Explain your future job choice
WRITING
Write your future job description. Tell what you need in terms of qualifications, what you may already have in terms of personal qualities and skills and what you want, e.g. salaries.
Three applicants who spesialise in biology are writing the resumes to get the position they are willing. They are talking about their strengths and weaknesses and explaining the strategies of successful writing. Study 3 samples of CV (curriculum vitae) and try to guess whose resumes are introduced below. While reading pay attention to the highlighted words and word expressions to explain their usage and meaning.
Bob McNutt:
“I am applying for a summer internship with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. The internship involves assessing the biodiversity of fish species in the upper Chesapeake Bay. People applying for the internship must meet some very specific qualifications including the ability to handle fish, the ability to pilot a motor boat, possession of a valid driver’s license, and the ability to lift a considerable amount of weight. For this reason, I have chosen to start my resume with a Qualifications Summary section which will make it immediately clear to the person in charge that he meets the qualifications (and more!).
I also have other skills. I have created a section called “Other Skills” and have listed those skills there. One of those skills I list is “Able to make small engine repairs.” Although you might not expect to find this on a resume, this skill could come in very handy if my team is out on the Bay and the boat motor breaks down!
Note that in the Education section, I report not only my overall GPA but also my GPA in science and math courses because it is impressive. I also indicate that I have maintained a decent GPA even though I have worked or volunteered a large number of hours a week. This statement implies that I have good time management skills, which can be very appealing.
For a position like this, it will also be helpful for me to have a “Relevant Coursework” section. I have not listedall the science and math courses I am taken because only certain courses are likely to matter to whoever is reading this resume.
I have had several jobs, but not all are relevant to the position. I am listing in the Relevant Experience section the one job that is very relevant to the internship, Aquarium Manager at PetSmart. I am also listing my volunteer work at the National Aquarium as this is relevant to the position as well.
I am listing my non-relevant jobs at the very bottom of the resume. I have worked as a sales clerk at the Sports Authority sporting goods store in Towson. I also worked as a caddy during the summer after my freshman year. I did have one nice accomplishment as a caddy, so I am squeezing that into my resume”.
Kristin Plasmid:
“I am applying for a summer program at the University of Tennessee that gives undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in research.
The Tennessee program is specifically designed to prepare students for graduate school so that they can have a career in research. For this reason, I have included an Objective statement that I think will appeal to the directors of the program. I am letting them know that I am specifically interested in obtaining a Ph.D. degree in Microbiology. This should enhance my chances of gettinginto the program.
I have listed my relevant coursework, including all the science and math courses I have had so far. I have also made a list of all the technical/laboratory skills with which I have become familiar in the laboratories of my science courses. This is an impressive list and should appeal to the directors of this program and professors that might supervise my summer research.
I am a sophomore and do not yet have science-related job experience. I also have not yet done an internship. However, I have secured an entry-level research position in the laboratory of Dr. Matthew Hemm, TU’s microbiologist. I list that. Good for my taking the initiative to get my foot in the door in a research lab! After another semester, I will get my own research project.
I have had a variety of jobs and done some volunteering, but none of it has been research-related and so it is probably of little interest to the directors of the research program. Thus, instead of providing a specific list of my jobs, volunteer work, etc., I have very wisely put together a section highlighting the"transferable skills" that I developed from these experiences. Note that I provide evidence of my transferable skills. For example, I not only say I have “interpersonal skills” but I lay out the evidence (promoted by manager based on high-quality interactions with customers). All of these transferable skills are skills that could come in very handy when working as part of a team in a research laboratory and should be very appealing to the directors of this program”.
Erik Aimigdala:
“I’m a student that is about to graduate. I want to get a job in a research laboratory at Rutgers University Medical School or Princeton Medical School in my home state of New Jersey.
My plan is to work at this job for 2 to 3 years and then apply to medical school. I have an Objective statement but note that I do not state that my objective is "to go to medical school." I know that the people who run research laboratories don't want to spend a considerable amount of money hiring and training someone if that person is going to leave within a short time. Thus, my Objective statement focuses on my honest desire to work to improve human health care.
I slacked off quite a bit when I was a freshman and sophomore and, during my first two years, my grades were rather low. However, later, I got very serious and started to get much better grades. If I get an interview and am asked about this, I can talk about how I "saw the error of my ways" and turned myself into a very good student.
I have had a number of jobs while I was an undergraduate, but none of these jobs were relevant or science-related, so I have left them off. I really don't have space to list them, anyway, because I wisely obtained a substantial amount of research and internship experience while I was an undergraduate, all of which is very relevant to this position”.
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
