6/4 Class: Wrap Up (and Ship Out)

A Bit of Review
Class Theme: Targeted Communication

• Clearly responding to needs of task and audience
• Have specific purpose
• Audience assessment should be integral in writing process
• writing exercises (see Tariel's blog post)
• Bridget on her presentation tips (see Bridget's blog post): hand drawing slides is especially useful. Tests your knowledge of your slides. Purpose of this practice is to know info so well that you're not thinking about what you're going to say; you're just saying it. Have a conversation with the audience rather than sounding memorized.

Applying good writing strategies to job application

• Job announcement example: Tribal Forester for Santo Domingo Pueblo (Note: the pay scale for this job seems to disgust Monica. Message: an Indian trible is a long way from a tech company.)
• Using job description, highlight requirements that you can actually do
• Underline things that you are not qualified for and see how you can "fudge" them in your cover letter or resume
• Place job description side by side with cover letter and resume to see how they reflect job requirements

Writing a strong cover letter

• formatting tip: | Create header | stationary by | using vertical line key | above return key.| Note: use at your own risk. This technique is not sanctioned by Bren Career Development.

Cover Letter Introduction

• specifically target company
• shouldn't look like a form letter
• state which group you want to work in or the position you want
• mention master's degree next
• sweet sentence: "...school's rigorous interdisciplinary curriculum, coupled with my professional experience, have provided me with the skills to succeed in a position requiring analytical research, discretionary analysis, and effective collaboration."

Craft your bullet points wisely

• need to work well, shouldn't look like a paragraph
• option: bold bullet titles (truly state of the art)
• have consistency with bullets (not like this). Use colon or periods (em dashes are also pretty badass).
• Market yourself. Use the word "led" wherever possible.
• Employers want strong writing skills so use concrete examples. Example: "Read 80 pages and produced a 2 page summary memo in 48 hours."
• If attaching lots of files, state names of files in email
• Question: What if cover letter bullets are too similar to resume?
  
• Answer: Bullets in resume should be more extensive and highlight/emphasize elements of the resume
• How to beat the resume machine: Machine will be looking for key words that maps to job description. Make sure these words are in your resume and cover letter or you will be TERMINATED (yah, I just saw the movie)
• Keep audience in mind when formatting
• For instance, Oxford is very proper and old-fashioned (hence all the white uniforms at Wimbledon) so anything bold might gravely offend them
• How the goverment operates: bold is better when it comes to bullets. (If the Feds only read the bolded text, why does it take them twice as long to read it?)
• When applying without existing job description: Make cover letter display and wide range of abilities that could apply to a number of positions OR write a cover letter for your ideal job.

Email Etiquette (avoiding the #%$! storm)

• Generate positive outcomes from bad news emails
  
• Most important to consider: What is the audience (person you're on the verge of an email firestorm with) hoping to get out of this
• Give person/ group an 'A' (flatter, praise, suck up, give 'em that "damn right I'm awesome" feeling
• Can't take attitude that you're the only one giving 100%. Have to assume that everyone is giving their best and state this recognition.
• These situations happen frequently in collaborative projects
• Don't take yourself so damn seriously!
• Bold move from Monica: Shows examples from her personal email. Monica, a model of transparency.
• Purpose of Monica's email was to activate many people to solve an ongoing problem created by a single person.
• Words that activate people: "let's pool our collective expertise", "let's work together"
• Look for positives in the negative email
• Use a little humor
• Avoid burning bridges. Important thing is to stay professional.
• Always think about what possible outcomes might come from an email, especially in the long run. How can this help me in the long run?
  
• Sometimes you just have to brush your shoulder off.
• If it's really serious set up a face to face to resolve it.
• Sager shows me his Hooters pen. I give a chuckle. Ah shucks.
• Best strategy: when things get heated then step back. Wait. Deep breath. Clear head. Look at big picture.

Writing for a call to action or outreach

• Problem statement
• Your stance on it
• Very clear message
• Action phrases
• A call to legislative action can serve 2 purposes. The messages goes to Congress but also sells people on whatever stance you support.

Monica thanks the students. No, Monica...Thank you. Thank you.

--Lucas Bare