Who will be the Man or Woman of the Millenium???

Introduction

A panel of experts is searching for the most outstanding individuals of this millenium. This is your big chance! Assume the identity of the subject of your biography and sell yourself . You will be presenting your credentials in the form of a standard resume and cover letter and persuading the class that you are the best candidate for this award during a formal interview!

Your tasks

1. Creating a formal resume and cover letter. There are excellent Web resources to guide you.

In real life, you will need to present a resume and cover letter whenever you are searching for a job. Because your resume is often the first impression an employer gets of you, it must be carefully prepared. In fact, it must be perfect! Spelling and grammatical errors are the "kiss of death" in resume writing. The document should be neat, ideally prepared on high quality paper.

You are to create a resume for the subject of your biography. Try to create a resume with as much historical accuracy as possible. But be creative and show your talents off. Brag. Describe the hardships you have had to overcome. Your resume should include an objective (to be considered for this award),your education; employment background; awards and honors; hobbies and outside interests.

Your cover letter should grab the reader's attention and present a brief, persuasive argument presenting the reasons you are the best candidate for this prestigious award.

Your word processor may include templates for creating a resume. Feel free to use those formats as guides, but you may create a more attractive model on your own.

2. Present yourself to the class as a candidate. The class will be interviewing you. Please be prepared to respond to the following questions typically asked during an interview:

• Please tell us a little about yourself.
• What are some of your major accomplishments?
• If you had to choose three words to describe yourself, what would they be?
• What are the toughest obstacles you have had to overcome?
• What is the one thing about yourself you would like to change?
• What or who were the major influences in your life?

Bring 5 copies of your resume and cover letter for the interview committee (our class) to share. They will be reviewing your credentials during the interview process and asking follow-up questions.

Resume and Interview Resources

• Career Helper http://www.myfuture.com/secondary/career.html
• CareerBabe Resume Tutorial http://www.careerbabe.com/resume.html
• CareerLab (cover letter examples) http://www.careerlab.com/
• Catapult Job Search Guides http://www.jobweb.org/catapult/jsguides.htm
• Cover Letters: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
• http://www.rpi.edu/dept/11c/writecenter/web/text/coverltr.html
• Job Interviews http://www.jobweb.org/catapult/enelow-i.html
• JobStar http://jobstar.org/
• Monster.com Resumes and Letters http://content.monster.com/resume/
• Movin' On: Tips for Interviews http://www.wm.edu/csrv/career/stualum/intrwdir/icontent.html
• Movin' On: Tips for Resumes http://www.wm.edu/csrv/career/stualum/resmdir/contents.html
• Quintessential Career and Job-Hunting Resources Guide http://www.stetson.edu/~rhansen/careers.html
• Resumes http://7-12educators.miningco.com/msub103resume.htm
• Riley Guide http://www.dbm.com/jobguide/
• Your Resume: Purdue OWL http://owl.english.purdue.edu/Files/35.html
• WorkSearch http://www.garywill.com/worksearch/

Assessment:

Your investigation into the life of a famous person will be graded on the quality of two finished products--a resume and a cover letter-as well as how you present yourself during the interview/presentation. The task assessment rubrics will guide you in creating quality products.

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