During the employment project, you will learn strategies for seeking and securing employment, with particular attention to the documents people normally use to represent themselves and their prospects to potential employers (see "Deliverables" below). This project asks you to work individually, but there will also be chances for you to work with your peers to exchange ideas and feedback.

Project summary

You will be asked to locate a job for which you are qualified and apply for it. If you already have a good job, you will find a job that would be an advance for you and prepare application materials for that position. You will be expected to research the company. Step 1 of the project asks you to learn about and use various web-based resources for job seekers and ultimately to select one real job to research and pursue. Step 2 asks you to prepare the all-important cover letter (i.e., "Job Application Letter"). Step 3 asks you to prepare a print resume suitable for such a position. In Step 4, you will assess your experience in a "Project Assessment Document." In the process of completing each step, you will work closely with your peers and me to shape your writing so that it represents you and your experience fully and effectively.

Deliverables

Step 1: Job Description and Rationale: Produce an exact copy of the job announcement, a one-paragraph description of the position in your own words, and a two-paragraph discussion of why you have chosen this position and why you believe you are qualified for it and at least a two-paragraph discussion about the company. Separately attach the five skills you identify and support with work or classroom experience and include at least three in your narrative. Not counting the actual job announcement, Step 1 should be approximately two pages single spaced, block style with a 12 point serif font. This step is due on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

Steps 2 and 3:
Print Resume: Your resume (one or more pages in length, depending upon the type of job and the depth of your experience) should adapt features drawn from the samples discussed in class, or available for review at the Online Writing Lab. It's critical that you shape your resume to the specific job you have chosen to apply for (that it's suited to the context) and include only the relevant aspects of your professional experience. As in the Job Application Letter, your writing needs to be error-free, concise, and presented in an easily readable format. Printed draft due for peer review on Tuesday, Sept. 22.

Job Application Letter: The job application letter (or "cover letter") is critical to your efforts to secure a job, perhaps as critical as your resume itself. For Project 1, your letter should be no longer than one or two pages (one is preferable in most cases). You should follow the suggestions and models discussed in class. Printed draft due for peer review on Wednesday, Thursday, Sept. 24.

Step 4: Project Assessment Document: As you near the end of your work on the Employment Project, prepare a two-page overview/analysis of your deliverables and the process you used to complete them. You should use the single space, block style with a 12 point serif font. Your Project Assessment Document should answer most of the following questions, each of which is tied to the major goals of the assignment:

Writing in Context:	How did the particular job you applied for affect how you wrote your letter? Did it change or affect how you presented yourself? How did applying for this position help you understand what additional experience you might need.
Process:	What was the most challenging document to produce and why? Briefly describe and explain one of the significant revisions you made to this document after your initial draft.
Research:	Which research resource proved to be the most beneficial for you? The least? Explain.
Collaboration:	What was one way that peer feedback helped you improve your work? How did responding to the work of others help you improve your own work?
Project Management:	How well did you plan your work on this project? What might you have done differently?
Document Design:	What is the most effective aspect of your deliverables in terms of presentation or design? Have you deliberately adapted a standard form in an unusual or creative way? If so, why?

 

Your Project Assessment Document is due when you turn in your completed Employment Project on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

All four deliverables should be fully revised and submitted to me in printed form by the end of class on You should bind them with a paperclip, in the proper order (Steps 1-4). You must include the description of the position you are applying for with step one. If you have revised step one, please include the original with the revised copy. All print material should, of course, be neatly printed and indicate your professionalism.

Project goals

Writing in Context

• Analyze professional cultures, social contexts, and audiences to determine how they shape the various purposes and forms of workplace writing, such as persuasion, organizational communication, and public discourse, with an emphasis on

  • writing for a range of defined audiences and stakeholders
  • negotiating the ethical dimensions of workplace communication

Project Management

• Understand, develop and deploy various strategies for planning, researching, drafting, revising, and editing documents both individually and collaboratively.
• Select and use appropriate technologies that effectively and ethically address professional situations and audiences.
• Build professional ethos through documentation and accountability.

  Document Design
  Make rhetorical design decisions about workplace documents, including

  • understanding and adapting to genre conventions and audience expectations
  • understanding and implementing design principles of format and layout
  • interpreting and arguing with design
  • drafting, researching, testing, and revising visual designs and information architecture
    
    
• Teamwork
  Learn and apply strategies for successful teamwork and collaboration, such as
• working online with colleagues
• determining roles and responsibilities
• managing team conflicts constructively
• responding constructively to peers' work
• soliciting and using peer feedback effectively
• achieving team goals

Research
Understand and use various research methods to produce professional documents, including

• analyzing professional contexts
• locating, evaluating, and using print and online information selectively for particular audiences and purposes
• triangulating sources of evidence
• selecting appropriate primary research methods, such as interviews, observations, focus groups, and surveys to collect data
• working ethically with research participants

Technology
Use and evaluate the writing technologies frequently used in the workplace, such as emailing, instant messaging, image editing, video editing, presentation design and delivery, HTML editing, Web browsing, content management, and desktop publishing technologies.

Grading

The Employment Project is worth 30% of your course grade. The breakdown for each of its components is as follows:

Grading criteria

When I assign a grade to your project, I will measure your work against the models discussed in class and will pay particular attention to see whether you have effectively adapted your documents to the job for which you have applied. Your writing will need to be precise, accurate, and well-suited to the context (the job/field) and to the rhetorical occasion (in terms of tone, style, and content). Grades are as follows: A=100-90, B+=89-87, B=86-84, B-=83-80, C+=79-77, C=76-74, C-=73-70, D+=69-67, D=66-64, D-=63-60, F=59 or below

Revision

You will have opportunities to revise your work throughout the process and will be permitted to revise only Steps 2-4 after receiving your final grade on the project, subject to these restrictions: 1) You meet with me or a tutor in the Writing Lab to discuss revisions; 2) You turn in your completed revision within two weeks of the date it was returned to you with a grade; 3) you include submission notes that specify precisely what you did to improve your work. 4) You may only revise deliverables that were submitted on Monday, February 23.

Other Employment Project Links: | OWL Resources on Resumes & Business Writing