Key ingredients

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 434.

Part 1

II. READING

I. PRE-READING

UNIT 6. WHY SUFFER RESUME ANGST?

o Answer the following questions:

1. Do you know how to write a resume? What are the main items of any resume?

2. What information would you include in you resume: gender, religion, education, hobbies, age, skills?

v Active vocabulary

o Study the following vocabulary items and collocations:

Resume angst

To opt to be different

To receive (to win) interview invitations

To differentiate from others

A persuasive resume

Target audience

A jazzy or cute presentation

To move on to the next candidate

Clean layout

To highlight one's capabilities

To strut one's stuff

To lead with one's strengths

To focus on something

To grasp the essence of something

To reflect one's exposure to current thinking

Ability to achieve

o Read the text. Do the comprehension check below:

Like a powerful flu bug, resume angst is sweeping college campuses, striking down everyone who hopes to land a job by graduation. Some take the prescribed medicine and dutifully troop to the placement office for advice. Others sweat it out alone or ask family members for help.

In the end, few students feel confident about their final document. They worry that it looks too much like their friends' resumes - and why not, if everyone uses the same format? Those who opt to be different fear the opposite - that something's wrong with their resume because it doesn't look like all the others.

Who's right? The only way to tell if your resume is effective is if you receive interview invitations from employers who read it. In other words, your resume is simply an advertisement for you. When companies receive hundreds, even thousands, of resumes weekly, yours must somehow differentiate you enough from other job hunters to make employers want to meet you.

A well-written resume does this. Employers who are impressed with your presentation will arrange to see you. If the interview goes well, you may earn a job offer. Thus, your goal when creating a resume isn't to land a job. It's to describe your skills and capabilities so accurately and persuasively that you win lots of interview invitations.

A persuasive resume, like an ad, must contain certain ingredients arranged in a format that appeals to its target audience. Remember, your readers are business executives and recruiters, not students or professors. Don't create a jazzy or cute presentation, featuring exaggerated graphics, jarring colors or odd-sized paper. Stay with a simple, clean layout that focuses attention on what you can do for a company.

Start by listing your contact information. This straightforward section tells employers how to find you, so use an address and telephone number that you check frequently. If recruiters have trouble getting in touch, they'll move on to the next candidate.

Center your name at the top of your resume. Skip a line, then put your address on the left-hand side of the page and your telephone number on the right. If you have an e-mail address, include it as well, just below your telephone number.