Target Audience: Secondary, tertiary.

Language Proficiency: Intermediate to advanced.

Learning Focus: Reading, writing.

Technology Needed: Web browser software.

Instructions:

The accepted way to apply for a job and compose an "effective" résumé varies widely across national cultures and in different professional fields. What is considered appropriate or inappropriate, and even legal or illegal, differs. This is certainly important cultural information for the company as well as the job applicant. Variations include:

• Content.
• Level of assertiveness/modesty when describing accomplishments.
• Formatting (now more standardized across cultures due to technology).

Thinking ahead: What are the guidelines for self-presentation in your culture? How do you "put your best foot forward" and make a good first impression in a résumé?

Task: Write a résumé that targets a specific type of job or industry.

1. Go to one of the web sites below that provide guidelines for writing a résumé. What similarities do you find with regard to résumé guidelines in your culture? What differences?
   


2. Choose a résumé web site that best fits your needs and preferences. Follow the steps they recommend in writing a résumé, using a template, if provided.
   
   
3. Give your résumé to another person for feedback.

Résumé and Interviewing Resource Sites:

CollegeGrad: Entry Level Resumes.
http://www.collegegrad.com/resumes/index.shtml

Career Center, University of Oregon.
http://uocareer.uoregon.edu/
Visit this site for job search guides to résumés, cover letters, and interviews that you can download in PDF format.

eHow: How to Make Your Résumé Shine.
http://www.ehow.com/how_1367_make-resume-shine.html

Microsoft Templates (go to "Resumes and CVs").
http://office.microsoft.com/templates/default.aspx

Your Resume: General Concerns, from OWL Purdue.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResumeW/kind.html

Kay Westerfield, Global Communication Consulting,kwesterf@uoregon.edu