Application Evaluation (Cover Letters + Resumes)

Follow this link to see all the applications: http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/danforthcti/mastcareers/JobSim1Resumes.html
[Notice: This blog entry may be updated because a lot of people did not submit their applications.]

The 3 best applications were Tom Phillips, Polonius Roqufort and Mark Lambert. The reason for this is because each of these applications contains appealing, required and succinct information in both their resumes and cover letters. The formatting and design are excellent and visually appealing. The organization is also very decent and allows the information to stand out as clearly as possible. The content provided in these applications is also very impressive and interesting. Thus, these applications are on the win list and the applicants will definitely get their jobs.

The 3 worst applications were Joe Bob, Jacob Miller and Andrew Smith. It is very hard to address the issues to all these applications as a whole, because the problems are very individual and must be broken down.

The first problem with Joe Bob’s application was that there was only a cover. There was no resume to be referred to. Thus, considering that resumes are the base of the application, it is quite clear that his application will be rejected. Nevertheless, there were also a lot of problems with the cover letter which is the “entrance” into the resume. The cover letter looked unappealing and appears as if no effort was put into it. When the cover letter is read, the information provided is very plain and does not discuss a lot of skills possessed by the applicant. Thus, this application is definitely the worst.

The problem with Jacob Miller’s application was that the cover letter, which makes the first impressions. The problem is that the applicant does not use the cover letter to introduce the employer to his skills and experiences, and the applicant rather goes on talking about respect and work ethics and avoids the topic of experiences and does not address to the resume. Also, the resume was very blank. There was barely any information on work experiences or any information regarding what the person had to do for work. The format also looks plain and unappealing. There was also a lot of grammatical problems, creating an even bigger disappointment.

The issue with John Abraham’s application was that, when the employer looks at the resume, it is easy to point out that even though the applicant has a lot of experience, all the experiences blend in with each other and the applicant basically does the same thing for a very long period. Thus, I say that this resume is rather one of the worst. Also, this person does not have a lot of awards of achievements that would be appealing to the employer.

Cover Letters Assessment

Rankings for the Cover Letters: 9, 3, 2, 11, 12, 8, 1, 5, 18, 4, 17, 14, 7, 13, 15, 10, 19, 16, 10, 6

Reasons for choosing the top 3 cover letters: My top 3 cover letters were 9, 3, and 2. The reasons why I chose these particular letters as the best ones out of all of them is because they consist of excellent diction, grammar, punctuation. This shows the employer that the applicants are sufficient in communication and are prepared for the job. The design, layout, format and organization of these letters are outstanding and are much better as compared to any other cover letter from the list. The text was very easy to follow. The formatting was excellent. The design was also high appealing. Also the content was relevant and outstanding. The content showed that the applicants have all degrees, experience and other requirements needed for the job along with other relevant experiences that can contribute to the job. Combined with proper design and fine communication skills, these are simply the best cover letters. Thus, the employer would definitely be interested to see what information is provided in the resume.

Reasons for choosing the bottom 3 cover letters: My bottom 3 cover letters had qualities that were quite the opposite of the top 3 cover letters, which delivered an outstanding performance in terms of job applications. The bottom 3 cover letters - 16, 10 & 6 - lacked these professional qualities and stand out as the worst cover letters of all of them. Overall, the language was problematic in all of these cover letters. Punctuation was not proper. There were spelling issues and there were also issues with grammar. The layouts/designs were also unappealing. The contents were not properly organized and were hard to follow. Also, speaking of content, the information was mostly irrelevant. The experiences presented by all 3 applicants are not experiences that are related or can contribute to these jobs. Thus, these experiences are not recognized. So, all in all, adding up the grammatical problems, format flaws, and irrelevance of information, the applicants seem not to have the requirements, skills or experiences for this job and appear to be people who really do not want this job and are looking forward to ANY job. This is quite disappointing and these applicants' resumes will probably not be read let alone the applicants being hired for the job.

Resume Lesson (Intro 1): Ranking Resumes

1. Rankings of resumes: 20, 13, 3, 4, 5, 10, 9, 19, 2, 15, 14, 7, 16, 6, 21, 11, 8, 18, 12, 1, 17

2. My top 3 resumes/applicants were 20, 13 and 3. I chose these resumes due to their excellence in presentation, their superior grammar and organization, and their clarity and emphasis on related jobs and experiences. From these resumes I learned that a lot of things need to be considered in order to create a decent resume. Firstly, I learned that it is needed that the one is mainly focusing on the job they are applying for. Therefore, all the experience and education that are tied into that particular job should have more emphasis on them in the resume and they must come before other experiences. These experiences must also show a brief amount of information to give the employer a summary of the types of activities you are experienced in. Secondly, you must make sure that your resume makes sense. This means that the resume must be grammatically and punctually correct. This would ensure that the employer is able to understand your resume better, which gives you a much greater chance of success. Also, it is more professional to have a resume that is grammatically superb, whereas having grammatical errors can show they employer that you are not organized and do not take care of your work - giving him reason to reject the job application. Finally, the structure matters. One of the most important things in making a perfect resume is that it looks organized and is visually appealing. The layout of the resume needs to be in a proper order. Different levels of experience cannot be mixed together as this would cause the employer to be confused and disappointed. In a proper structure, personal information must be at the top, the title should be there too and should be in bold. Different sections should be properly separated, in which case it is more professional to use "division" lines. The font and writing style need to be appropriate. It is recommended that font 11 and Arial are used in resumes as it portrays a sense of professionalism. 

3. My bottom 3 resumes/applicants were 17, 1 and 12 (reverse order). I chose these resumes due to their lack of organization, extreme over qualification, and lack of focus and relevant information, From these resumes I learned that there are a lot of ways to "mess up" or ruin a job application. Thus, there are a lot of things that are needed to be avoided in writing a resume. First of all, it is quite unprofessional to list 1-2 references on the resume. This is because, the employer is not being given sufficient information about the location of reference and may have confusion about who he is receiving references from. Thus, it is best to put references on request. Also, a lot of people failed to focus on skills related to the main job because they prepared a lot of information about other skills, experiences and education that are irrelevant to the job. So, the resume loses its focus and the employer gets the impression that the person applying is not suited for the job. Thus, the resume must be brief and should focus on experiences that can relate to the job being applied to. Finally, a lot of people listed degrees, such as Masters, on this simple Tutor job application. This sets into motion that the person is overqualified and is prone to get rejected by the employer. 

4. I think that the best formatted resume belonged to 20. This resume was amazing due its content and presentation. Compared to other resumes, it was the most appealing and it definitely stood out the most. The person was able to organize the components of the resume in such an order that it shows a great amount of focus on the job being applied for. The person also has a lot of relevant information. The person has a high amount of experience in mathematics and related skills. He/she has already tutored at other places for mathematics meaning that this applicant is highly reliable and experienced. The person has multiple achievements (in Mathematics) that show that he/she is perfectly suitable for the Tutor job. Also, the person's current status shows that he/she is studying at University of Toronto. This shows that the person has a great amount of potential and is very knowledgeable. Thus, this person would definitely get the job.