application letter

Project 2

For this assignment, you will create one document that has two items:

• A Job Application Letter

• A Résumé

You will need to research job leads to find an actual job announcement that advertises a

position for which you are qualified. Search national job sites like Monster.com,

Indeed.com, Careerbuilder.com, and USAJobs.gov.

Research the Company or Organization. You must research the company or organization

that advertised the job announcement. You can research the company in a variety of

ways. For instance, you can find the company’s Website if one is available; or you may

obtain a copy of the company's annual report; or, if you know someone who works for

that company, you can network with employees of the company

The goal here is for you to become more informed about the company in general—its

product line, its past and current successes, and its plans for future development. Ideally,

you should use some of this information to your advantage in your application letter. The

best application letters not only demonstrate how you are well qualified, but also show

how you can make specific contributions to the company. Remember that the chief aim

of an application letter is to help you get an interview. Your letter should persuade the

reader that you are the best applicant for the position.

Requirements for the Application Letter

Review the information on application letters in Chapter 9 and write a job application

letter with an effective introduction, body, and conclusion. The job-application letter,

which is the first thing the reader sees, expands upon a few of the points made in the

résumé. The typical letter has at least three parts, and your letter should have all of them:

• Introduction. The first paragraph establishes why you are writing to your reader.

State that you are looking for a particular position and explain why you would

like to work at that particular company. You should also identify the source where

you find the job opening information. Forecast the body of the letter by stating

your major qualifications for the job.

• Body. The body of the letter develops each qualification (education and

experience) with specific evidence. The goal is to show that you know what

the employer needs and that you meet the requirements. You may organize this

section around your education, around your training and experience, or around

what the job or the company requires.

• Conclusion. You should end the letter politely and include a reference to the

enclosed résumé, a request for an interview, and your phone number and e-mail address.

Format

Your letter must meet all of the formatting requirements of a good business letter. It

should use the block format. If possible, write no more than one page. The letter should

contain all of the elements covered in the chapter about letters.

1. Heading (sender’s address)

2. Date

3. Inside address (full address, including title, for the person who is addressed)

4. Salutation

5. Body text (introduction, body, conclusion)

6. Complimentary closing ("Sincerely," or "Sincerely yours,")

7. Signature

8. Typed name

9. Enclosure notation (“Encl. Résumé”)

Requirements for the Résumé

The purpose of the résumé is to describe your qualifications for work. Review the

information on résumés in the textbook carefully and then design and write a professional

résumé.

You should create either a functional or reverse chronological résumé tailored for the

specific job opening. If you have limited job experience, a gap in experience or are

changing careers, you must create a functional résumé. If you have mid-level experience

and beyond, you must create a chronological résumé.

A functional résumé should be no longer than one page, and a chronological résumé with

over 15-20 years of experience can be two pages, and both must contain all of the

following elements:

1. Heading (full name, address, phone, and email address)

2. Education (schools, majors, minors, and dates of graduation; omit high school

education unless it is a specialized high school)

3. Work Experience (employer’s name, the position you hold, and a list or

description of duties and responsibilities for each position)

4. Certifications (optional)

5. Interests and Activities (optional)

DO NOT write an objective statement or include "References Available Upon Request"

(Employers assume your objective--to get a job--and also indicate if they want

references)

Your style should be formal. You need not use complete sentences, but you should use a

concise, active style and show consistency in expression from section to section. When

making lists, be sure to use the parallel structure (They should match one another in tense and

form).

Requirements

• Failure to use a functional format when you have limited experience, a gap in

employment, or are changing careers will result in 10-point deduction

• You can use specialized descriptive 2-3 word phrases or single words in your

documents (copy/pasting an external source's sentences, sentence fragments, job

descriptions will result in the assignment turned over to the Office of Student

Conduct for an academic integrity violation) Copyedit, copyedit, and copyedit

again--read your work out loud, verbally to hear errors.

• Have a friend find errors. Make sure to include the website URL in the comment

to instructor box available via Canvas so that the instructor can view the job

announcement (Failure to include a working URL will result in a 5-point

deduction).

Submission Instructions

• Submit via Unicheck in Canvas. No assignments will be accepted over email.

• Required file title for final version: your last name-job application.

• Submit the document as a PDF.

Note: Academic Integrity

While you can find unlimited samples of job application or job description materials on

the internet DO NOT attempt to copy those from those samples. The point of this

assignment is for you to learn how to compose a letter and create a resume to persuade

your audience to give you an interview. Therefore, it is NOT acceptable to copy phrases,

fragments, sentences, paragraphs or descriptions of past work experience you found

elsewhere.

If you copy phrases, fragments, sentences, paragraphs or descriptions of past work

experience you found in online examples, you cannot get a 70 or above on this

assignment, even if you cite the sources--and if you fail to cite the sources, this

assignment will be turned over to the Office of Student Conduct for an academic integrity

violation.