A111 Fall 2000

Project 1

Due Midnight, September 22nd.

Objective
  The objective of this assignment is to learn to use WORD as a tool for making resumes, and formatting cover letters. Along the way, you will learn to use the powerful formatting features of WORD, and guidelines to writing effective resumes and cover letters.
Assignment
  The first step in the assignment is to search the web for one or more companies that have jobs you would like to apply for after you graduate (or for this summer, next semester, winter break, etc).

Use the web to search for your dream job, but it must be one that you feel you would be qualified for upon graduation (or sooner). Once you have found a job you would like to apply for, you need to make a resume "targeted" for that particular job. Your resume must make use of the following formatting features in WORD:

Margins
  Set 1" margins on your resume document
Tables
  It is recommended to put your name as the first thing on the resume, with your address and phone number directly underneath. You could use a table to accomplish this with your name in the first merged row, and your address, contact information, temporary address, email, etc in columns on subsequent row(s). You must use at least one table in your resume, and we recommend using a table to organize information in the header section of your resume.
Styles
  Develop a style for your resume headings. The choice of headings differs for each person, but it is a good idea to include most of the following: career objective, education, work experience, special skills, honors, activities, etc. Consistent formatting of resume headings makes your resume easier to read and follow. The style should emphasize your headings, and must include font and paragraph-level formatting. An example of such a style could be ResumeHeading, defined as follows: 12 pt font, Arial, spacing after 12, spacing before 12, bold, centered. Name your style ResumeHeading, and feel free to apply different formatting features to make your resume headings look professional, and unique.

Develop a style for all lists used in your resume. Name this style ResumeList and apply it to at least one list in your resume. Examples of lists that could be included in a resume are skills, work experiences, honors, activities, etc). Good resumes choose a pattern of spacing, or a format of highlighting that is consistent throughout. Developing these styles should help make your resume more presentable.

Although optional, it is recommended that you develop a style for the non-list text content of your resume.

Tabs
  Tabs are best used on a resume when outlining relevant work experience. The titles of jobs held are usually aligned with the left margin, and the employment dates are aligned with the right margin. Your resume must make use of tabs (at least two tabs stops must be defined), and you are free to use tabs on any part of your resume.
Cover Letter
  Next, using only one side on one 8.5" x 11" sheet of virtual paper, write a cover letter to the appropriate person (DO NOT address your letter to a job title, like "Dear HR Director") explaining why they should hire you. Use the information you located on their web site about how you could help them to justify your application. We have provided a sample cover letter for you. Feel free to use this cover letter as a guideline for writing your cover letter. You must make use of the paragraph formatting features in WORD to format your cover letter. Specifically:

There must be NO extra paragraph marks in the document

You must use spacing after and spacing before to add spacing between paragraphs (Consider using styles for your cover letter)

Because this is a practice cover letter, it may be much shorter than a real one, but learning to write concisely and choose only the most relevant information are valuable skills that you will learn by completing this assignment
Spelling and Grammar
  Because correct spelling and grammar are essential to a good resume, if you make more than two mistakes in spelling/grammar on this assignment, your grade will drop one step. There should be no spelling mistakes. Ever! Use the Spelling and Grammar tool you have learnt in A111 labs to correct spelling mistakes.
Resources
  This is only a sample of the various resume and cover letter resources you can find on the web:

Grading
  The assignment will be graded on both the content and the formatting features used in your resume and cover letter. Use of a WORD resume template will result in an automatic zero for this assignment. The grading is broken down as follows:

Resume content: Resume sells yourself, highlights skills, qualifications, interests, etc (20%)

Resume formatting: Use of styles, tables, tabs, margins to make resume look consistent, neat and visually appealing. All formatting requirements outlined above are met (50%)

Cover letter content: Cover letter written in proper cover letter format. Refer to sample cover letter and resources section for more information on cover letter content (10%)

Cover letter formatting: Use of formatting techniques outlined for cover letter (20%)

Submission
  Submit your two Word documents as Project 1 via Vincent at https://www.cs.indiana.edu/cgi-pub/a111/vincent3/student.cgi.