For example, if you have never worked in a fast-paced sales environment, focus on your desire to learn. Highlight the fact that you have observed fast-paced sales environments, and those situations appeal to you. At the very least, you could use the fact that you have always been very proactive in completing tasks as efficiently as possible. Or maybe you have taken a course or two in economics or marketing that might have provided tangentially relevant knowledge. In contrast, if you are a strong match for most of the requirements, generate specific, results-oriented examples to demonstrate these skills.

As you compare your abilities and credentials to your list(s), ask yourself how closely your qualifications match the items are listed. Do your skills match all of these requirements, or the vast majority of them? Highlight the skills that do match and consider where you might reference them directly in your job letter. Your next step might involve identifying and writing down any requirements that are NOT stated directly.

Once you have identified a position that interests you, copy the job description into a Word document. (If you only have a hard copy of the ad, it might be worthwhile to type it into a new Word document, so that you can copy pertinent phrases from the job description into your letter.

. Some recruiters go straight to the résumé and make an initial decision, while other recruiters carefully weigh the information in the letter.

However, the application letter still serves several crucial functions. If the résumé is characterized by breadth (giving a broad overview of your qualifications), the application letter is characterized by depth (

This is not necessary because employers can simply ask for references when they want them.

In writing your objective statement, you would want to use the specific job title as it is given in the job ad or on the company website (with proper capitalization), and you would likely want to state the company name as well

An entry-level position in the healthcare industry, enabling me to use my business and communications skills to enhance a company’s bottom line.

If you are unsure about including an objective statement, or if it would be too vague and general, it is best to omit it altogether.

Naysayers argue that the résumé is meant to be scanned in a matter of minutes and the objective statement only slows this process down with details that will likely be explored in the cover letter. If included, objective statements should be very targeted and mention a specific position. Whatever objective you choose, it should be highly specific in stating what you are looking for and what you have to contribute. It should also be you-centered, showing what you can do for the company in no more than two sentences.

As noted in the section on design, you should use bullet points as a means of clearly and succinctly listing your responsibilities and achievements.

The name of the company. The city and state and, when outside the United States, the country. The years of employment. (If you have had several jobs at one company, include the overall years of experience; for separate jobs, note specific years of experience.) Three to seven bullet points describing your responsibilities and the results of your work, depending on years of experience.

If you attend graduate school, law school, and so forth, your postgraduate institution would be listed first. You also have the option of including relevant courses that prepared you for the job you are seeking and any special accomplishments related to school—like projects, offices held, service, and awards or scholarships. If you have many of the latter, you might alternatively consider placing them in their own section marked Honors.

If you MUST use these phrases, find concrete examples to back them up. For example, instead of using team player, include a time you “collaborated with peers to save the company over $500/month on delivery methods” or “co-managed a team of six to interview/hire vendors for annual company picnic.”

Within the education section, it is standard to include your GPA, typically if it is 3.0 or better, along with your expected graduation date, major(s), and minor(s).

If in a loud area, do not answer your cell phone, especially when you do not recognize the number. Allow the call to go to voicemail, listen to it in a quiet place, and return the call as soon as possible. A professional voicemail might sound like the following: “You’ve reached John Smith at 555.555.5555. Please leave a message and I will call you back as soon as possible.” Be sure to check your voicemail on a regular basis.

If your first name is difficult to pronounce, you could include your nickname in quotation marks or parentheses (e.g., Xioang “Angie” Kim or Massimo “Mass” Rapini).

First of all, your Résumé Header should include four items: full name, address, email address, phone number, and possibly your professional website or Linkedin page.

it is non-standard and strongly discouraged in the United States to include a photo with the job packet. It may also be a good idea to be appraised of your legal rights when working through the job process, from application to interview. To become more aware of protections guaranteed by federal law, you may want to review a resource like the following, published by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Permission

or example, high schools, no matter how prestigious, should not be included in a résumé.

Use key terms gathered in your pre-writing, preparation phase (from the job description and research into your field). If your potential employer is using a résumé-scanning program, these key terms may make the difference between getting an interview or a rejection.

Quantify your skills and achievements, as explained previously. This means including references to technologies and equipment you have used; types of documents you have produced; procedures you have followed; languages you speak; technical languages you know;

types of clients you have worked with (demographic information that might be relevant in your new workplace); and so on.

Write in sentence fragments that begin with active verbs and leave out sentences’ subjects. Example: “I eliminated the duplication of paperwork in my department by streamlining procedures” would become “Eliminated paperwork duplication in a struggling department by streamlining procedures.”

For example: Developed (VERB) new paper flow procedure (DETAILS), resulting in reduced staff errors and customer wait times (RESULT); Provided (VERB) friendly customer-focused service (DETAILS) leading to a 15% improvement in customer satisfaction and loyalty (RESULT).

Follow it with the details of that skill or achievement, and then describe the positive impact of your achievement.

When describing work experience (and possibly education), include bullet points

Start your bullet with an action verb describing a skill or achievement

You might consider using a template as a helpful starting point. However, if you do use a common template to help with layout and section format, be sure to modify it in some way so it does not look identical to another candidate’s résumé.

However, both the college student and the more experienced candidate may choose a functional résumé for these reasons:

The functional résumé typically opens with a brief summary/profile detailing strengths (one to three sentences) and demonstrates how you match the requirements of your potential job by including relevant achievements and accomplishments.

The functional résumé still includes an Employment Experience section and likely an Education section, but these sections are streamlined to include only the basic information about each position held or each school attended.

centers around well-developed Skills & Achievements section, in which skills are organized into categories

The chronological résumé presents experience under headings by job title, company, location, and dates of employment. Education is another common category that, like all sections on a résumé, is also in reverse chronological order. While the chronological résumé dedicates the majority of its space to providing relevant details from previous work experience, the education section is often placed above the work section.

you must decide which fits your current situation. There are many reasons to choose one format over another.

Stronger examples of résumé statements might include: “completed an average of 65 customer transactions per hour, setting a company record for the 2019 fiscal year” or “managed national and international supplier accounts with purchase ranges from $1,000 to $10,000,000 USD.”

What exactly do you do, or what have you done in the past? Your résumé should answer this question very quickly

To show your command of the written word

To represent you when you are not there.

Based on the content of the job ad, you will want to address how your education and/or work experiences (including internships and volunteer work) have taught you both technical and “soft” skills that will help you perform the listed job duties.

because they have many documents to review, they look for reasons to reduce the number of résumés that demand a second look. This means that a single error can be all that is needed to discard your résumé and your candidacy. However, recruiters also have an eye for key details, so they will quickly recognize a well-constructed résumé and discard one that is poorly designed.

As a marketing document that sells your candidacy, your résumé should have a format that is pleasing to read, efficient in its use of the English language, and very concise.

Several different résumé formats are available to you. However, you may choose the functional (skills) résumé format to place more emphasis on a specific set of current qualifications and slightly less emphasis on your education or work experience;

you do not have to create a new résumé and cover letter for every job opening. Instead, you can create modular materials with moving parts that can be adapted and reorganized for each job.

Here are some resources to get you started:

Companies often delete the job posting once they have received sufficient applicants, so it is important that you save your own copy of the document, along with the date and location you found it (this information is often referenced in the job letter); you might also copy and paste the text into a new document, or bookmark the webpage.

Investing the preparation time to write your employment materials, including researching available positions, can save you many headaches in the job process.

Remember that everyone has strengths and everyone has weaknesses, including every CEO, every president, every manager, and every one of your coworkers. You will be in good company when considering and discussing your weaknesses.

Use what you have just learned to explain why Student 2’s email to Professor Jones is more effective than the email written by Student 1. How does the tone of the messages differ? What makes Student 2’s email look and sound more appropriate? What are the elements that contribute its clarity? If you were Professor Jones and you received both emails, how would you respond to each one?

Here are two versions of an email from a supervisor, Jane Doe, to a group of her employees. Which version do you think is most effective? Why?

A memo includes a header or heading block, an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

The successful operation of a company may depend on memos—possibly even memos that are sent via email—for communication between the employees of the company. Types of memos include: inquiries, recommendations, problem-solution, etc. The memo’s message is direct and follows a preset format for easy access to information. While it may contain a request for feedback, the memo is linear, from the organization to the employees, or from one employee to another.

Be aware that contacting someone too frequently can border on harassment. Texting is a tool. Use it when appropriate.

Always proofread for tone, spelling, grammar, and content before hitting send.

Netiquette matters—remember the golden rule in all communications.

but how we conduct ourselves will leave a lasting image.

An email’s closing is extremely important because it identifies the sender and provides contact information. Always include your full name at the end of your email.

Use paragraphs to separate thoughts (or consider writing separate emails if you have many unrelated points or questions), and state the desired outcome at the end of your message.

Reference any included attachments up front as well, so that readers are aware of the additional content and its purpose; in your email state the name of the file, along with the type of document and program needed to open it, for example: “Please see the attached Word document of my essay, The Many Facets of Richard III.”

Emojis, though helpful in informal communications like texting with friends, may also be perceived as unprofessional in business contexts

. In general, avoid using all caps since it may have the appearance of yelling.

When in doubt, address recipients more formally to avoid offending them. Some common ways to address readers are: Dear Professor Smith, Hello Ms. McMahon, or Hi Mary Jane. If a person’s name is not available, or if the email addresses a diverse group, try something both generic and polite: To whom it may concern, Dear members of the selection committee, or Hello everyone.

. Especially when an individual is on the receiving end of an angry email, anger may seem like the appropriate response. However, such a step is unprofessional and may have serious ramifications. Avoid flame wars. When tempted to send an emotional response, always wait; instead, consider holding off until the message can be phrased in a more objective, professional manner.

Your supervisor may want to know that the individual has been informed of the policy, and you may simultaneously wish to avoid fallout with a co-worker who could misunderstand the supervisors’ request for information. Including your supervisors in the Bcc: would be one way to make them aware of the steps you have taken to address a situation or fulfill the duties of your job position.

Perhaps you did not obtain permission to share their email information with others, but you had offered to send them the information as well. In such an instance, the Bcc: will enable you to be respectful of their privacy, while avoiding sending a separate email.

They should convey the main point of your email or the idea that you want readers to take away from it. They may also keep the email from being diverted to a junk mail folder, so be as specific as possible

Also keep in mind: just as an email’s subject line can communicate either professionalism or a lack of it, so also does your own email address. Consider two brief examples: jackjohnson@yahoo.com and bigdaddy2000@gmail.com

In addition to its language and content, the structure of a email should also reflect a writer’s understanding of audience and purpose; a well-crafted email helps to establish credibility with an audience by showing awareness of the genre’s conventions, or its standard moves and expectations.

The tone of the message could be misconstrued. If you would hesitate to say something to someone’s face, do not write it in an email.

being careful to avoid a demanding tone or the underlying assumption that your request will be granted.

Unless readers have promised otherwise, assume that it may take a few days for them to respond.

Never write or send anything that you would not want to share publicly, or in front of your company president.

Email may be informal in personal contexts, but business communication requires attention to detail, awareness that an email reflects both you and your company, and a professional tone

A clear structure with a greeting, message body, and closing is also expected of this genre.

Strong subject lines, clear formatting, and concise writing are all characteristics of a well-written email.

When composing an email, a sender must account for the time constraints readers may face due to high email volume. Recipients, on the other hand, should plan to answer a business email within 24 hours, or the general time frame that they would respond to a text

Depending on your audience, you can modify the format by making the lines shorter or longer (adjusting margins), using larger or smaller type sizes, and other such tactics.

Search your paragraphs for listings of items—these can be made into vertical lists, or look for paired listings such as terms and their definitions—these can be made into two-column lists. Of course, be careful not to force this type of formatting, and do not overdo it.

A six to eight-line paragraph is the usual maximum. This is because a paragraph should contain content about a single ideas; breaking up paragraphs into smaller ideas can help the reader more easily understand the individual topics, while also making the text less (visually) overwhelming

. For non-specialist audiences, you may want to use more, simpler graphics. Graphics for specialists are often more detailed and technical.

When you revise your rough drafts, put them on a diet—go through a draft line by line trying to reduce the overall word, page, or line count by 20 percent.

Also, personalizing your writing style and making it more relaxed and informal can make it more accessible.

n instructions, for example, using imperative voice and “you” phrasing is vastly more understandable than the passive voice or third-personal phrasing.

Create topic sentences for paragraphs and paragraph groups. It can help readers immensely to give them an idea of the topic and purpose of a section (a group of paragraphs) and in particular to give them an overview of the subtopics about to be covered.

In most types of technical documents, each major section includes mini-introductions that indicate the topic of the section and give an overview of the subtopics to be covered in that section to let the reader know what information each section will contain.

Words like “therefore,” “for example,” “however” are transition words—they indicate the logic connecting the previous thought to the upcoming thought.

or example, in instructions it is sometimes better to feed in chunks of background at the points where they are immediately needed

For example, there can be too much background information up front (or too little) such that certain readers get lost.

If you already have examples, it may help to alter the technical content or level of your examples

Think about your audience’s education level and familiarity with the topic and terms used, and revise to make sure your content is clear for that audience.

Are you using terms the reader will be familiar with? Is the sentence structure clear for the audience’s reading comprehension? It may be pitched at the wrong kind of audience—for example, an expert audience rather than a technician audience.

Note that some of this information can be added in the main document body, but you can also add appendices or glossaries—it depends on your audience and document type.

With each subsequent draft, think more carefully about your readers, and revise and edit your document so that you make technical information more understandable for specific audiences.

In this situation, most writers compose for the majority of readers and sacrifice the minority readers. Others put the supplemental information in appendixes or insert cross-references to beginners’ books.

that might influence how you should design and write your document—for example, age groups, type of residence, area of residence, gender, political preferences, and so on.

considering

Make decisions on what readers want to read about as well as what they do not want to read about.

Background—knowledge, experience, and training

Regardless of which type of reader you identify (experts, technicians, executives, gatekeepers, or non-specialists), you should analyze these groups in terms of their characteristics:

. In this case, you would want to write your report to be accessible to all these types of audience.

If you believe a document is unlikely to be used by the secondary audience(s), you can write for the primary audience only. This would be applicable if you create a set of instructions over “How to Change a Tire” for a website. You can assume most readers will be non-specialists who need assistance with the task, not mechanics, designers, or engineers in the automotive industry.

Identifying what type of reader may be interested in your document will help you create an improved, more effective document.

Watch out for metaphors, slang, and figurative language that simply have no meaning to non-native speakers of English. Many American expressions have to do with sports—everything from poker to football—and have no significance to those who have not grown up around those sports. Some of our expressions are actually racist or have a racist past, without our knowing or recognizing it because we do not know the origin of the phrase. Even a phrase that seems innocuous such as “bury the hatchet” could be viewed as culturally insensitive to Native Americans. If you use it, you are referring (inadvertently) to ethnic stereotypes as well as using references that non-U.S. cultures would not understand.

. Every business or organization has a culture, and within what may be considered a global culture, there are many subcultures or co-cultures. For example, consider the difference between the sales and accounting departments in a corporation

In fact, this audience element is so important that it is one of the cornerstones of technical writing: you are often challenged to write about technical subjects in a way that a beginner could understand. Sometimes you have to write for an audience of other specialists, but generally speaking, you are communicating information to someone who does not already know or have it.

Technical communication is the delivery of technical information to readers (or listeners or viewers) in a manner that is adapted to their needs, their level of understanding, and their background.

Sometimes technical writing is formulaic, which can be a good thing if you need to communicate something with great clarity and efficiency. However, do not let formulaic writing sap the energy out of everything you write.

That might sound complicated right now, but it can basically be broken down into an awareness and sensitivity to the needs of your audience. What does your audience already know? What do they want out of your document? Where, when, and how are they going to use the document you create? These are some of the questions you want to ask yourself before you begin any writing task.

The writer recognizes, respects, and addresses the importance of the audience’s time by being clear, concise, and accessible. The writer strives for effective and efficient communication by providing documents written in specific formats, using unambiguous language to convey clearly accessible information. The reader in turn thoroughly processes the information in order to give a thoughtful response or take appropriate action.