For today’s class, you read the first half of chapter 2 from Paul Anderson’s Technical Communication. Write a summary memo of some of the important take-aways from the reading and post them here as a comment to this blog post. You will have the first ten minutes of class to work on this.
11 thoughts on “Beginning of Class Writing: Anderson Chapter 2, pages 22-45”
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TO: Prof. J. Ellis
FROM: Robert Smith
DATE: 09/10/15
SUBJECT: Anderson Chapter 2, pages 22-45
In Chapter 2 of Paul Anderson’s Technical Communication, the chapter provided an overview of a reader-centered writing process and guidelines on how to write a resume and job application that would grab the attention of the employer who would be looking at the resume or job application. Anderson stated that employers want to hire people who have specific abilities required for the specific job that the employer has open, and that it would be a good idea to learn what the abilities are, so that you could build the resume based on those specific abilities or skills that is desired for the job. Questions asked to help you build the resume are: Who is reading the resume? What does this person want? How can I help them find what they want? Anderson also said that you should plan out the resume by thinking creatively. The knowledge you have of the qualifications will help you to determine what to say about your education, past experiences, and abilities, and make them stand out to the employer. By thinking creatively, you could determine what kind of resume you would want to build, either a skills resume, or a experiential resume. Anderson also stated that the resume should be drafted in a way to highlight qualifications that would appeal to the employer. Tips were to write concisely, be specific, and choose correct verb tenses. The resume should identify the desired results of the place the individual wants to work, and state that your objective is to help them expect their desired results, if not surpassing what they originally wanted to achieve.
TO: Jason W. Ellis
FROM: George Gordon
DATE: September 10th, 2015
SUBJECT: Beginning of Class Writing
From the text, I took that you need to make yourself look like the person for the job, since there might be hundreds or thousands of applicants, you’ll need to stand out. Focus on technical expertise and personal qualities. Try to get the person who is reading this resume to think that this is a person that shows promise and could be potentially valuable.There are also different types of resumes that one could choose to use, skills based or experiential, and each have their benefits. One of the tips for writing your resume was to be specific, instead of generalizing your qualities. Your resume should be adapted depending on the job you’re seeking. You shouldn’t just send out the same resume for every job you want to apply for, each job may have different qualifications and you should tailor the resume to those qualifications. Organization as well as design of your resume are also important aspects to consider.
TO: Jason W. Ellis
FROM: Albert Hemmings
DATE: September 10, 2015
SUBJECT: Anderson Chapter 2
Some of the important things to take away from this reading when writing a resume are, to define your resume’s objectives by learning what you reader wants, choosing the type of resume you will prepare, and how to organize and describe your work experience. When you properly define your resume’s objective by learning what the reader wants, you have a better understanding of what experiences to highlight that will interest the employer. when choosing your type of resume you can pick from a skills or experiential resume. If you do not have a lot of work experience you can create a skills resume to highlight things like a technical or management abilities. How to organize and describe your work experiences gives you tips like listing your more impressive jobs first in order catch an employer’s eye quicker and using verbs not nouns portraying a person of action.
TO: Dr. Jason W. Ellis
FROM: Naveeda Akhtar
DATE: September 10, 2015
SUBJECT: Paul Anderson`s Technical Communication
In Paul Anderson`s Technical Communication, he talks about the necessities required in a good resume. He describes that the resume you submit is for that specific job and entails how you stand out from all the other candidates applying for the same job. As you apply for other jobs, you must change the resume to fit the needs of those jobs so that the person reading your resume can see whether or not you would be an asset to that team. In order to change your resume based on the specific job , you might need to do a little research on the company or seek out individuals already working there and gain some inside details on what the requirements are in order to get a job there. Anderson also talks about the two types of resumes: the Experiential Resume which is a generic resume which has the education, previous employment, and other sections. The second type of resume is the Skills Resume which focuses on the actual skills you have such as communication skills, experience in management, and so on.
TO: Dr. Jason Ellis
FROM: Arielle I. Myers
DATE: September 10, 2015
SUBJECT: Chapter 2 Summary
The beginning of this chapter made me aware that in anything that is being written for another to read, it is most pertinent to know your reader. What are the qualities a possible reviewer for an employer looking for, what else would catch their interest towards you, instead of another? This knowledge comes from investigating the employer you are seeking to work for. It seems most important in a resume which type of “reader” will be reviewing your application, this process usually starts with the quick “scanners,” who then make the choice to move it along to someone else who knows exactly what they want and need, and lastly, the person hiring will usually use your resume as a platform for your interview, if you get that far. I do not have much experience, but finding that volunteer work is experience, I would probably go with a “skills based resume.” This chapter taught me that the obvious information to submit, such as your name, availability, etc., depend on how they’re presented visually whether they will even get looked at that far.
TO: Dr. Jason Ellis
FROM: Valentina Pineda
DATE: September 10, 2015
SUBJECT: Summary of Anderson’s chapter 2
One of the main things that I learned from the reading is how to write professionally with a reader-centered approach. It is explained in the reading that job seeking applicants should always be informed of what specific skills and characteristics the employer is looking for to fill the position. This should be kept in mind while writing a resume and always focus to write things relevant to the specific job rather than general skills. Some of the advice that I also took as important was that it is not about how long your resume can be but about making it short and writing only the most relevant things. By tailoring your resume to the specific company you will be answering all they are looking for, making you the ideal candidate for the specific job. One last thing that I learned from Anderson was that when writing an objective for a job resume, the applicant should never say what they will gain from acquiring the job, the should rather take a reader-centered approach and tell the employer what the applicant has to offer the company. This is important because during a hiring process a company is always looking to gain something from its applicants rather than giving.
TO: Professor Ellis
FROM: Tracy Xu
DATE: September 10, 2015
SUBJECT: Paul Anderson’s Technical Communication Chapter 2, pages 22-45
The first half of this chapter informs the reader on how we need to write an effective resume. Writing a resume for the job you are applying for is not an easy task. You should always include your skills and what you are trying to accomplish. Employers only seek out the best applications. Therefore you must be creative but also include details about your objective. Most jobs today require work experience. The more experience you have the more likely the company you are seeking will accept you. There are two major types of resumes: experimential resume and skills resume. Experimential resumes focus on information about yourself and your experiences. Skills resumes focus on your abilities and accomplishments. So it is important to pick one that is right for you. Every individual company wants a different set of skills from an applicant so it is crucial to tweak your resume to their liking.
TO: Prof. Jason Ellis
FROM: Anika Aarons
SUBJECT: Chapter #2
This chapter highlights mainly on the guidelines, requirements, and advantages of proper business attributes. Examples and guidelines in how to compose commendation letters, collection letters, business letters, and block letters. Reading this chapter, I also learned the details of building the proper business plan. Such as the legal issues, competitors, funding requirements, investment potential, facilities and personnel required, and most imortantly a detailed description of the product/service. Also this chapter throughly breaks down the procedure of the hiring process, most businesses take. Most imortantly this chapter elaborates that the most important aspect in business is presentation overall.
TO: Jason W. Ellis
FROM: Christopher Navarrete
DATE: September 10, 2015
SUBJECT: Anderson Chapter 2, pages 22-45
Paul Anderson raises some interesting points regarding improving resumes in his book entitled Technical Communication. One point that I believe is the most significant deals with making a resume stand out. This is important because hundreds and even thousands of resumes are read by a handful of individuals. A resume that stands out would be more likely to be remembered, this improves the chances of being chosen for the job. In order to make a resume stand out, Anderson states that understanding your reader is key; you must know what your audience wants. For example, according to Anderson, employers desire technical expertise, supporting abilities, and favorable personal qualities. These should appear obvious to the reader as they read your resume. How you write your resume may also cause it stand out. Do you want to sound like a person with a fun side? Or someone who puts business first? Overall, making a resume stand out is an important factor in being chosen for a job.
TO: Dr. Jason W. Ellis
FROM: Yulduz Saidinova
DATE: September 10, 2015
SUBJECT: Anderson, Chapter 2, pages 22-45.
This chapter was about guidelines how to write a perfect resumes and job applications. In order to get the job we have to have perfect resume, because there will be other hundreds of application. Companies that are hiring will seek for best candidate for their positions, and they will go through every resume carefully. Writing resume is not easy because we have to write down our skills and experience. The more experience we have, there will be more change to get the job. But if we do not have enough experience then we have to rely on writing our skills. When we write about our skill we have to stay more specific, and depending on a job that we applying we have to pick right ones. They will be more about our accomplishments and also our abilities. Every time we want to apply for any job we have to make specific resume for that job or we have to change our resume. We cannot submit our resume that was written for sales associate in to a medical field job. Overall we have to create a resume that will outstand from hundreds of other resumes. We have to use our creativity to write any business letter. Most importantly this chapter breaks down how to organize our resume and be specific.
TO: Prof: Ellis
FROM: Reazul Hassan
DATE: 9/10/2016
SUBJECT: Paul Anderson’s Technical Communication
Guideline 1
This part of the chapter talks about how to write a viable resume for jobs. The objective of the resume should be based on what the employer is looking for. There are three things that employers are looking for, someone with technical expertise, supportive abilities and and favorable characters of a person. The person applying to the job should build their resume based on what the employer is looking for. There are two kinds of resumes, experiential and skills. The experiential resume is more favorable for college students. The skills based resume is good after the person has completed college. The resume should be drafted to meet the requirements of the employer. The resume should not exceed more than one page. The ideas should be very specific. The layout of the resume is to be simple yet collective. It should be simple enough for rapid reading and collective with important information about you. It is always good to revise your resume to minimize error. The resume should be revised to meet specific requirements for different employers.