Beginning the Job Search:

Locating & Analyzing Job Ads

DR. WILLIAM C. KURLINKUS
TECHNICAL WRITING
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA

You Created a Scannable

Document
Consider Your
Context: Is style
appropriate? How
much?

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Sample Report:
http://www.chari
tywater.org/annu
al-report/12/

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PAINTBRUSH/FORMATTING TOOL
SERIF (READABILITY) VS. SANS SERIF
(LEGIBILITY): SANS FOR HEADINGS
SUBHEADINGS, TITLES, SECTIONS
3 COLORS MAXGENERALLY 2 (NOT
INCLUDING BLACK, WHICH THE MAJORITY
OF YOUR TEXT SHOULD BE)
2 FONT SIZES AND TYPES
DONT UNDERLINE: BOLD AND ITALICIZE
VISUAL HIERARCHY: THINK ABOUT USING
FONT CHOICE AND COLOR AS WELL AS
INDENTS AND SPACE TO SHOW WHATS THE
MOST IMPORTANT AND WHATS GROUPED
CONSIDER STARTING FROM WORD
TEMPLATES, FONT SETTINGS, AND COLORS
PALETTES.

Enhancing Your Professional Image

Internships
Student organizations in your area
Large national organizations
Internships and training programs
Going to trade shows and professional conferences
Finding a mentor
Talking to your advisor or a favorite professor regularly
Volunteer work
Job shadowing
Thinking of class projects as professional examples. Choosing a

favorite project to go above and beyond with.

What else

Online Job Sites

Indeed: www.indeed.com
Career Builder: www.careerbuilder.com
Monster: www.moster.com
After College: www.aftercollege.com
College Recruiter: www.collegerecruiter.com
College Grad: www.collegegrad.com
Monster College: www.college.moster.com

Social Networking
Twitter: Actually a strong job search engine. Search:

x,y, z [your career] needed.

LinkedIn
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Allows you to perform a job search (by field, job title, company,
or zip code)
Lets you research a companys core values, mission statement,
etc., which can be used in cover letters
Expand contacts: current and former instructors; former
bosses, managers, co-workers; other professional association
members; community leaders; businesses you frequent; alumni

Keep information up-to-date

LinkedIn
Endorse other peoples skills and get endorsements
Friend colleagues, family, employers, etc.
A full CV with everything belongs here not a limited

resume
Projects (can be class projects) with project goals,
solutions, implications, and testimonials
2-3 interests that show you are human (e.g. rock climbing,
sewing my own clothes, reading Victorian novels. )
Causes you care about
My NetworkAdd contacts from your email list

LinkedIn
Project Goals

To help an academic researcher win grant funds to support the development of an app that helps
disadvantaged babies and children with early language acquisition.

Our Solution
We helped this client with major revisions to four different grant applications.
We edited for content, structure, clarity, and style.

Implications for Our Client

This client has won a highly competitive national grant and is moving forward through a multi-tiered
grant competition, beating out over a hundred other competitors.
With these funds, the client has built a functioning beta version of a new language-learning mobile app.
Also using these funds, the client is moving forward with a large research project that determines the
impact of the app; this research will inform further developments of the app.

Testimonial

This was the most amazing learning experience for me. You helped me truly polish my words/ideas to say exactly what I needed it to
say, in an effective way that impacts. I think this grant application is the app Im the most proud of, ever. Mostly, Im just grateful for
the opportunity to get feedback to learn and be a more effective grant writer. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
-Dr. Brown, Assistant Professor, Anonymous University

Letters of Recommendation
Make sure you know and talk to the person you are requesting a letter from:

previous employers, teachers, other people you worked/volunteered below.

In your request for a letter of recommendation, give the writer a list of
things you did together that they might write about. Be specific. Think about
tailoring these examples to your job ads hard and soft skills. This is why
keeping a running CV is important.
Bonus points if you can get a letter of recommendation from someone with
ties to the company you are applying for.
The example in the book is rather vagueyou should provide info about the
jobor at least type of jobyou are applying to, that way the writer can
tailor the letter to your job.
Flatter the recommendation writer.
Give them at least a month to write itremind them a week before it is due.
Give them a resume.

Analyzing a Job Ad
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Find a job ad
Determine the possibility of you getting this job
Determine what the problem this company is trying to solve by
hiring
Catalogue hard skills required
Catalogue soft skills required
Look for other buzzwords/keywords/search terms
Research the company: recent projects; ethos; pathos
Begin a list of how your prior experiences might be spun
towards the required skills and buzzwords
Locate the name and title of the person who you are applying to

Analyze This Ad: Create a TChart

SEE WEBSITE LINKS

Find a Job Ad: 10 minutes

Homework
DO THE READINGS: SEE SYLLABUS
2. F I N D A N D A N A L Y Z E 1 J O B A D M A K E T CHART
3. B E G I N Y O U R C V
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