V. Case study: job applications
One day, you will apply for your first job as a business graduate. Unfortunately, many of your classmates, as well as lots of people you don't know, will probably also apply for the same job. Your experience and qualifications will probably be quite similar to those of most of the other candidates. You will submit a copy of your curriculum vitae (GB) or resume (US). But how do you get on to the preliminary short-list? What kind of things do you think impress companies hiring business graduates?
Which of the following extracts from different CVs (resumes) or application letters do you think would help the candidate to get an interview, and why?
1. Since coming to university I have played in the women's hockey team. We have twice won the national university championship, and are also well-placed this year, with one month of the season still to go.
2. My mother is French, and because my father works for a multi –national company, I grew up in four different countries. I did all my schooling in French, but I also speak (and write) fluent Spanish and Portuguese. I can also understand (North African) Arabic, but speak it less well.
3. Employment
Saturdays, 1997-99, and full-time July 2000, Right Price food store, West End Avenue (shelf-filling).
July 2001, Port Authority Bus Terminal, 8th Avenue (bus cleaner).
August-September 2001, grape-picking, Napa Valley, California.
November 2001-June 2002, tourist guide at St Patrick's Cathedral,
5th Avenue (Saturdays).
4. I have travelled extensively during my last three summer vacations. In 2000 I travelled around the Mediterranean (Spain, France, Italy, Greece) for ten weeks. In 2001, I went to Florida for a month, and I spent six weeks in Bali in 2002. I have consequently met a great many people from many different cultures, and I am absolutely convinced that this makes me suitable for a position in international marketing, and that your company would have a great deal to gain from employing me.
5. I have played the piano since the age of five. I won scholarships to summer schools in New York and Switzerland, but at the age of 19 decided to study economics rather than attempt to become a professional musician (since the world is full of good pianists).
THE LAYOUT OF ENGLISH BUSINESS LETTERS
I. Read and translate