Topic

Evaluation of Resume and Revision Suggestion

Instructions

In this assignment, you are writing directly to a colleague and evaluating the design of his or her resume. You are demonstrating your knowledge of the design concepts and your ability to apply them.

First, you’ll want to talk to your colleague regarding the rhetorical situation of the resume: in short, what type of job are they looking for? What particular company, organization, or industry are they targeting? What are the specific genre expectations of this audience when it comes to resume design? How formal does this audience expect the resume to be?

Then, choose some design criteria—such as the useful Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity concepts—and apply them to a colleague’s resume and evaluate it based upon the specific features that you see. When your colleague reads your memo, he or she should have a good idea of what design revisions they should make; or, they should have an idea about why their current design is effective for the intended audience. You may also find these document design features useful:

White space
Focal points
Queuing/Filtering (How are design aspects helping to emphasize key aspects of the resume? How do readers know what is more important and less important?)
Typeface (Examine the size, special features [bold, ALL CAPS, serif vs. sans serif], and appropriateness of the font)
Use of icons (e.g., clip art)
Use of lines, border, boxes, etc.
Use of color and shading

Write this evaluation in a memo format, including

A brief introduction that tells your reader what your purpose is and provides an overall evaluation point; even if you came across problems with your colleague’s design, make sure you use your “you-based” attitude; be constructive and optimistic
A body section in which you break your analysis or evaluation down into your different criteria; make sure that you find specific examples to base your evaluation on
A brief conclusion that re-affirms goodwill and motivates your colleague to revise and accept your evaluation gracefully

Write a memo to your colleague, using memo style (block style–single spaced within paragraphs, with a space between paragraphs; no need to indent). Focus for the most part on the design and rhetorical decisions that your colleague has made on their resume.

Your memo should be approximately one page long.

Memorandum

TO:

FROM:

DATE:

SUBJECT:

(Introductory paragraph. Explain purpose of the memo and your overall design evaluation. Remain positive and constructive.)

Design Evaluation

(Find a way to organize your design evaluation results. Choose either the most important design aspects, or by section of the resume, or by strengths/weaknesses. Make sure that you use the design concepts. Bear in mind your colleague’s rhetorical choices. Provide some constructive revision suggestions. Stay positive.)

Conclusion

(In one paragraph, emphasize your overall finding and revision suggestion. Stay positive and constructive.)

For the most part, focus on the design aspects and the rhetorical organization choices your colleague has made; if you really want to address the content, you can certainly do so–make sure, though, that your reader can clearly distinguish between what evaluations you are making about design and what judgments you are making about content.

Answer preview

Resumes are very important in any job search as they offer a summary of a-would be employee. Therefore writing one that informs as well as arrests the attention of any-would be employee is paramount. The purpose of this memo is to evaluate your resume and point out its strengths and areas of improvement. While the resume is detailed and seems to have captured all the important information employees look for, at a glance the font of this important information is too small. This may make any would be employer strain going through and maybe even miss something. Also, while it is clear you hold a vast range of experience in various fields it is hard to pinpoint your area of interest. Resumes ought to be target specific. At a glance it should be clear what area a person is interested in.

Word count: 770