Do you want to get a job? Or go to grad school? Or maybe get into a professional school? You already have the tools you need to create a killer application. Remember that the rhetorical situation surrounds everything—it even surrounds the pursuit of your dreams. In this section, you’ll look at the genre of various application materials and consider how your character will be presented to your audience. You will make sure your purpose is clear and the message is compelling. Primarily, you’ll be focusing on audience. After all, how can you expect to land a job if you don’t understand the group or company? How can you show an admissions committee why you’re a good fit for their department and they’re a good fit for you if you don’t even know what research they conduct? How can you convince your boss to give you perks if you don’t know what your boss values?

19.1 Analyzing your audience

Before you begin writing any application document you need to know to whom you are writing. Hopefully at this point you have narrowed your list of potential employers or schools. If you haven’t yet—jot down a pro and con list. Compare and contrast each company/school’s requirements and preferences. Dig in to their websites. See if their values align with yours and if you like the work they’re doing. Once you have decided on a winner, you should perform an in-depth analysis of the company/department. You may even want to copy the advertisement into your own document so you can annotate it and take notes.  Create a list of key terms from the job ad, position description, and the website and work through some of the audience analysis questions below.

19.2 Writing your résumé

Even with LinkedIn, Facebook, and online application systems, the resume is still king. It is your chance to  quickly show all of the really great accomplishments you’ve made and how well equipped you are for the job at hand. The trick is that you only have one page, and, studies show, only about 10 seconds to seal the deal.

The first rule of the resume is that it must be only one page long. No more, no less. (There are some exceptions in certain fields that allow two pages, but these are very rare.) If you go over, you’ve broken the rules of the genre. If you go under, you tell your audience that you don’t have much experience. This one page is golden space—use it wisely.

Speaking of “golden space,” the “Golden Triangle” is the space which occupies the top left-hand corner of the resume and branches out to form a triangle from there. This space is where your reader is most likely to look first. That means we should put all of the most valuable information within that space. If you choose to break this rule (like putting your name on the right side of the paper), do so carefully and with thought. Your audience should be able to get the information they need quickly.  Remember, a prospective employer only gives about 7-10 seconds per resume before deciding if it lives to the next stage in the application process.

If you have a bit of extra white space on your resume (usually due to a lack of relevant work experience) you should focus on your school experience. List the accomplishments you have achieved during your time in college: Teacher Assistantships, Projects, Lab Work, Courses Completed, Scholarships, Club Memberships, etc.

Remember that your goal is to tell a story about why you are a great candidate for this particular job or internship. And . . . we only have one page in bullet-point format to share that story. That means that we should only include the most relevant and current information for that specific job. Generally speaking, that excludes your high school days. Based off of your audience analysis, give the information that matters most to your audience. Are they more concerned about your educational experience? Or your work experience? Put the one they care about most at the top. Make sure your bullets are in reverse chronological order. Your audience is interested in the really cool stuff that you are doing now, not what you did when you were 14.

Your job is to create a story for your audience. Make sure you are answering who you are and why you are a great fit for this position within both the resume and cover letter or statement of intent. Every paragraph in your cover letter and every bullet point in your resume should be there for a reason. Take a look at your past and current experience and match it up to what the company is looking for.

19.3 Writing your cover letter

The cover letter is a weird thing. The very name implies that it comes first in the application process. However, it sometimes only comes into play after your resume has made the cut. And many jobs don’t ask for a cover letter anymore or ask for an email instead. That being said, your cover letter is the place where you can emphasize or highlight certain aspects of your resume or explain some of the holes your resume might have. It should introduce, justify, and explain your resume. And, if you are one of the lucky ones who do not have to submit a cover letter, still write one. Use it as a place to practice your PAR story for your interview–PAR stands for problem, action, result. Try to frame your experience in cover letters and interviews by showing a problem you encountered, an action you took, and the results of that action.

The cover letter looks and smells like a traditional formal letter–it has recognizable genre conventions that you’ll want to pay attention to. It must have a heading, opening salutation, body paragraphs, and a closing salutation. It should be one page long with lots of white space.

• Heading: Your heading should match the heading found on your resume. Make sure to include your address, telephone number, and email address. You can include your LinkedIn information. We also need the date and the address of person to whom you are writing.
• Opening Salutation: Please avoid using “To Whom It May Concern.” It is outdated and shows that you didn’t care enough to seek out the person your letter is going to. Use Google and see if you can figure out your point of contact. If that fails, give the company a call. “Hi! My name is Bob Lob and I’m applying for the student intern position in the pediatric research department. I’d like to personalize my cover letter. Could you tell me who’s responsible for potential interns?”  Not only does it provide you with the information you need, but it could also get your name circulating. If all of the above fails, you can broaden your field a bit and address the role or the department (e.g., “Dear Hiring Manager,” or “Dear Applications Department”).
• First paragraph: How did you find out about the job? What connects you to the company? “Name drop” in this paragraph. Do you have any mentors that work there? Did a current employee suggest the job to you? What position are you applying for?
• Second and third paragraphs: Why are you interested in their company? How will you add value to the company? What is unique about you? Highlight the awesome items that are in your resume. Mention education and experience. You can mention why the company is good for you, but focus mostly on how you are good for the company. Show them how much you want to work for them. If you need to explain why you may have sub-par grades or experience, this is the place to do so. Make sure that you own your flaws, but use them to show your character. If something made your grades fall a bit short, show what you learned from the experience.

19.4 Applying for graduate school

Most graduate programs will ask for a transcript, curriculum vitae (CV), and a personal statement alongside letters of recommendation from professors. While the CV and personal statement genres will remind you of résumés and cover letters, they have slightly different goals and conventions.

19.4.1 Writing your CV

As opposed to a traditional one-page resume, a CV is an academic document that showcases your entire academic and professional career and can be multiple pages long. “Curriculum vitae” translates from Latin as the “course of [one’s] life,” so while you still want to keep certain things brief, a CV is expected to be more comprehensive than a résumé (and can go over one page as a result). You should include professional contact information and relevant details of your educational training, coursework, professional training, special accomplishments, and skills while focusing on those most relevant to academia—teaching, researching, publishing, and presenting. If you’re applying to medical school or a professional school, you should emphasize your specific medical, dental, law, PT, etc. experience and training as well.

Your format can include large headings and a generous amount of white space. Create relevant sections with headings that keep this information clear and accessible, and highlight the most important items (from the school’s perspective). Your CV should generally be single spaced, 10-12 pt font.

Your style should be fairly formal. Although you do not need to use complete sentences, your style should be clear, concise, and precise. Keep your formatting and wording consistent and parallel.

19.4.2 Writing your personal statement

Although sometimes daunting to write, a personal statement (aka statement of intent or letter of intent) gives you the space to tell your specific audience why you should be admitted. You get to tell what talent, skills, and perspective you bring to the incoming class in an interesting and engaging way.  Sometimes you’ll receive a bit of a prompt, other programs will just ask you to write a “Personal Statement” or “Statement of Intent” or “Letter of Intent.”

When thinking about the genre conventions for your statement, be conservative with your design and writing style.If no page requirement is listed, we recommend youstick to 2 pages max, singled-spaced, using a straightforward font like Garamond, Calibri, or Times New Roman in 12pt.

Your essay must emotionally engage the reader and directly link to the narrative you created with your resume or CV. It should show a unique point of view and reinforce all of the rest of your application materials. It should unfold the story of what you have done in your life up to this point that uniquely positions you to be a top candidate for this particular program.

The essay should be written in the first person as it creates an intimacy between the writer and the reader. Consider opening with an anecdote about yourself or related to your research to connect with your readers. We want our work to be emotionally appealing.

1. Begin with personal details outlining the “WHY”: the why of your academic and career plans. Tell how you first became interested in the subject you plan to study. Provide anecdotes from childhood, early academic life, travel, service, or other experience.
2. Present some recent experience and accomplishments in the field: course work you’ve excelled in, awards you’ve received, aspects of the field that inspire you, clubs you’ve participated in, conferences you’ve presented at, papers you’ve published.
3. Goals for the Future: You should explain why attending THEIR program matters to the achievement of your goals. Notice the difference between the following:

“I want to attend X University because I want to study women’s health”

“As you can see, from the time I was 16, I’ve dedicated myself to researching the impact of the environment on women’s health in third world countries. My time spent studying under Dr. MacKenzie has taught me the value of working alongside someone who not only excels in academia but also gets their boots dirty, so to speak. X University’s reputation for providing onsite training and fieldwork, in addition to preparing its students to hold their own in the academic setting is unparalleled. I would be honored to be among those students. I would also love the opportunity to study with Professor Ludlow, given her groundbreaking research on microplastics and women’s health in India. Her article found in…”

4. Conclusion: Summarize what you’ve already written, perhaps touch back on the hook from your intro, express interest in their program, thank the committee for their consideration.