Evaluation Criteria for Resumes and Cover Letters
07/15/2008Following are the criteria I will be using to grade your resumes and cover letters. You should also use these criteria when critiquing assignments during group and peer evaluations.
Resumes
- Has the writer kept his/her resume to one full page?
- If the document is two pages, it is two full pages of good material?
- Does the job objective adequately describe the position sought by the writer?
- Does the resume highlight impressive job titles or focus on job experience gleaned through a variety of activities? Would the writer be better off organizing the document in another way?
- Are the education, employment, and honors and activities segments concise?
- Do the education, employment, and honors and activities segments demonstrate how the writer is uniquely qualified for the position sought?
- Are the education, employment, and honors and activities segments organized with the reader's expectations in mind?
- Has the writer enumerated productivity in the education, employment, and honors and activities segments?
- Has the writer used active verbs to describe work experience and duties in other positions of responsibility?
- Does the work experience segment include job titles (as given in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles or O-Net), approximate dates of employment, and city and state of job?
- Did the writer waste space by putting the line "References available upon request" at the bottom of the document?
- Is the document completely free of errors in spelling and grammar?
- Is the document free of awkward and wordy phrasing?
Cover Letters
- Is the letter addressed to a specific person within the organization?
- Does the first paragraph make clear what job the writer is applying for and how s/he heard about the position?
- Does the body of the letter accurately explain the resume? Does the body of the letter accurately explain how the writer's skills, education, and work experience match the position sought? Does the body of the letter explain how the writer will fit into the organization?
- Does the conclusion specifically request an interview?
- Does the letter contain the same contact information found on the resume (such as a phone number and working e-mail address)?
- Is the letter more than one page?
- Is the document completely free of errors in spelling and grammar?
- Is the document free of awkward and wordy phrasing?