Memorandum
To: Professor Stice
From: Alexandra Sloat
Date: 9/15/15
Re: Analysis of Kenneth Bradely’s Resume and Job application letter
Resume Review
After completing the assigned reading this week I feel that I have a finer understanding of what information needs to be included or left out of a professional resume. Although Kenneth Bradely’s resume followed the chronological format he left out some very important information decreasing the effectiveness of his document. Starting with the identifying information, Kenneth failed to include an email address and did not format his physical address appropriately. This is just the beginning of a trend throughout the document. Kenneth failed to include important information in each section.
Since Kenneth does not have a profusion of work or volunteer experience regarding mapping projects and database management it’s important that he expand his “education’ section. According to Markel a strong “education’ section including relevant coursework, achievements, grade-point average, and awards can make up for the lack of experience in the professional world (Markel, 2015). Since this job requires experience in the field, Kenneth needs to elaborate on his academic experiences rather than work-experiences. Kenneth’s “education’ section contained the bare minimum and didn’t even disclose his major, minor, and anticipated graduation date. If Kenneth spent more time on this section rather than his employment history he would have had a more effective resume. In chapter 15 Markel explains that spending too much time explaining non-professional positions can often draw the reader’s attention away from more important material (Markel, 2015).
The resume is unlikely to stand out amongst other applicants. Kenneth didn’t list any accomplishments, skills, unique characteristics, or abilities so it’s likely that the resume will be forgotten. Although Kenneth may be the best candidate for the job, he is not representing himself well in his document and will be overlooked.
Job-application letter Review
Although Kenneth’s job-application letter could use some adjustments it was significantly better than the resume. A job application-letter is supposed to be used as a “cover letter’ for a resume but in Kenneth’s case it provides more information than his actual resume. Kenneth includes information about relevant coursework but again does not go further into his academic background, which is necessary since he does not have professional experience.
In the readings this week Markel stresses the importance of using key words especially when companies are using resume-application software like monsterjobs.com. According to Markel “if your resume doesn’t have the keywords that match their job requirements, your resume may hit the ‘no’ pile’ (Markel, 2015) in the resume database. Kenneth uses some keywords but it would be useful for him to use more keywords regarding communication skills and technical skills since the job requires him to work with other technicians on projects.
Mike, Markel. (2015). Technical Communication, 11th edition. Bedford/St.Martin’s. Boise State University.