COMMUNICATION

FOR EMPLOYMENT
The Love Story of
the Sparrow and
the Shrimp
 PERSONAL SWOT

S- Strengths

What are you good at? What are your

skills and talents? What are your
achievements that you are most proud of?
What do you think others see as your
strengths?
 W- Weaknesses

What do you think are your weaknesses?

Do you believe that your education has
prepared you for the job? What can be
improved?
 O- Opportunities

Is your target industry growing? Do you

have connections or contacts in this industry
that can help you or offer you advice? If you
pursue this career, how will it help you as a
professional?
 T-Threats

What do you think are the challenges if

you pursue this career? Do you think the
demand for this job will change in the
future? Do you think competition will be
tougher in this field in the future?
WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
MYSELF TO JOB HUNT?

 Your knowledge, skills,

abilities, interests and
values
 Is it important to you that your work
achieve certain purposes or values, or
do you work “just to make a living”?
 Would you rather have firm
deadlines or a flexible schedule?
 Do you prefer working alone or with
other people?
 How comfortable are you with
pressure? How much challenge do
you want?
 Are you willing to “pay your dues”
for several years before you are
promoted?
 How important is money to you?
Prestige? Time to spend with family
and friends?
 WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW
ABOUT COMPANIES THAT MIGHT
HIRE ME?

ANSWER: As much as
you can!
YOU SHOULD KNOW:
 What the job itself involves
 The name and address of the
person who should receive the
letter
 What the organization does and
at least four or five facts about it
MAKE YOUR APPLICATION LETTER
PROFESSIONAL:
 Create your letter on a computer. Use a standard
font (Times Roman, Palatino, Arial, Helvetica or
Calibri) Use 11 or 12 font size
 Address your letter to a specific person

 Don’t mention relatives’ names

 Omit personal information not related to the job

 Edit the letter carefully and proofread it several

times to make sure it’s perfect.
FOCUS ON THE FOLLOWING:
 Major requirements of the job for which you are
applying
 Points that separate you from other applicants

 Points that show your knowledge of the

organization
 Qualities that every employer is likely to value:
Ability to write and speak effectively
Ability to solve problems
Ability to get along with people
WHAT KIND OF LETTER SHOULD I
WRITE?
2 Kinds of application letters:

 Solicited Application Letter

- written in answer to an advertisement

 Unsolicited or Prospecting Application Letter

- written without the benefit of an advertisement
HOW TO ORGANIZE A SOLICITED
APPLICATION LETTER:
 State that you are applying for the job
and tell where you learned about it.
Summarize your qualifications in the
order in which you plan to discuss them
in your letter.

 Develop your major qualifications in

detail.
 Develop your other qualifications.
Show what separates you from the other
applicants. Demonstrate your
knowledge of the organization.

Ask for an interview. State when you

can begin work. End on a positive,
forward-looking note.
SAMPLE EFFECTIVE FIRST PARAGRAPH
OF A SOLICITED APPLICATION LETTER:

The Mega Insurance Company is famous across

the country for its “Good Hands Policy.” I would
like to lend a helping hand to many Filipinos as a
financial Analyst for Mega, as advertized in the
Philippine Daily Inquirer. I got a degree in
Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Saint Paul
School of Business and Law and I have worked
with figures, computers, and people.
HOW TO ORGANIZE A PROSPECTING/UNSOLICITED
APPLICATION LETTER:

 Catch the reader’s interest

 Create a bridge between the attention-

getter and your qualifications.
Summarize your qualifications in the
order in which you plan to discuss them
in the letter
 Develop your strong points in detail.
Relate what you’ve done in the past to
what you could do for the company.
Show that you know something about
the company.

Ask for an interview. End on a positive,

forward-looking note.
SAMPLE EFFECTIVE FIRST PARAGRAPH OF A
PROSPECTING/UNSOLICITED LETTER:

Is there a place in your company for an

energetic young woman who can take
dictation at the rate of 150 words a minute
and typewrite at the rate of 50 words a
minute, who can assume responsibility, and
who will gladly prove to your satisfaction
that she can do these things if you will give
her the opportunity?
SAMPLE BODY AND
LAST PARAGRAPH OF
A SOLICITED
APPLICATION LETTER
 “My degree in Finance has given me the
opportunity to focus on Family Financial
Management. I had the chance to take courses not
only in investments but also in how families
manage their resources and the financial stages
that Filipino families typically go through. In one
class i had the opportunity to create an Excel
spreadsheet to calculate how much a family
needed to save to put two children through college.
Writing the spreadsheet gave me a “hands-on” feel
for the need for investments over and above
simply looking up figures on a chart.
 Financial selling is a highly competitive field. I
am a competitor and have been all my life. While I
was in college, I created a business, hired a
staff,and lined up clients. I know the value of
training and hardwork, and i look forward to the
challenge of motivating Mega’s sales staff to do
their best. In my landscape business, i delegated
work and motivated my employees to do the high-
quality jobs that my clients expected. My
managerial experience in running two businesses
could help me become an efficient Financial
Manager quickly.
 Could we set up an appointment to discuss this
possibility? I’ll be in Manila April 23-27 and
would welcome the opportunity to talk about ways
that I could put my experience and drive to work
for you.”
RESUME
 Résumé
- is a french word which means
summary. It is a persuasive
summary of your qualifications for
employment.
TO INCREASE THE CHANCES THAT THE READER
WILL PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR RESUME:

 Do more than just list what you’ve done.

Show how it helped the organization. If
possible, quantify:

Increased sales by 10%

Saved the company 1 million pesos
Supervised 20 people
 Emphasize achievements that:

Are most relevant to the position for

which you’re applying.
Show your superiority to other
applicants
Are recent
 Include skills that are helpful in almost
every job:

Abilityto use computer programs

To write and speak well
To identify and solve problems
To work with others
To speak a second language
WHAT KIND OF RESUME SHOULD I USE?

 Choose the kind that makes

you look best
TWO BASIC KINDS OF RESUMES:

 Chronological Resume
- summarizes what you did in a timeline. It
emphasizes degrees, job titles and dates.

Use chronological resume when your education

and experience show:

-A logical preparation for the position for which

you’re applying
- A steady progression leading to the present
 Skills Resume - emphasizes the skills you’ve used, rather
than the job in which or the date when you used them.

 Use a skills resume when:

 
 Your education and experience are not the usual route to
the position for which you’re applying.
 You’re changing fields
 Your recent work history may create the wrong impression
(e.g. it has gaps, shows a demotion, shows job-hopping,
etc.)
CAREER
OBJECTIVE
 Every resume should have a
summary of qualifications and an
education section. Career objective,
honors, and references are optional.
 Career Objective:

 Career objective statements should sound like

the job descriptions an employer might use in
a job listing. Keep your statement brief- two
or three lines at most. Tell what you want to
do, what level of responsibility you want to
hold. Including the employer’s name in the
objective is a nice touch.
 Ineffective career objective:

 To offer a company my excellent

academic foundation in hospital
technology and my outstanding skills in
oral and written communication.
 Better career objective:

To help Mega Company Sales Division

sell state-of-the-art Siemens Medical
Equipment
SAMPLE
SKILLS
RESUME
 MARIA A. CRUZ
370 AVENIDA STREET
TACLOBAN CITY
09276589456/3256789
[email protected]

 Objective

- To help create high quality CD-ROM products

in Mega’s New Media Solutions Division
 Editing and Proofreading Experience

 Edited a textbook published by Simon and Schuster,

revising with attention to format, consistency,
coherence,document integrity, and document design

 Proofread training and instructor’s manuals, policy

statements, student essays and research papers, internal
documents, and promotional materials

 Worked with authors in a variety of fields including

english, business, education, history, sociology, biology,
law and medicine to revise their prose and improve their
writing skills by giving them oral and written feedback
 Writing Experience

Wrote training and instructor’s manuals,

letters, memos and reports

Co-authored the foreword to a forthcoming

textbook from NCTE press
 Computer Experience

Designeda Web page using Dreamweaver (

www.cohums.tac-city.edu/english/people/)

Learned and used a variety of programs on

both Macintosh and PC platforms:

 Word Processing and Spreadsheets

 Microsoft Project

 Powerpoint
 Other Business and Management Experience

Developed policies, procedures, and vision

statements

Supervised new staff members in a mentoring

program

Member of a team that directed the nation’s

largest first-year writing program
 Employment History

 Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of English,

The Ohio State University, September 2000-2007.
Taught intermediate and first-year composition

 WritingConsultant, UniversityWriting Center,

Harvard University January-April 2003

 Honors

 Cumlaude, University of the Philippines, Diliman

 Education

Masters of Art, March 1999, The Ohio State

University, Columbus, OH.

Bachelor of Arts, March 1998, University of

the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City,
Philippines
 References

 Richard A. Gomez
 Associate Professor
 University of the Philippines  Sharon G. Cuneta
 Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines  Associate Professor, English
 614-555-6556 Department
 [email protected]  University of the Philippines
Tacloban College
 
 Tacloban City, Leyte, 6500
 Marilyn A. Monroe
 053-325-7669
 Director, Ohio University Writing
Program  [email protected]
 Ohio University, 140 Chubb Hall
 Athens, OH 45701
 768-6778-3241
 [email protected]