Posted: April 10th, 2015

JOB SEARCH DOCUMENTS (JSD) AND RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT PROMPT

JOB SEARCH DOCUMENTS (JSD) AND RHETORICAL ANALYSIS ASSIGNMENT PROMPT

Order Description

Since a résumé and a cover letter are the first documents an employer associates with you, these documents must make a strong first impression. A résumé and a cover letter are similar to an advertisement for yourself as an employee; they highlight your skills and qualifications to signal to potential employers that you are the right fit for their company. To accomplish that goal, these documents need to be clean, organized, and clear. They should also follow conventions of the genres to meet the expectations of an employer. For example, a resume should have letterhead where your name is prominent and your contact information is easy to locate.

Begin by finding an advertisement for a job in the field you aspire to enter; make sure it is a position that you could apply for as a soon-to-be college graduate (meaning that you have the appropriate education and experience). The advertisement can also be for internships in your field that you may be considering applying for in the coming quarters. Moreover, by completing a rhetorical analysis of the job ad, you can determine more information relevant to you-attitude and the qualifications for the position in your job search documents.

Assignment Overview

Due Date: Wednesday, April 15 before 10 PM to Smartsite

Purpose: The final job search documents should be appropriate to submit to the
position in your job ad. The rhetorical analysis should help you understand the company and position for which you are applying.

Audience(s): The primary audience of the job search documents vary depending on the
document. For example, the cover letter, resume, and reference list should be written for not only the person doing the hiring, but also anyone else at the company who may be part of the hiring process. The secondary audience for all of the documents will be your classmates and instructor.

Word Count: 1600-1900 words

File Name: last name first initial_jsd (simonr_jsd.docx).

Grading: The job search documents are worth 150 points or 15% of your final grade
for the course. Remember that in order to pass the course, you must submit this major assignments and receive a C- or higher for the final course grade.

Assignment Details

The JSD contains six documents: a cover letter, a résumé, a reference request letter, a reference list, and rhetorical analysis targeted for the job ad that you found. The job ad that you find for class should be for a position that you could apply for with the education and experience you have as a senior preparing to graduate. You may also use internship advertisements. The job ad is the sixth document in the packet, but it does not count towards the minimum word count. As you complete the JSD, refer back to the textbook, examples, and PowerPoints that prepared you to draft and revise these documents.

Cover Letter

An effective cover letter
• Follows standard business letter format (full, block paragraphs)
• Is addressed to a specific person
• Is organized into paragraphs that highlight your skills and qualifications with specific examples, demonstrate you-attitude, and remember to thank the reader
• Describes and explains your skills and qualifications, highlighting important information from the résumé without simply repeating what is in the resume
• Considers you-attitude (this means that the tone, word choice, and focus is on the needs and expectations of the employer)
• Lists enclosures (in this case, the resume)
• Does not exceed one page
• Uses simple language, maintains appropriate tone, and contains no typos or mechanical errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or grammar

Résumé

An effective résumé
• Contains letterhead with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address
• Uses white space, capitalization, boldface type, and other format features, including the CRAP principle design techniques, effectively for readability
• Demonstrates knowledge of the conventions of the types of résumés (chronological, functional, or combination)
• Includes no irrelevant personal information (no high school information)
• Includes separate, labeled sections for education, skills, experience and other major categories of professional qualifications (depending on type of résumé)
• Uses action verbs to list qualifications under experience and skills sections
• Maintains a consistent approach to abbreviation, spacing, and other elements
• Does not exceed one page
• Contains no typos or mechanical errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or grammar

Reference Request Letter

An effective reference request letter
• Follows standard business letter format (full, block paragraphs)
• Reintroduces yourself by reminding the referee of your shared work-related or academic history, explains your current situation, indicates why this individual will offer an effective recommendation, and asks for the recommendation
• Lists enclosures (at least a résumé and information about the position for which you are applying)
• Does not exceed one page
• Uses simple language, maintains appropriate tone, and contains no typos or mechanical errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or grammar

For the JSD, you need only submit one letter of reference for one of the referees on your reference list. You do not need to submit four separate letters.

Reference List

An effective reference list
• Includes four referees whom you have asked to serve as references during your job search listed in alphabetical order by last name
• Lists consistent contact information (name, address, phone number, and e-mail address) for each of these references and uses formal address (Mr., Ms., Dr., etc.)
• Includes a sentence or two about your work-related or academic relationship with each referee (exclude personal relationships)
• Considers the CRAP principles and readability in organizing the information
• Contains letterhead with your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address (should be the same as the letterhead on the résumé)
• Does not exceed one page
• Contains no typos or mechanical errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or grammar

Rhetorical Analysis

The longest document in the job search document packet is a rhetorical analysis of the job ad, which will help you understand more about the requirements of the position as well as the potential employer.

Begin by finding a job ad that you can apply for based on your education (a soon-to-be college graduate) and experience level. The job ad may be for an internship as well. Make sure to copy the text of the job ad and paste it into a Word document as web sites that post ads often have deadlines for when these ads are deleted. Please use various job web sites like Aggie Job Link, Monster.com, etc.

Once you have a job ad, read through it carefully and consider the reading that you conducted in “Analyzing Written Arguments” from Good Reasons (posted as a PDF on Smartsite). Use the “Steps to Writing a Rhetorical Analysis” on p. 71 of the reading to analyze the context, text, medium and genre, appeals, and style. The questions provided in the “Steps to Writing a Rhetorical Analysis” as well as the rest of the chapter will help you develop a strong rhetorical analysis of your job ad.

There is no source requirement for the rhetorical analysis. Since you are submitting the job ad, you do not need to cite it, though if you take language directly from it, those words should be in quotations. If you do use outside source material, like the company’s web site, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, or other sources, those materials must be cited in an appropriate citation format style of your choosing. While we will eventually use Chicago Manual Style (CMS), we will not have time to discuss it before this assignment, so you can use MLA, APA, or CMS style for this assignment. The important thing is that you cite source material if it is used with in-text and end citations.

Like the documents listed above, the rhetorical analysis should be single spaced and in block paragraph style.

Document Order

The numbers listed below are the documents and the order in which they should appear when you submit this assignment. You should submit this as one Word file, but you should place a page break between items so that the documents are not on the same page or a section break between pages if the document has different formatting conventions. The file should be saved using your last name, first initial, and jsd (simonr_jsd.docx).

1. Cover letter
2. Résumé
3. Reference request letter
4. Reference list
5. Rhetorical analysis
6. Job ad (cut and paste contents, not just the URL, into Word file– does not count towards minimum word count)

Requirements

• At least 1600 words, but no more than 1900 words single-spaced in block paragraph style (the job ad is excluded from 1600 word minimum as is the works cited page/bibliography/reference page)
• Packet is submitted as a single file containing all 6 documents (do not submit 6 separate documents)
• Each document follows the criteria for a successful cover letter, résumé, reference request letter, reference list, or rhetorical analysis listed above and explained in the textbook and course lectures
• Packet focuses job search on a position that the student could apply for during the final quarter of his/her senior year or after graduation (education and experience must fit within the job ad requirements)