Cover Letter & Résumé Assignment MGT 3213-07

Due: 9/11/13 (before class begins) Instructor: Kelly Atwood

1. Job Posting

Find a job that you are currently qualified for or would be qualified for upon graduation (the only qualification you are missing is a Bachelor’s degree). This must be a real position for which you meet the qualifications. YOU CANNOT MAKE UP EXPERIENCE OR QUALIFICATIONS FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. IF YOU HAVE ZERO WORK EXPERIENCE, LOOK FOR INTERNSHIPS. When looking for a posting, use the Career Center website including the external resources such as Mississippi Grad Jobs, CareerShift, InternMatch, etc.), check trade journals, newspaper classifieds, company web sites, and professional organizations. ONLY if you know of a local position that doesn’t have a job posting, YOU MUST CONTACT YOUR INSTRUCTOR TO GET IT APPROVED PRIOR TO SUBMITTING THE ASSIGNMENT. You must provide a print out or copy of the job posting including the source (include job id #, if available).

2. Cover Letter

Write a cover letter to apply for the job in Item 1, using the guidelines provided in class and (not or) the Career Center Handbook. It should have all the parts of a formal business letter (sender address, receiver address, salutation, date, closing, signature, etc.) formatting. You should use full-block alignment, and mixed punctuation.

Cover Letter dimension guidelines:
margins – maximum 1”, minimum .5”, equal on all sides, and evenly spaces content on page
font – maximum 12pt, minimum 10pt
spacing – single-spaced, follow the standard letter format in the Career Center Handbook, no more than one space between paragraphs

3. Résumé

Create a chronological résumé as if you are applying for the job in Item 1. You must have the following sections in your résumé: identification information (name, address, phone, email), education, and experience. Including an activities/honors or knowledge/skills section, or objective or summary is optional. HOWEVER, you must provide quality, targeted content that fill the page evenly and entirely. You can use any kind of formatting discussed/shown in class or provided in the Career Center Handbook, as long as it includes the required sections and entirely and evenly fills each page. (If you have a two page resume, it must fill both pages completely while maintaining relevant, value-adding content.)

Resume dimension guidelines:
margins – maximum 1”, minimum .25”, equal on all sides, and evenly spaces content on page
font – maximum for name 18pt, section headings 14pt, content including contact information 12pt, minimum for all 10pt
spacing – no more than two spaces between sections, experiences, degrees, or any other item

DO NOT USE A TEMPLATE!

Print the job posting, cover letter, and résumé, and bring them to class STAPLED TOGETHER.

Grading

Value: 100 points

Criteria:

· Relevance and qualification of job

· Appropriate content, length, grammar, punctuation, and spelling

· Appropriate format of the document as a whole, and for résumé, within each section

· Demonstration of fit to the job (both cover letter and résumé)