-79.9 points | 60-69.9 points | <60 points | /100 |
[1] UCO thanks Mary-Ann Winkelmes, TILT Higher Education, and Brandeis University for sharing the Creating Transparent, Equitable Learning Opportunities for All University of Central Oklahoma Students and giving us permission to use it in developing course assignments. ©2014 Mary-Ann Winkelmes, Principal Investigator.
