PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PART
2
WRITING A RESUME & LETTER
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
PART 1
SELF EVALUATION &
SETTING PROFESSIONAL GOAL
PART 3
ATTENDING JOB
INTERVIEW
PART 2
WRITING RESUME &
LETTER
CONTENT OF PART 2
1) WRITING A RESUME
2) WRITING A LETTER
1) WRITING A RESUME
WHAT IS A RESUME ?
A Resume is a Professional document to show and reveal various information
about you to a potential employer:
IS WRITING A RESUME THE SAME THING THAN WRITING A REPORT ?
They have similarities, a Report & a Resume are professional documents,
so they must be :
STRUCTURED
PROFESSIONALY
WRITEN
PROFESSIONALY
LOOK
PROFESSIONAL
To make your resume professional, it must have the correct STRUCTURE, the
correct CONTENT and the correct FORMAT.
LET’S READ & THINK
With the documents given to you, you must :
STRUCTURED
PROFESSIONALY
- Find the family of
information
that
should appear in a
Resume
WRITEN PROFESSIONALY
LOOK PROFESSIONAL
-Find for each family the type of
information and details that must
be given
-Find the Format a resume
should follow
+
- Find the classic mistake that
must not be done in each family
+
- Find the classic mistake
that must not be done for a
resume to look professional
Example :
A resume must have :
- Personal details
Format of Resume:
In Personal Details you must write :
-Full name
-Address
Classic Mistake:
- Never write your weight, size etc
-A
resume must
portrait format
be
in
Classic Mistake:
-A resume should not exceed
4 pages
WHAT IS THE STRUCTURE OF A RESUME ?
A traditional Resume must have the following 7 sections (parts) :
Brief
Introduction
Education
Experience
Personal
Information
Generic Skills
Passion
Affiliation &
Contribution
What IS THE CORRECT CONTENT FOR EACH SECTIONS ?
PERSONAL
INFORMATION
BRIEF
INTRODUCTION
-
Name
Birth Date and Age
Status (single etc)
Phone Number
Email
Address
ID Picture
- The type of job you are
looking for.
- Why are you passionate
(motivated by this type of
job?
- What is you professional
goal?
-
No
No
No
No
No
Private Information (ID number etc)
information on physical attribute (weight..)
information on health condition
funky email (ex: coconut@gmail.com)
funky ID picture
- Never write you are looking for a specific position
- Do not explain your passion for the type of job in an over
sweet way.
- Write a goal that is reasonable and achievable
EDUCATION
EXPERIENCE
AFFILIATION
CONTRIBUTION
-
Month/Year of graduation
Name of qualification
Field of study
Place of study
- Never write about your results
- Never write the duration of study, only the graduation time
(except if you did not graduate)
- Write the qualification from the latest to the oldest
- Duration of work
- Position
- Department
- Main Duties/Tasks
- Achievements
- Name of company
-Location of company
- Never forget to write about any working experience
- The Duties/Tasks must be written in a “sexy” way.
- Name of Association you
are a member
- Achievements for this
association (if any)
- Remove this section if you are not member of any
association
- This section is for professional membership only
GENERIC
SKILLS
- List the language you can
speak or write or read
- Indicate your level for
each language
- List all the software you
can use
- Indicate your level for
each software
- Be very carefully when indicating your level. You must give
your true level and make sure you can prove your level
during the interview.
PASSION
- List your hobbies
- List association your are
member or any social
activities
- Select hobbies that sound “sexy”
- Be careful when indicating your hobbies, you must be able
to talk about them during the interview.
2) WRITING A LETTER
IS A LETTER A PROFESSIONAL DOCUMENT ?
Yes a letter can be a professional document if sent for work reason (letter to
supplier, letter to inform employee etc. Like Report and Resume, a professional
letter must be :
STRUCTURED
PROFESSIONALY
WRITEN
PROFESSIONALY
LOOK
PROFESSIONAL
HOW DOES A PROFESSIONAL LETTER LOOK LIKE?
Name of sender:
Date
Address:
Topic of the letter
Opening Greetings
Explanation
of the situation
Reason for the
situation to
take place
Formal apologies
Formal ending
Closing Greetings
Guidelines for Writing a Formal Letter
1. Your address
Your address should appear on the left-hand corner.
2. A horizontal line across the page separates your address from the
recipient’s address.
3. Address of the person to whom you are writing
The recipient’s address should be below your address.
The postcode and name of the town should be underlined.
4. Date
The date is written on the right along the same line as the last line of the
recipient’s address.
The month should be spelt out (i.e. it should be in words, not numbers).
It must be written in full (do not use abbreviations such as Sept) and in
capital letters.
5. Salutation/Greeting
If you know the name of the recipient, then do use his surname
(Dear Mr Tan)
If you do not know the name of the person to whom you are writing,
then use Dear Sir or Madam
6. Subject heading
The subject heading gives the reader an idea what the letter is
about.
Write the subject heading directly below the salutation and it
should be underlined
7. The body of the letter
The body of the letter refers to the contents of your letter.
It should be divided into short and clear paragraphs.
All paragraphs should be numbered except for the first and last
paragraphs.
a. In the first paragraph, you should state the reason for writing
(whether it is to inform, to complain, to invite etc).
b. From the second paragraph onwards, you should include
information that is deemed necessary, depending on what you are
writing about. The number of paragraphs depends on what you are
writing.
c. In the last paragraph, state what you expect from the recipient. This
is usually in the form of an action or response. It is a common practice to
end a formal letter with phrases such as I look forward to hearing from
you or I hope prompt action will be taken to solve this problem.
A note of thanks is usually included.
** Remember to organize the information in a clear and logical manner.
Also, do not write lengthy paragraphs.
8. Ending
You can end the letter by writing “Yours faithfully”.
In practice, we usually use “Yours sincerely”, if we know the recipient
but for exam purposes, better to use only “Yours faithfully”.
9. Signature
Do not forget to sign the letter and write your name below it in capital
letters with in brackets.
LET’S TRY WRITING A LETTER
In group, you must write a letter to :
To :
Why: