ENGLISH

Mock Interview

Please respond to each of the interview questions below. Your responses do not need to be incredibly long, but they should be in complete sentences and complete enough to highlight your hirability. Remember to take every opportunity to provide insight into your experiences and make an impression.You can upload your responses as a , x, or attachment.

Personal

1. Why did you choose to interview with our organization?

2. Describe your ideal job.

3. What do you consider to be your greatest strengths? weaknesses?

4. Have you ever had any failures? What did you learn from them?

Experience/Education

5. How does your college education or work experience relate to this job?

6. Give an example of a situation in which you provided a solution to an employer. Was it implemented? Was it successful?

7. How do you think a former supervisor would describe you as an employee?

Future Plans

8. Would you be successful working in a team-based environment?

9. Are you able to work on several assignments at once?

10. Where do you see yourself in five years?

ENGL2311 Employment Portfolio

2

Purpose

To produce an employment portfolio for potential employment at your dream job.

Assignment

Part One: Mock Interview—Answer the interview questions on D2L in complete sentences as if they were being asked by a potential employer. Your responses may be typed directly into the textbox or attached as , x, or files. NOTE: Take advantage of any opportunities to elaborate about yourself and your experiences. This is your chance to provide insight the resume and cover letter cannot.

Part Two: Cover Letter—Compose a 1- to 1 ½-page cover letter using class notes and your textbook pages as guides for content, organization, and formatting. Your letter should include an address to a real company in your desired field. NOTE: Cover letters should begin with a clear expression of interest in a particular position. The remainder of the letter should elaborate on (without repeating) information you’ve provided in your resume.

Part Three: Resume—Create a resume designed to help you earn a position at your dream job with a real company in your desired field. Use class notes and your textbook as guides for organization, length, and formatting. NOTE: Read notes carefully to determine the appropriate format and organization. These are crucial for your success with this assignment.

Audience

Write this for a prospective employer.

Constraints

First person is necessary. This should be typed and saved as a Word document or PDF file. Remember to keep your letter and resume simple and easy to read.

Reading Requirements

Notes from class and pages provided from Chapter 11

Evaluation Criteria

The grading of this assignment will be based on assignment fulfillment, grammar, punctuation, style, audience analysis, format, thoroughness, and organization.

Writing for Employment

Cover Letters and Resumes

Making Connections

• This week’s discussion and writing assignments
are inspired by your reading assignment from
Chapter 11. Read through the provided pages,
notes, and assignments before you begin. All of
this information will help you be successful.

• For the employment portfolio components this
week, imagine your ideal job, and prepare your
materials with that job and a typical company in
the field in mind.

Purpose of Employment Portfolio
Resumes and Cover Letters:
• Allow you to control the presentation of your skills on

paper.

• Encourage an employer to call you to arrange an
interview.

• Give employers something to look at before you fill out
any applications they may require.

• Establish goodwill between you and your employer.

Terms Defined
• Cover Letter: a one- to two-page letter written to accompany the resume
• Resume: a one- or two-page summary of your qualifications
• Keywords: significant words that are included in the job announcement. A

keyword search compares qualifications on the resume to qualifications the
employer needs and determines whether the resume has enough matches to
warrant a closer reading.

• Parallel Structure: use of the grammatical structure already in place. Parallel
structure provides consistency, enabling your reader to anticipate your structure.
Grammatically speaking, this typically refers to verb form. (Ex. Use the same verb
endings for all verbs within a list.)

• Chronological (in order of time)/Reverse Chronological Order (backward through
time)

• Priority Order: from most important to least important.
• Text File: A text file can be opened regardless of the word processing program

used. Most word processing programs allow you to save a document as a text (.txt)
file, often referred to as a plain text file because of its simple, plain appearance.
The disadvantage of a text file is the loss of formatting in a carefully designed print
resume. A company will often request or files.

Letter Types

• Cover Letter
• Follow-up Letter—to thank the employer for

the interview and to summarize your
qualifications

• Resignation Letter—to announce your
intention to resign

• Solicited Letter
• Unsolicited Letter

Cover Letter Tips and Guidelines
• P. 270—sample cover letter
• A cover letter should be formal and should include your name and contact

information (preferably in some sort of letterhead), the date, and the name of the
company and its contact information before the letter actually begins.

• Even though there will be blocks of writing, white space is still important. Add a
space between paragraphs and/or sections.

• Always include a space for your signature—or include it electronically.
• A cover letter is a sales letter. A cover letter is composed of an opening (an

attention-getter or a hook), a summary of qualifications (the proof or sell), and a
request for an interview (motivation to action).

• The first paragraph should express your interest in the position, describe how you
discovered the position, and summarize your major qualifications in a way that
sets you apart from your competitors.

• If it is a solicited letter, you should include a reference to the job posting in your
first paragraph.

• The body paragraphs should describe your qualifications that appeal directly to the
job posting in a level of detail you cannot achieve in your resume. This may include
your education, work experience, or specific skills.

• The final paragraph should request an interview, refer to your attached resume,
and provide contact information.

Resume Types
• Chronological Resume—The chronological resume organizes information in reverse chronological order—or

backward in time through a person’s education and employment record—with the most recent information
presented first. A chronological resume offers an approach that most employers recognize and accept. This
resume: 1) Provides a history of employment (regardless of the job) and education in reverse chronological order.
2) Accounts for every year the applicant is out of school, with no gaps in time. 3) Tends to emphasize dates in the
resume’s design. 4) Uses predictable headings. 5) Places education and work experience early in the resume.

• Electronic Resume—An electronic resume is a chronological or functional resume that has been reformatted so
that it can be sent electronically. It may take one of the following forms: 1) E-mail resume sent as a formatted
attachment to an e-mail or as part of an e-mail message; 2) ASCII Text resume sent with special text formatting as
an attachment to or part of an e-mail; 3) Scannable resume sent as an attachment to an e-mail, part of an e-mail
message, or mailed (but eventually scanned by an optical reader); 4)Online resume posted on a company’s or job
search website or posted on an applicant’s website.

• Functional Resume—Instead of organizing information around time, the functional resume organizes information
around a person’s unique skills, giving an applicant the opportunity to highlight his or her special abilities or
experience. This resume may have a section devoted to technical skills, sales abilities, or leadership skills. Some
resumes are a combination of chronological and functional resumes, highlighting special skills in one area and
using a chronological presentation for the work history. Resumes organized according to function or purpose are
more flexible than chronological resumes. Tailored to suit the requirements of a particular job, a functional
resume: 1) Summarizes the most important qualifications for the job. 2) May not account for every year out of
school. 3)Emphasizes skills, accomplishments, and job titles regardless of time frame. 4) Uses less predictable
headings designed for the job. 5) May present education and work experience later in the resume.

• Scannable Resume—Scannable resumes are mailed as a print document, sent as an e-mail, or posted online to be
scanned electronically for keywords.

NOTE: Reverse chronological order is the accepted organization of the content of a resume, regardless of type.

Resume Tips and Guidelines
• Resumes come in an infinite number of styles and preferences. Unless specified

otherwise, the employee must determine which format and organization best
highlights them as a prospective hire.

Standards exist, however, and they are as follows:
• Include your name and contact information at the top, often as a header to minimize

space.
• Organize education and experience in reverse chronological order.
• If you want to highlight education more, you begin with it; if you want to highlight

work experience more, you begin with it; etc.
• Place emphasis on whatever is most impressive, but be consistent! If your position is

impressive, place emphasis on job titles. If your length of employment reveals that
you’ve had few if any gaps, highlight dates.

• Utilize white space. Resumes should be scannable and read quickly.
• Only include long lists if they are necessary. Some industries expect lists of duties as a

standard. If you are applying for a job for which your prior job titles do not seem to
prepare you, but your duties reveal otherwise, include all of your duties.

• For most industries, 1-2 pages is standard. For education, however, detail is key, and
brevity isn’t a priority.

Things to Avoid

• Do not place too much emphasis on “unimportant”
positions.

• Do not include huge blocks of text. If you have more
you’d like to say about a particular position, use the
cover letter.

• Do not use over-stylized templates, which will
distract from the content of your letter or resume.

• Do not use tiny margins or fonts in an effort to keep
your resume within a certain length. This makes it
difficult to read quickly, which is key in technical
communication.

Next Step

You can find the Cover Letter and Resume assignment in

the “Week Four” folder under the “Content” tab.

Discussion Objective(s):

• Select one of the topics, and follow the instructions
provided. After completing your assignment, pose one

meaningful question that allows your classmates to

examine your assignment and connect it to our

discussion on employment portfolios. Respond to at

least two of your classmates’ posts. Include which topic

you chose to complete in your subject line.

• Topics can be found in the “Week Four” folder and in
the syllabus.