13 Preparing Résumés and Application
Messages
IN THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL FIND:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
KEY CONCEPTS
KEY TERMS
CHAPTER OUTLINE
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
REVIEW QUESTIONS & SUGGESTED ANSWERS
FEATURED ASSIGNMENTS
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
CASE ASSIGNMENT
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1 Prepare for employment by considering relevant information about you as it relates to job
requirements.
2 Identify career opportunities using traditional and electronic methods.
3 Prepare an organized, persuasive résumé that is adapted for print and electronic postings.
4 Use employment tools other than the résumé that can enhance employability.
5 Write an application message that effectively introduces an accompanying print (designed) or
electronic résumé.
KEY CONCEPTS
Chapter 13 aids students in seeing the need for career planning, gathering information for a
résumé, and arranging the information on paper or for electronic distribution. Additionally,
students will learn to use traditional and electronic means to identify career opportunities and
prospective employers to whom the résumé might be sent. The chapter discusses principles for
writing a résumé using appropriate organizational patterns, and it explores alternate delivery
options for résumés, including text formats, scannable versions, electronic postings, and YouTube
video résumés. The chapter also presents techniques for writing effective applications messages.
KEY TERMS
TERM
PAGE
TERM
PAGE
Application message
249
Professional portfolio
245
Beamer
240
Résumé
227
Chrono-functional résumé
238
Scannable résumé
244
Chronological résumé
238
Targeted résumé
232
Electronic applicant-tracking
systems
244
Text résumé
244
Functional résumé
238
Unsolicited application messages
251
Inline résumé
244
Video résumé
247
Multimedia résumé
247
CHAPTER OUTLINE
13-1 Preparing for the Job Search 227
13-1a Gathering Essential Information 227
13-2 Planning a Targeted Resume 232
13-2b Types of Resumes 237
13-3 Preparing Resumes for Print and Electronic Delivery 239
13-3a Preparing a Print (Designed) Resume 239
13-4 Supplementing a Resume 245
13-4b Employment Videos 247
13-5 Composing Application Messages 249
13-5a Persuasive Organization 249
13-5c Finishing Touches 254
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1
Prepare for employment by considering relevant information about yourself as it relates to job
requirements.
Preparing for the Job Search
• Because two major topics are covered in this relatively long chapter—résumés and
application letters—consider breaking the chapter into two parts. Require students to read to
the “Supplementing a Résumé” section for the first reading assignment and the remainder of
the chapter after completing the primary discussion of résumé writing.
Gathering Essential Information
• Provide students with this scenario: “John W. applied for a position to sell medical equipment
to hospitals. The job announcement said qualified applicants must have two years’ sales
experience. John has been in outside sales for six years and has sold medical equipment
before. He knew the sales territory, was willing to relocate, and had a proven track record for
sales. Yet, he was not called for an interview.” Why not? His application packet did not sell
his abilities well enough for the company representatives, so they did not spend any time
learning more about him. Remind the students of the importance of preparing highly
professional job credentials that sell their qualifications in terms of employers’ needs.
• Discuss the various tools available to today’s graduate in the job search process. Discuss that
expanding technological tools have not replaced the need for accuracy, careful analysis, and
effective design in various formats: print designed formats, scannable versions, and electronic
postings.
• Remind students their application package (application letter, résumé, and references) should
be neat, error-free, and attention-getting.
• Invite guest speakers to discuss the job search process and present guidelines for preparing
winning résumés and application letters. Consider former students, local human resources
professors and managers, officials in the school’s career services division, or local
employment agents.
• Discuss career planning as a three-step process that identifies the prospective employee’s
needs and the employer’s needs and then combines those needs into a description of a
possible position.
✓ Emphasize the importance of understanding one’s own talents, abilities, and
interests. Salary will not provide sufficient job satisfaction for many. Give
examples of people who have undertaken mid-life career shifts to do the type of
work they really love.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2
Identify career opportunities using traditional and electronic methods.
Job Search Organization
• Discuss the importance of approaching the job search process with logic and organization.
Remind students that keeping up with their searches and applications will increase their
chances of finding positions.
• Encourage students to use the templates in the web enrichment titled “Assessment of your
Sources for Finding Prospective Employers
• Discuss sources for finding prospective employers.
Using Traditional Sources
• Invite a manager of an employment agency or placement service to speak to your class about
employment activities and interviewing.
• Arrange a class tour of your institution’s career services or placement center. Ask the director
to share job search information with the students. This information will likely be more
meaningful to students when provided by the director than when presented by the instructor.
Using Electronic Job Sources
• Require students to visit http://monster.com before discussing this material. Ask about their
impressions of the site and how they might use the various features.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 3
Prepare an organized, persuasive résumé that is adapted for print and electronic postings.
Planning a Targeted Résumé
• Discuss the importance of designing a résumé that sells one’s self most effectively for a
specific job listing that is identified through traditional and electronic search methods. Just as
avoid any ethical difficulties.
Standard Parts of a Résumé
• Discuss the typical parts of a résumé.
• Remind students that they should always have their resume updated and ready because they
never know when a networking contact might call with a potential position. Being on top of
the game all the time will make their job search easier.
• Ask students to begin identifying information to be included in the various sections of their
résumés. Discuss what should and should not be included on a résumé. What sections will not
be needed? Will special sections need to be added?
• Ask them what they have on their Facebook profiles. Is it information they would want a
potential employer viewing? Remind them that Facebook information is included in search
engines for background checks, which recruiters often perform.
• Discuss the need for action verbs when listing tasks from a past job. Ask students to list
additional action verbs.
• Before discussing guidelines for constructing a résumé, ask students to prepare a résumé
during the class period and submit it. After Chapter 13 has been read and discussed, return
each student’s résumé. If students can find their own errors, the learning experience is
genuine. They may be able to use their first draft in refining the next draft.
• Refer students to the Internet for additional résumé examples.
Potential Areas for Employment Discrimination
• Ask students to recount any experiences they may have had with employment discrimination.
• Gender discrimination may occur is in hiring women for lower-ranking positions than men,
Types of Résumés
• Briefly overview types of resumes.
• Provide an example of a résumé in chronological arrangement, discussing résumé
components and how to “beat out” fierce competition for available positions.
• Discuss the chronological résumé arrangement. Stress that a résumé may include a section on
earned computer certifications that would provide an independent judgment of the applicant’s
computer skills.
• Lead a discussion of the functional résumé arrangement.
• Discuss the chrono-functional résumé and view an example.
Preparing Résumés
• Remind students that traditional, designed, paper résumés are not the only format for getting
applicant information to potential employers. Different formats include print, scannable, and
electronic posting.
• Which format might be the easiest to use? Why? Which formats have you used in your job
search processes?
Preparing a Print (Designed) Résumé
• Discuss design guidelines for a print (designed) résumé.
• Review résumé critiques made by résumé experts at http://monster.com. Have students share
advice not already discussed that seemed especially pertinent to their job search. A discussion
of perceived discrepancies in this advice and the textbook will allow a natural opportunity to
emphasize that résumé format and content are not universal. Lead the class in identifying a
logical reason for the deviation based on the context of the specific résumé being critiqued.
Preparing a Scannable Résumé
• Discuss that companies of all sizes are using applicant-tracking systems to increase the
efficiency of the selection process. Thus, applicants must adapt their job search to meet these
demands.
• Explain briefly the process that an automated tracking system follows and move naturally
into a class discussion of the advantages. What are disadvantages of computerized résumé
searches?
Making a Scannable Résumé Searchable
• Discuss ways to enhance employer attention to your scannable résumé.
• Have students prepare a scannable résumé from the print one prepared earlier.
Adapting to Varying Electronic Submission Requirements
• Discuss types of electronic postings. Define the terms “inline résumé” and “text résumé” and
discuss the uses of each.
• Discuss some practical ways to maximize the results of a résumé posting.
• Remind students that they must be prepared to adapt their résumés to the format required by
individual employers. Job applications might require emailing a résumé to a job bank or
inputting the information directly into a website.
• Discuss differences in posting to a job site or employer website and to your personal website.
• Discuss privacy issues that can arise from electronic postings because these postings are not
private.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 4
Utilize employment tools other than the résumé that can enhance employability.
Supplementing a Résumé
• Emphasize that in some career fields, evidence of one’s ability, beyond a printed résumé, may
be required or expected.
Professional Portfolios
• Emphasize that professional portfolios (referred to as electronic or e-portfolio when printed in
a digital format) are part of the job search process and will often need to be submitted prior to
an interview. Discuss the digital formats available for portfolios, including websites or CD.
• Lead a discussion of career fields in which candidates might benefit most from professional
portfolios. What would students include in a professional portfolio for their career field if
Employment Videos
• Lead a discussion as to what employers are hoping to learn about an applicant by viewing an
employment video.
• Ask students what an applicant can do to avoid the “talking head” problem.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 5
Write an application message that effectively introduces an accompanying print (designed) or
electronic résumé.
Composing Application Messages
• Initiate discussion about adapting the format of the application message to fit the delivery
format of the résumé. For example, if applicants email a résumé, it should be attached to an
email application message.
• Before discussing this section, instruct students to write for homework an application
message that would be designed to accompany the résumé already prepared. Without grading
the letters, look through them for good illustrations to use in subsequent class discussions.
After students have read about and discussed application messages in class, return each
student’s document. Students will recognize their mistakes and can then produce improved
versions.
• Discuss solicited and unsolicited messages.
Persuasive Organization
• Compare the strategy used in an application letter to that used in a letter that sells a product.
• Discuss strategies for writing each section of the application letter: (a) getting the receiver’s
General Writing Guidelines
• Discuss effective application messages.
• Ask students about sending application messages via email. Remind them that many
recruiters now ask for electronic application letters. Online services, such as Monster.com or
Careerbuilder.com, often only offer an electronic application option via email. Discuss email
formatting guidelines.
Final Touches
• Remind students that the final product must impress a potential employer enough to gain
them interviews. Nothing will turn an employer off more than a shoddy-looking résumé or
Examples of Application Messages
• Ask students to critique a poorly written application letter. Revise the letter in class
individually or in small groups. Discuss the effective writing techniques incorporated in the
revision provided on resource slides.
• Have students prepare an application message for the job they selected earlier.
• Stress that employers are influenced by nonverbal messages transmitted in the application
messages when they decide whether to interview an applicant. To emphasize this point,
initiate a class discussion about the statements shown below. Suggested answers appear in
parentheses. What nonverbal messages are transmitted by the following?
a) Being among the first to respond to a newspaper ad? (Applicant is not inclined to
c) Using paper of an unusual size or color? (Is different—could be positively or
d) Applying for “any job you have open”? (Is desperate for a job, not particularly
e) Writing about upcoming graduation in the first sentence? (Is attaching great
f) Stating directly the qualities that an employee should possess? (Is willing to state
g) Flattering the employer, making obviously exaggerated statements about the
employer’s products or accomplishments? (Is hopeful the nice-sounding words
h) Using very general terms in discussing experience? (Has not seen the precise
k) Revealing familiarity with some of the history, plans, or problems of the
l) Using judgmental words to describe achievements? (Overconfident, conceited, or
n) Making errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, and keyboarding? (Careless,
ignorant, disrespectful, or disorganized.)
o) Sending a follow-up letter after waiting a few days for a response to an
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Preparing to Harness the Monster: Browse career sites and select the one that provides
career guidance that you believe would be most useful in your job search. Register to receive
the site’s free online newsletter for timely job search information. Your instructor may also
require you to prepare a brief summary of the information in each newsletter that you found
especially timely or relevant to your needs. Below the last summary, write a brief statement
describing the effectiveness of the information provided and the presentation of these email
updates. Be prepared to share in small groups or in class.
2. Document for Analysis: Chronological Résumé: In your position as a career counselor,
review the narrative of qualifications that you have received from Shane Austin, who is
seeking a position as a senior loan officer in a major banking firm. In small groups, discuss
Solutions will vary. See solution slide for suggested résumé. Information that should be excluded
from the résumé includes (a) personal data related to age, marital status, number of children, and
3. Document for Analysis: Application Letter: Analyze the following message. Pinpoint its
strengths and weaknesses and then revise as directed by your instructor.
April 5, 2013
Bailey Stores Incorporated
Roanoke VA 24022
Dear Sirs:
I am looking for an opportunity for advancement with a new employer. My background is in
retail management and I fell well qualified for the Store Manager position in the Bailey’s
West location you advertized on your website. I would like to be considered as an applicant
for the position. The primary advantage I would have as a manager is my heavy educational
background. Among the courses I have taken are consumer behavior, retailing, marketing,
public relations, and advertising. I am sure you realize the many ways in which these courses
can prepare one for a career in sales management.
In addition to my classes, my educational background includes work in the university
bookstore, service on the school yearbook, and president of my fraternity. I will be receiving
my degree on May 5, 2020. I will appreciate you studying the résumé which you will find
enclosed. If you can use an energetic young man with my educational background as I hope,
will you grant me an interview at your earliest convenience. So I can put my educational
background to work for you. I will follow-up this letter with a phone call so we can talk more
about the position.
A summary of errors.
Organization
• Uses inductive approach appropriately (request interview after qualifications are presented).
• Paragraphs are too long for easy reading; first and final paragraph should be short.
Content
• Does commendably identify position sought in first sentence but does not capture reader’s
attention.
Style
• Uses clichés—a weak attention-getter and action ending.
• Uses “I” in self–oriented statements that do not interpret qualifications as related to job
sought.
• Uses statement of certainty (“I am sure”) that reader cannot be certain about.
• Is wordy (“résumé which you will find enclosed”).
Mechanics
• Misspells “feel,” “advertised,” “enclosed,” “convenience.”
Format
• Omits the writer’s address (needed because letter is printed on plain paper).
4. Locating Employment Opportunities: Jennifer Simms, a graduating senior in computer
information systems, has sought your advice on locating job opportunities in her field.
Outline a course of action for her that includes traditional and electronic methods that may
help her locate the right job.
REVIEW QUESTIONS & SUGGESTED ANSWERS
1. Where can you obtain information about the responsibilities, compensation, and career
potential of a certain job?
Ideal sources for learning about the duties and responsibilities of a certain job include (a) The
2. List five sources from which prospective employers’ names and addresses may be
obtained; include traditional and electronic sources.
3. How can a job applicant conduct a successful job search without leaving home?
4. Explain the rise in popularity of the “career summary” section on résumés. How else
have résumés changed in recent years?
The “career summary” section can allow applicants with special skills or licenses to place that
5. What are the standard parts of a résumé? What are some optional parts? How does a
job candidate decide which parts to include?
The purpose of the résumé is to present a concise, informative, easy-to-read summary of relevant
6. Under what conditions might you choose to include or not include references on a
résumé? Is obtaining permission from references necessary?
7. Describe the three organizational patterns of résumés and explain under what
circumstances each would be effective.
The chronological résumé is the traditional format for résumés that list education and experience
8. How does the format and content of a scannable résumé differ from a print résumé?
9. What safeguards should be taken when posting a résumé electronically?
10. Describe a job for which a video recording might be an effective résumé enhancement.
What should the video include?
11. Is it possible for a candidate to “try too hard” when preparing a résumé? Explain your
answers.
FEATURED ASSIGNMENTS
1. Examining Résumé Mistakes: Visit one of the career sites and develop a list of the top ten
résumé blunders. You should be prepared to share your list with the class or in small groups,
or to contribute your thoughts to a blog related to crafting a winning résumé.
2. Formatting an Electronic Application: Assume one of your networking contacts asked you to
email your résumé for a potential opening in his firm. You should prepare an abbreviated
version of an application letter and email your professor the application message with an
inline résumé positioned below the letter. Use a subject line that stands out in an overloaded
mailbox as an expected message from a known person.
Solutions will vary.
• Evaluate final résumé submissions based on appropriateness of information included;
3. Critiquing an Existing Résumé: Critique the resume distributed by your professor. Look at
its effectiveness using the guidelines and the examples provided in the chapter. Summarize
your overall impression of the résumé and give specific suggestions for improving it.
4. Presenting Your Career Portfolio: Prepare a class presentation that will showcase your
employment strengths. You may need to assemble a series of materials in a career portfolio.
You should emphasize preparation, experiences, and skills that have prepared you for your
ideal career position.
Student responses will vary
5. Formatting a Beamable Résumé: Prepare a beamer résumé you can broadcast at a
networking event to identify leads for an internship or full-time job. Include your contact
information and qualifications in a format suitable for the small screens of a PDA or cell
phone. In small groups, send your résumés to each other’s PDAs or cell phones. In small
groups or as a whole class, discuss their overall impression of each résumé, suggestions for
improvement, and the effectiveness of this delivery option. Consider having students delete
their names and personal information so that critiques can be more objective and students
more open to having their work examined by their peers.
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
1. Surfing Cyberspace to Land a Job: Visit one a career site and note the types of career
guidance information available. Print the page of a resource that you believe will be
beneficial to you as you search for a job. Summarize the results of your exploration in a short
report to your instructor. Your instructor may ask you to complete the activities in the
Internet case related to Internet recruiting.
Report content will vary, depending on the student’s interest and career objectives. Evaluate for
2. Getting Essential Information to Make a Wise Career Decision: Select a job listing for a
job for which you wish to interview (full- or part-time, internship or co-op position).
Complete the planning forms available at the text support site to direct your reflection on
your interests and abilities and understanding of your career and job sought. To validate
your career and job analyses, interview a person currently working in your career field. Give
honest, insightful answers to each question; add additional questions that you deem
appropriate for a complete analysis in the planning form for each part of the analysis.
Solutions will vary. Remind students that their use of the forms on the Student Website will be
3. Preparing a Company/Job Profile: Use information obtained from completing the previous
assignment to prepare a company/job profile for the company/job in which you expect to be
interviewing. Use the profile to complete these steps:
a. Review the completed profile and note the degree of compatibility between your
qualifications and the company and job requirements.
b. Compile a list of strengths and weaknesses (lack of a match between your qualifications
and job requirements) as they relate to the job requirements.
c. Consider carefully the deficiencies you must overcome before your qualifications fully
match the job requirements. What are possible strategies for overcoming these
deficiencies? Are any of these strategies feasible, or is overcoming these deficiencies out
of your control?
d. Analyze the final comparison and decide whether interviewing for this job would be wise.
4. Critiquing a Peer’s Résumé: Exchange a rough draft of your résumé with another class
member. Critique the document’s effectiveness using the guidelines and the examples
provided in the chapter. Send an email message to the student giving your overall impression
of the résumé and specific suggestions for improving it. Print a copy of your message and
submit it to your instructor with a copy of the student’s résumé.
Encourage students to critique for organization, content, style, mechanics, and format using the
5. Print and Scannable Résumé with Accompanying Application Letter: Prepare print and
scannable versions of your résumé and an application letter for a job of your choice using
information compiled in earlier assignments. Assume you are applying for an immediate
part-time job, a full-time job for the summer, a cooperative education assignment or
internship, or a full-time job immediately after you graduate. Look at the list of courses you
plan to take and write as though you had taken them and satisfied the requirements for a
degree. Follow the guidelines for preparing a print résumé, and then incorporate the valid
comments of at least two others competent in proofreading and résumé design. Use the
desktop publishing capability available to you to produce a highly effective, professional
document.
• Evaluate final résumé submissions based on appropriateness of information included; final
6. Completing Electronic Postings: If you are within three semesters of graduation, register
with your career services center and acquaint yourself with the services they provide. Follow
instructions precisely for posting your résumé to your university’s career services website for
submission to prospective employers. Alternately, your instructor may request that you post
your résumé to a company’s website. Access the website of a company of your choice and
follow instructions carefully in order to prepare a résumé suitable for the company’s use.
7. Designing an Electronic Portfolio: Sketch the information you would include on the first
page of an electronic portfolio posted at your personal website. Brainstorm about the types of
information you might include in links to additional qualifications. Consider materials you
have prepared for your career portfolio while completing the Your Turn applications in the
text. Create your electronic résumé if your instructor directs you to do so. Consider using a
template in a high-level word processing program. Post to your student home page in your
online course or your personal web page. Send your instructor an email message providing
the URL address if posted to your personal webpage.
8. Analyzing Résumé Critiques Made by Experts: Study the “before and after” versions of
résumés, including recommendations from career experts, available at major career sites.
Compile a list of suggestions that reinforce and/or supplement the information related to
résumé construction presented in the chapter. Note any discrepancies in this information and
your textbook or current knowledge. Share your suggestions in a short presentation to the
class.
Student suggestions will vary, as posted résumés change from week to week. Some differences in
9. Launching a Newsletter to Boost Career Skills: A student organization that you are a
member of is initiating an online monthly recruiting newsletter available to members at the
organization’s home page. The vision is to create a fresh, personalized approach to career
information specifically related to the needs of the members of your group and the current
competitive market. Each newsletter will include at least one article addressing specific job
search skills, highlights of special recruiting events and previews of upcoming events, and an
interview providing insights from an employer, returning co-op students, campus recruiters,
etc. In small groups, generate an issue of the newsletter for an organization of your choice.
Consider using a newsletter template from a high-level word processing program to assist
you in generating the document. Email your newsletter to your instructor; distribute to the
class through email or an electronic posting to the student home page in your online course
or a personal web page.
CASE ASSIGNMENT
EMPLOYMENT MARKET UNDERGOES CYBER REVOLUTION
The cyberspace employment market is here and advancing rapidly. What is being witnessed
is nothing less than a transformation in the way people look for jobs and how organizations look
for qualified employees. Those who do not engage in electronic employment searching may soon
be left out entirely from the digital economy.
Until recently, employers and prospective employees carried on their mutual searching
process in physical space. Now, information can be exchanged totally electronically. In a recent
study of members of the Society of Human Resource Managers and the Recruitment Marketplace,
82 percent of respondents said they use online advertising to fill open positions. In fact, Internet
recruiting is now second only to newspaper advertising in terms of volume of applicants
generated and recruited. Large and small companies alike are realizing the advantages offered by
online recruiting:
• Worldwide access to job postings increases the response rates to advertised job openings.
• More and better information on applicants is available since a résumé document can provide
links to publications, reference letters, and other informational items.
In sum, the process by which organizations gather necessary information from and about
applicants can be made much more efficient through the application of an Internet-based
recruiting process. Likewise, the communications garnered through such an automated procedure
can be gathered much more quickly—at the speed of light rather than the speed of bureaucratic
action and snail mail delivery.
Making use of the Internet allows companies to expand their geographic reach greatly.
The paradox, however, of the increasing use of the Internet for corporate recruiting is the
potential for both less and greater diversity in organizations. Although an applicant’s gender,
Activities
1. Locate the web page of an organization for which you would like to work. Print the page.
Does the web page provide information about job vacancies? Does it invite résumé postings?
How effectively is the company using its web page for recruiting applicants? Report your
findings to the class.
2. Locate the online résumé of a job applicant in your chosen field. Print it out. Is the résumé
effectively designed? Are linked files used, and if so, do they enhance the candidate’s appeal?
What personal information is included? Does the information presented give rise to possible
discrimination? Send an email to your instructor reporting what you found.
3. Visit the following website that presents information on recent Internet recruiting polls and
statistics: http://www.recruitersnetwork.com. Write a short informative paper that describes
the current status of Internet recruiting. Give examples to substantiate trends and practices.