Career Documents: Phase One: Job Advertisement Analysis
Overview
For this assignment you will be creating Career Documents for a position you can currently apply for or will be qualified to apply for in the near future (such as one to two years out). This assignment will ask you to seek out advertisements for available positions and to write to the qualifications for one, current plausible position.
You will be using the database, Ohio Means Jobs (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., a site that consolidates career-path advice, information, jobs, and job fairs. It is also a site that you can recommend to others, such as a high school relative who may be interested in studying for certifications or applying for internships.
The following video is a tutorial on how to navigate the site: Getting Started (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
On average, Americans change job positions fourteen times within their life span. It may be infeasible to retrain each time you apply for a new job, so what does this mean for you? Knowing how to translate your skills and experiences from one context to the next is one of the most important thing you might learn from this course.
By the end of this project you should have a working template that you can revise to submit to future job positions. More importantly, you will understand the concepts and approaches that you can use for future job/work contexts.
PARAMETERS/PROCESS
Phase One
Once you have explored and created an account with Ohio Means Jobs. Please seek out and use one job advertisement that you believe that you may be competitive in acquiring, given your current credentials or the credentials you will have in one to two years out. That is, you want to be realistic enough about your credentials so that you are able to create effective career documents.
I encourage you to use advertisements for positions you may want to attain immediately, such as internships, graduate school, and grants so that you can use your documents for acquiring a “real” experience. If you are at sophomore status or below, I highly suggests internships since you may not have enough experience to include in your career documents.
Write no more than a one page, single-spaced memo that helps you analyze the selected job ad. The memo should be technical, professionally formatted, and clearly written. Review the Anderson textbook for how to do this. If you need additional help with writing a memo, please visit this site on Memo Writing (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site., and review the sample of a professional memo.
You can address the letter to me (Kim Rayburn) and use Miami University as the heading. Use sections/headings to separate work and increase readability.
Prompts for Memo:
- What are some of the key words and phrases from your chosen job advertisement? Create a short list of about five to seven words or phrases; these words tend to be repeated or appear first in a job advertisement. (These words or synonyms will be what you want to use in your own career documents.)
- What are three key qualifications that the advertisement is seeking from a candidate? These qualifications may be ones with which you most relate to or which you excel at doing. For instance, you may excel at managing diverse groups of people. Many advertisements seek employers who are able to adapt in a changing environment; this may be something that your documents can highlight.
- Describe how your own experiences align or match these qualifications. Be as extensive as possible with this section and use examples that support these qualifications. As noted by some of the materials from this Module, stating “I’m a team-player” is not enough of an example for your readers to better understand your qualifications. By incorporating specific, clear examples, you make yourself more credible and memorable to your readers.
Please note: When you submit this part of your assignment, include a copy of the job advertisement.
TO COMPLETE THIS ASSIGNMENT:
- Create a profile with Ohio Means Jobs.
- Seek a current and plausible job advertisement.
- Research your own expertise, experiences, and skill set that will be applicable to the advertisement.
- Draft and submit a memo report that addresses the prompts above.
- Submit the job advertisement along with your memo report.