Writing Résumés and Cover Letters guides your students step by step through the process of generating job-application documents that will impress human resources personnel. Instructions, activities, examples, interactives, and downloads help students gather information about their education, work experience, and interests. Students then assemble these details in a compelling and correct résumé, with an effective cover letter or email. You can present this unit right from your interactive whiteboard.
First students warm up by thinking about the "course of their lives" (curriculum vitae). Then students read a sample cover letter and résumé to see how one student applied for a job. After responding to the sample prompt and response, students work step by step through the process of writing their own résumés and cover letters.
- Prewriting activities help students gather details about their employment objective, education, work experience, and interests. They network among friends, teachers, family members, and favorite businesses as well as research to find job opportunities. Students then think about the employer's perspective and match what the person needs with what they can offer.
- Writing activities help students organize their information in appropriate sections: employment objective, work experience, skills and qualifications, education, awards and honors, and references. They also draft a cover letter that connects with a specific employer and targets a particular job opening.
- Revising activities help students provide key details employers look for as well as eliminate unimportant information. They also target key job-specific terminology and improve the connotation of their word choice. Students get a peer review and use a checklist to improve their résumés and cover letters.
- Editing activities help students use parallel structure and telegraphic sentence style for each item in the résumé. Students learn to design for clarity, confidence, and professionalism. An editing checklist guides students in correcting punctuation, spelling, usage, and grammar.
- Publishing activities help students submit their finished résumés and cover letters and archive them for use with future job opportunities. They finish by reflecting on what they have learned.