Getting the job that you really want . . . (or think you want)

Getting the job that you really want

If I can only get that interview . . .

We all know that the job market is tight these days not only for reason of the economy but because there are so many people in the marketplace with varying skills, backgrounds and experience  People with 20 years of experience are competing for positions with new college graduates. For both candidates, the first task is to be able to talk about your qualification in such a way that will get you that interview.

What does it mean to tailor employment documents?

Employment documents include resumes, cover letters, and any business message that concerns employment. Your message will be directed to your contact(s) in the organization and will vary depending on what your intent is upon writing. Regardless of the type of message, it is very important to make sure that you use a writing strategy that will effectively reach your reader.

In any piece of writing it is important to keep your audience in mind. Ask yourself, who will read my document? When you tailor a document to a particular audience, you are adapting your writing for a reader. It is important to consider what you want your message to convey to the audience.

Why is it important for me to tailor my employment documents?

It is important to tailor your employment documents for a specific audience in order to convey your message clearly and convincingly. Considering your audience will help you to personalize the document and make it relevant to the reader. If you write without a specific audience in mind, the document might be far too general and vague, or it might include too much information. When you tailor a document to a specific audience, the document will have better "unity of purpose and style," and it will make the reader feel more involved (Hale).

The audience is important for all pieces of writing, and even more so for any employment document because employment documents must be able to persuade the reader that what you are saying is true in order to be effective. You are directly communicating with the organization, and you want the reader to understand your message and its relevance.

For what types of readers should I tailor my employment documents?

There are two kinds of readers that an employment document should be tailored for:

Skimmers and Skeptics. (I am a little of both.)

Skimmers are readers that are typically very busy. Pressed for time, they often skim employment documents in a rather short period of time. Consequently, the documents you prepare for this particular reader should:

• State the main point clearly and up front
• Place the most important information at the beginning or ending of paragraphs
• Highlight key dates or figures

Both of the following examples represent the same experiences. A skimmer would be able to understand Example 2 much more quickly, though. Remember we have talked about how people read with an intent to "get it" quickly and with little effort.

Example 1

Managed $10,000 in project accounts, compiled and published engineering reports as assistant to Vice President, coordinated registrations, payments, and literature for software training seminars.

Example 2

• Managed $10,000 in project accounts.
• Compiled and published engineering reports as Assistant to Vice President
• Coordinated registrations, payments, and literature for software training seminars.

The second type of reader is a Skeptic. A Skeptic is a reader that is cautious and doubtful. Skeptical readers will tend to read a document carefully, questioning its validity. Ultimately, they will question the writer's claims. In order to meet the needs of the Skeptic, it is necessary to support your statements with sufficient details and evidence. Provide specific examples, numbers, dates, names, and percentages to meet the needs of the skeptical reader.

For example:
NOT: I performed very well in my classes.
BUT: I received the Dean's List Honors 7/8 semesters and received a Women in Communications Scholarship in May 2014.

Your assignment for this week:
1. Create a puke with the following information.

• What are your favorite classes in school? 
• What are the things that you do in your spare time? 
• What do I like to read, watch, listen to? 
• Do I like talking with people? Do I prefer to be alone when I work? 
• What do I think my strengths to be? What am I good at? (Also ask THREE other people this same question about you.)
• How do you handle difficult situations? 

These are notes for you to use as you are looking at jobs. Compare what you have written and what you see on job sites. What you are addressing here are called soft skills. Take a look at this link from Monster.com. Compare the soft skills and what your puke says. Now integrate your personal answers with the soft skills and see what you come up with. Be specific.

When a job says it is looking for someone with leadership skills don't just list "Treasurer of the business club" SHOW what it meant for you to be a leader. Don't be afraid to talk about difficult things that have happened. Leaders are leaders because of how they reacted to a situation.

For example, you should puke about a difficult situation you found yourself in. What did you do about it? What did you learn from the process? Not everything has to come out well but you should be able to talk about what you learned and what you would do differently next time.

2. You will visit job and recruiting sites and find three jobs you would like to apply to.

• Cut and paste the job into the body of the email so I can see it. 
• For each job look at the description and the qualifications. 
• Write about 500 words for each job that details what they want and what you have to offer in return. Use the notes above to help you craft the best letter than you can. 

Next week we will take this information and work on resumes - or you can begin the process at the same time.

Thinking about resumes

Here are some of the visual resume sites.
Take a look at some of these resumes. I Googled "Innovative resumes" and here are the examples that came up. Take a look and see what appeals to you. Your resume should be an extension of who you are. 

vizualize.me

CVmaker

The Ultimate Infographic Resume Guide (Read the whole thing - there are some great resources for making stand-out resumes.)

Some things to consider for your resume.

Education (You don't need to include your high school after you graduate from college.)

• College (anticipated graduation date)
  • Major/Minor

Skills  (Make a list of the software you know, technical skills you may have)

• Microsoft Word
• Final Cut Pro
• Microsoft Access
• HTML
• SAP Business Objects
• Quark
• Adobe Photoshop
• Photography skills

Experience

WalMart (Pittsburgh, PA 2007-2009)

• Developed customer service manual
• Reorganized toy department
• Salesperson of the month three times (Jan. 07, March 08, Dec 09)

The ‘Doah newspaper (Winchester, VA 2008)

• Wrote stories for multimedia sites
• Edited contributor content
• Edited HTML for site

Now, you need to write a cover letter
Here are the examples I discussed in the video.

---

1. Address the letter to a specific person rather than to a title.
2. Use a stronger, more dynamic opening that grabs the reader’s attention - like a story. 
3. Avoid repeating information that already appears in your resume. Do not list work experience without specifically addressing how it relates to the position for which you are applying.
4. Avoid using too many “I”s. The cover letter should be more about what the reader wants
5. Never say anything negative in a cover letter. It flags you as a potentially difficult employee.
6. Do not mention any inside contacts unless they can help you get the job. Be more specific about what you like about the company to which you are applying.
7. Do not make salary demands or give salary expectations unless specifically requested to provide them. A cover letter is generally not the proper place to address salary concerns.
8. Promise to make a follow-up call yourself.
9. Avoid boring closing statements.
10. Use active verbs

Have a separate sheet for your references

•  Name
•  Title
• Address
• Cell phone
• Email

Don’t give it all away in your resume. Save some of yourself for your cover letter and interview.

Week 4 - Working remotely and creating presenations

Working Remotely: 

 Where are you working right now? 

From your tablet on an outdoor patio? 

In a coffee shop with your earbuds in?  

If you work virtually—that is, "telecommute"—you're part of a fast-growing trend in the modern workforce. But like any new working practice, making telecommuting part of your usual routine takes some discipline and diligence.

According to research by the financial software company Intuit, nearly a quarter of U.S. workers telecommute for at least a few hours every week. Today, 67% of companies allow at least some employees to work at home occasionally, up from 50% in 2008, and 38% allowed some workers to do so on a regular basis, up from 23%, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In some places, telecommuting is already at the heart of the employee experience. About 43% of Aetna’s employees take part in work-at-home and other virtual arrangements, which the healthcare company has allowed for the past two decades. The software company GitHub boasts a fully distributed workforce of over 260 people working across the globe.

Those and other organizations see telecommuting as a great way for employees to keep a healthy work-life balance. But that flexibility can also create a few new challenges. Here are some strategies for working effectively while you're telecommuting.

This is a perfect list of how to think about your remote work day. 

Chose one of these topics for your presentation: 

1. Determine a work routine that works for you 

2. Set boundaries 

3. Embrace short email messages 

4. Know your limits 

5. Create daily goals 

More interesting links and videos

This is a great Ted Talk on working remotely

Why Remote Work is the Future for Millennials 

If you like this class you might like working remotely. Here is a list of the 100 best companies for remote work. 

Creating Presentation: 

The Crowley Guide to creating a great presentation 

Preparation

• Frame your story. Presentations are boring when they present scads of information without any context or meaning. Instead, tell a story, with the audience as the main characters (and, specifically, the heroes).

• Keep it relevant. Audiences only pay attention to stories and ideas that are immediately relevant. Consider what decision you want them to make, then build an appropriate case.

• Cut your intro. A verbose introduction that describes you, your firm, your topic, how you got there, only bores people. Keep your intro down to a sentence or two, even for a long presentation.

• Begin with an eye-opener. Kick off your talk by revealing a shocking fact, a surprising insight, or a unique perspective that naturally leads to your message and the decision you want to be made.

• Keep it short and sweet. When was the last time you heard someone complain that a presentation was too short? Make it half as long as you originally thought it should be (or even shorter).

• Use facts, not generalities. Fuzzy concepts reflect fuzzy thinking. Buttress your argument, story, and message with facts that are quantifiable, verifiable, memorable and dramatic.

• Customize for every audience. One-size-fits-all presentations are like one-size-fits-all clothes; they never fit right and usually make you look bad. Every audience is different; your presentation should be too.

Making the PowerPoint Deck

• Simplify your graphics. People shut off their brains when confronted with complicated drawings and tables. Use very simple graphics and highlight the data points that are important.
• Keep backgrounds in the background. Fancy slide backgrounds only make it more difficult for the audience to focus on what's important. Use a simple, single color, neutral color background.
• Use readable fonts. Don't try to give your audience to get an eyestrain headache by using tiny fonts. Use large fonts in simple faces (like Arial); avoid boldface,italics and ALL-CAPS.
• Don't get too fancy. You want your audience to remember your message, not how many special effects and visual gimcracks you used. In almost all cases, the simpler the better.

• Check your equipment ... in advance. If you must use PowerPoint or plan on showing videos or something, check to make sure that the setup really works. Then check it again. Then one more time.
• Speak to the audience. Great public speakers keep their focus on the audience, not their slides or their notes. Focusing on the audience encourages them to focus on your and your message.
• Never read from slides. Guess what? Your audience can read. If you're reading from your slides, you're not just being boring–you're also insulting the intelligence of everyone in the room.
• Don't skip around. Nothing makes you look more disorganized than skipping over slides, backtracking to previous slides, or showing slides that don't really belong. If there are slides that don't fit, cut them out of the presentation in advance.
• Leave humor to the professionals. Unless you're really good at telling jokes, don't try to be a comedian. Remember: When it comes to business presentations, polite laughter is the kiss of death.
• Avoid obvious wormholes. Every audience has hot buttons that command immediate attention and cause every other discussion to grind to a halt. Learn what they are and avoid them.
• Skip the jargon. Business buzzwords make you sound like you're either pompous, crazy, or (worst case) speaking in tongues. Cut them out–both from your slides and from your vocabulary.
• Make it timely. Schedule presentations for a time when the audience can give you proper attention. Avoid end of day, just before lunch, and the day before a holiday.
• Prepare some questions. If you're going to have a Q&A at the end of your presentation, be prepared to get the ball rolling by having up a question or two up your sleeve.
• Have a separate handout. If there's data that you want the audience to have, put it into a separate document for distribution after your talk. Don't use your slide deck as a data repository.

And this is a TED talk that uses most of these suggestions. 

The Assignment: 

You will create a presentation that you will post to your Blogger site. 

Explain to the audience as if they do not know much about the topic but do not treat your audience like children. Make sure you watch the TED Talk above as a good example. 
Remember, your topic choices are: 

1. Determine a work routine that works for you 

2. Set boundaries 

3. Embrace short email messages 

4. Know your limits 

5. Create daily goals 

Again, these are examples. Feel free to email me your idea and we can discuss it. I cannot discuss ideas past this Thursday, July 26. By then you should be beginning your research and constructing your presentation. 


As this is a more complicated assignment, I am giving you until midnight of Tuesday, July 31 to complete it. 

You can use: 

• Powerpoint

• Prezi

• Keynote

• Haiku Deck
• Blogger (like how I put together the lesson.)

Use what you know - if you don't know Prezi, for example, this is not the assignment to teach it to yourself. Your content is of the utmost importance, not the technology you use. 

You will be required to use ALL the following in the presentation: 

• Links
• Video
• Photos/graphics
• Narration 

Again, this will look a lot like today's Blogger lesson. Think about how you might translate the photos, links, and video and then explain it in your video.)

After you create the presentation you will also narrate a Quick Time Screen recording.  You are also required at the end of the presentation to create "credits". You must reveal where you got the research, the media, then make a Quick Time video and post it in your folder.  Quick Time is very easy. Already on your school Mac and only takes a few minutes to learn to use. When in doubt look to Youtube for an easy tutorial. 

This presentation has a screen run time of about 3-4  minutes. It will also include the actual presentation file so I may look at it on my own later.  

Questions? 
I know it is a lot but never hesitate to contact me. 
Have a great week. 
Dr. C

Week 3 Memos and Status Reports

Now that we have chosen an agency to represent our company the real work begins. 

You will write a memo and a status report for next week based on the following criteria:

 You will first write a status report on the development of the bid you have been asked to write
and then write a memo discussing the ethical issues and your resolution to it both for Sunday, June 10.

First - status reports

I have a video in our Week 3 file that outlines how to do a status report. Watch that video first then come to this video for more information and to reiterate some of the topics I mention.

Also, take a look at this website. It gets a little annoying with some pop-ups but push through them because there is some very good information that will help you.
Here is a second website that has some additional information. 
I would compare and contrast them as you create one of this assignment. Where ever you work that company has particular criteria to be included in a weekly status report. These links and the examples in Google Drive will give you a good overview. The Google Drive example includes a status report guide from the CDC for those of you interested in working in government.

The Assignment 

Write a fictitious status report based on the week you went to meet with the ad agencies. (See the examples in the Drive.) Use the information you already created for your memo to me - the CEO. This document's audience does not need all of the detail you gave to me but they do need to be updated (people on your marketing team, for example.)

Next - the ethical memo

Here is where the information from the reading from last week continues into this week. Read the pages from the text book starting on page 24 as outlined in the email. 

Outline of the case

You have recently become Head of Finance at Pop Chips, a company which provides snack foods and catering services to the public sector. Your previous employer was Crowley Widgets International where, as finance manager, you had the opportunity to work on areas relating to financial

accounting, procurement, contracts and bids. 

One of  Pop Chips'  major contracts is with Crowley Widgets International. The contract is now up for renewal, and Crowley Widgets Incorporated is preparing a competitive bid for this contract. You have been asked to lead the team responsible for bidding for this contract, but you are concerned that you might breach confidentiality if you accept this assignment. You also suspect that your 

knowledge and experience of Crowley Widgets International was seen as good reasons for appointing you to the position at Pop Chips. 

You do not want to let your new employer down. The loss of such a major contract would have 

a significant effect on the financial performance of Pop Chips and its performance-related 

bonus scheme for management.

Keys to think about:

Objectivity: Can you safeguard against the significant self-interest threat which arises from 

 Crowley Incorporated performance-related bonus scheme? 

Confidentiality: If you accept this assignment, can you ensure that you do not use confidential 

information relating to your previous employer to your advantage or to the advantage of your 

current employer?

Professional behavior: What can you do to safeguard your reputation and the reputation of 

your employer and your profession?

Identify relevant facts:

Your previous employment with Crowley International has provided you with information which may be of value to Pop Chips. You must consider your professional body’s code of ethics, 

applicable laws and regulations, your current and previous contracts of employment, and your 

employer’s policies and procedures. A self-interest threat arises because of the impact that 

losing Crowley Widgets International contract would have on Pop Chips' financial performance and reward policy. You may also be feeling that you would like to impress your new employer and help to make a successful bid for the renewal of the contract.

Identify affected parties:

Key affected parties are you, your line manager and the board. Other employees in the 

company may be affected due to the financial implications of the contract not being renewed.

Who should be involved in the resolution:

Your line manager, other relevant staff and, if necessary, the board should be involved.

Possible course of action

The principle of confidentiality prohibits the use of confidential information acquired as a result 

of your previous employment for your advantage or that of your current employer. While you 

have a responsibility to advance the legitimate aims of your employing organization, this 

should not extend to a breach of confidentiality. In this case, you (because of  Pop Chips' performance-related bonus) and  Pop Chips stand to benefit from the confidential information about how bids are assessed at  Shenandoah International. 

The principle would not be breached if you were in possession of information that was in the public 

domain, or if you were simply to use experience gained in your previous employment, so long 

as you do not use the confidential knowledge that you acquired as a result of that employment.

You should discuss the situation and your obligations with your line manager in the first 

instance, and ask for your involvement in the preparation of the contract bid to be limited. 

For example, you may be able to contribute to aspects of the bid that do not require you to refer to 

confidential knowledge about your previous employment. If your line manager fails to 

understand the conflict that you are facing, you should request that you both discuss the 

matter with a director or other member of staff. During these discussions, you should refer to 

the company’s ethical code, if it has one, as well as that of your professional body.

If there are no other formal channels available, you should make the board aware of your 

dilemma. 

If necessary, you must refuse to take part in the bid without necessary safeguards 

being implemented. Ultimately, disassociating yourself from Pop Chips may be the only 

solution. However, before taking such a step, you should seek legal advice on your employment 

rights and responsibilities(subject to the rules and guidance of your professional body).

You should document, in detail, the steps that you take in resolving your dilemma, in case your 

ethical judgement is challenged in the future. Looking at this issue from Pop Chips' 

perspective, it may be appropriate to suggest to your line manager that a policy on conflicts of 

interest be developed and that the remuneration and bonus policy be reviewed in light of this.

Week 2 Emails and Memos

Your electronic voice - emails and memos

This week we will be reading chapter one in the book provided to you on Google Drive.

We will be writing and rewriting business emails and memos. 

Your assignments this week:

1. A company email. 
    I will provide you the information for this email. You will compose it and send it to my address at kcrowley@su.edu.       
Please send this email by Friday, July 13 by 9 p.m. EST

2. A recommendation memo. 
    I will provide you with information for a project management memo. 

    You will compose it and send it to me by Sunday, June 15 at the usual time. 

I will provide you basic templates for each of these documents. Don't make more work for yourself; follow the templates so that you may spend more time concerned with your words.

These are not long documents so you have "space" to make them flawless.

Things to consider when you start to write an email

• What is your audience’s relationship to you—for example, is the reader your teacher? Your boss? A friend? A stranger? How well do you know him/her? How would you talk to him/her in a social situation?

• What do you want your audience to think or assume about you? What kind of impression do you want to make? 

1. There is a specific subject line


2. There is a greeting to the person receiving the email - not a "hey"

3. Get directly to the point. Use no exclamation points, emoticons or slang.
4. Use proper grammar, spelling and style. Email is not an exception, especially since it might be the first or only was someone gets an impression of you.
5 Use a closing.

For your closing, something brief but friendly, or perhaps just your name, will do for most correspondence.

For a very formal message, such as a job application, use the kind of closing that you might see in a business letter.

Thank you,

Best wishes,

See you tomorrow,

Regards,

Sincerely,

Respectfully yours,

Get most of you information about how to write good emails from the video and from the chapter provided in the Google Drive. Start on page 7 to learn more about writing strong and effective emails. Also to consider: 

Here is a brief example of some emails I have received in the past:

E-mail from Student 1:

i need help on my paper can i come by your office tomorrow
thx

E-mail from Student 2:

           Hi Dr. Crowley,

I am in your MCOM 101 class on Thursdays, and I have a question about the paper that is due next Tuesday. I’m not sure that I understand what is meant by the following sentence in the prompt:
“Write a 10-page paper arguing for or against requiring ENG 101 for all SU freshmen and provide adequate support for your point of view.”
I am not sure what you would consider “adequate” support. Would using 3 sources be o.k.?
Can I come by your office tomorrow at 2:00 pm to talk to you about my question? Please let me know if that fits your schedule. If not, I could also come by on Friday after 1:00.
Thank you,
Tim Smith

See the difference? 

If you have any questions you can email me. 
From this day forward I only reply to professional emails.

THE MEMO

• From University of Oklahoma 

• From the University of Colorado (this is a long PDF file that discusses more detail about memos)

• This example most closely represents what you will be doing for your assignment. 

THE ASSIGNMENT 

The details:

I am always the CEO of your company. 
Whenever you send me a document write it as such unless I indicate otherwise. 

Assignment 1 - The email. 

The email will be about the company that wants to win our advertising business. You will use the information from the video called The Pitch (It is in our Google Drive). The email is a preview as you are going to the meeting to "interview" both agencies. 

Assignment 2 - The memo.

The memo will contain details about your chosen agency after the presentation. This will be your suggestion as to which agency you think is best for our company.  Several things to consider when writing a memo:

TO:

FROM:

DATE:

RE: (In reference to . . . )

•The introduction

Remind me (because I am very busy) of the discussion we had concerning a new agency to partner with. Always begin a memo giving the content structure and context. Tell me what we are going to be talking about and what conclusion you came to; don’t make it a secret until the end.

• Start with the main idea

Begin by outlining which agency you chose and a little background about them. (You may have to do some outside research other than watching the program.)

• State the major points

Remember what it is that your agency does and come up with a list of 3-5 points where you think this agency could help our team.

• Illustrate with evidence

Once you make those points, based on what you watched and researched, give evidence as to why you think this agency should work with us.

Almost as important as the actual content how you structure your content visually.

Use headers and bold them.

Headers help the reader can scan the document more easily.

Also, use bullets:

•Don't have too many items. Three is good, four OK, five manageable (if you're lucky), more than five - think again!

•Avoid making bullets as long as paragraphs.

Three lines is a reasonable maximum length.

• Be sure bullet points are related. You don't want to confuse this issue by talking about scheduling in budget points. 

•   Avoid bullet points when you want to build rapport or deal with sensitive issues. Bullets communicate efficiency rather than warmth. You are failing this class, for example. 

When you conclude your memo always end it with some sort of action point.

“Would you like me to set up a meeting with the BLAH agency?” or “Would you like me to acquire an RFP?”

Also, give the person you are sending the memo to a time frame in which to reply.

“Please let me know by Wednesday, March 23 so that new business group can create an agenda for the next quarter.”

Best,

You

This document should not be more than one and one-half pages but a single page would be ideal.  Be prudent, be creative but most of all be confident in your ideas and how you present them.

I look forward to reading the memos and the email.

MCOM 350 Week 1

Welcome to our online class.

You will always start here with some guidance on how to do the assignments and what the readings or viewings are for the week. You will always receive an email each Monday helping to guide you through this process. 

This week we start with talking about technology and media. 

How do you engage with business media? 

Keep in mind this is from a professional business perspective. 

• What do you read/watch?
• How often do you engage with blogs, sites, videos, podcasts etc. on your particular professional interests? 
• How do you use the information that you get from these outlets?

If you answer, "I don't." then we need to remedy that situation. 

Here are some links to some of the business news outlets you should be reading on a daily basis:

• The Economist - The smartest people in the world read this every week.
• Marketplace - An daily audio show about business that is surprisingly fun to listen to in the car.
• Wall Street Journal - The American business newspaper.

Also look for three other industry trade publications and site that cover your specialty. 

SIDE NOTE - THIS IS ABOUT YOUR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION. If you are not reading, blogging, tweeting, sharing information about your industry of interest. GET ON IT!

How do communicate with technology?

Popping off a quick email, posting a comment to an online chat or even writing something more complicated can often be misinterpreted through electronic communications. I am sure you can all think of incidences where you thought an email meant one thing but you didn't understand the tone of the message.

Electronic communication can also be difficult because you don't want to write too much (no one will read it all) and you don't want to write too little because you don't want to leave out details that are important.

So how do we reconcile

• What we want to say
• How we want to say it
• Who we want to send it to and
• By what kind of communication do you want to send it

Read the article posted on our Google Drive and watch this talk given by the author Nicholas Carr.

Your first assignments

1. You will create a Blogger site. This is where you will post some of your assignments. This site will serve as the beginnings of your professional branding toolkit. 

2. After you create the site, consider the following questions in a post: 

• What do you feel are your communication issues? 
• How might those issues impact you as a business professional?
• What have you learned from Carr that will make you a stronger business communicator? 

Also, include the questions posed above under How do you engage with business media? Answer these questions in a blog format of around 250-500 words. Do a puke to get yourself started. 

3. Find three industry related sites, blogs or podcasts and begin to follow them. You will write about what you read and hear in the weeks to come. Make a note on your blog the titles of what you are following. 

This is due Sunday, July 8 by midnight.  

Questions?