Active Vocabulary General and Academic Words - Amy E. Olsen 2013

Chapter 23. Career Development
Part 2 Academic Words

Resume Building

Finding a Job

A resume can help you get that important first interview. You want to make it apparent to the employer that you have the skills to -be an excel­lent colleague. Even if you will not be looking for a job right away, it is important to know the parts of a resume so you can begin compiling the neces­sary information to have it available when you are ready to job hunt. The following is an overview of the process for creating a resume.

First, decide whether to write a chronological or skill-based resume. Most people list their work history by time, but when you haven't worked much, it can be better to emphasize the skills you have that fit the job. If you make judicious use of your time, you can draft a resume in little more than an hour. Consolidate your information into three basic groups: contact information, work history, arid education.

In your contact information, include your name, address, phone number(s), and e-mail address. In a supplementary section, you can add personal information such as organizations you belong to that relate to the job and skills that show your aptitude for the position such as foreign languages you speak.

Next list your previous jobs. Write the name of the company and city and state where it is located, the dates you started and ended working there, your job title, the duties you performed including equip­ment or technology you used, and skills the job required. Also list promotions, awards, or other positive experiences involved with the job. Do the same for each of your past jobs. Add volunteer work if it is pertinent to the job. You usually don't need to go back more than ten years, but if you have significant information,' go back further.

Then list your education from high school on. Write the name of the school, the city and state where it is located, what degree or certificate you earned, courses that relate to your job objective, and awards or other pertinent activities (such as being in student government or an officer in a club). Don't forget seminars, workshops, or other types of meet­ings as learning experiences.

Congratulations! You have just finished a basic resume in a short time. Use a computer to organize the information. Your resume may have to undergo a few drafts as you make it easy to read, professional looking, and not more than two pages. Before you finish the resume, it is a good idea to confer with a trusted friend for advice on how the resume looks and sounds. It is always helpful to get another opinion before sending out an important document. We won't belabor this point, but carefully proofread all of the information to make sure that it is correct and that you haven't misspelled anything. If you are mailing your resume, make copies of it on quality: paper. Many companies today, however, ask prospective employees to submit a resume online: No matter the method you use, if you have done a good job of matching your skills to the company's needs, be prepared for follow-up phone calls!

Predicting

For each set, write the definition on the line next to the word to which it belongs. If you are unsure, return to the reading on page 152, and underline any context clues you find. After you've made your predictions, check your answers against the Word List on page 157. Place a checkmark in the box next to each word whose definition you missed. These are the words you'll want to study closely.

Set One

combine

a brief document of skills and experiences

obvious

additional

wise

□ 1. resume (line 1) ...

□ 2. apparent (line 2) ...

□ 3. judicious (line 14) ...

□ 4. consolidate (line 16) ...

□ 5. supplementary (line 21) ...

Set Two

experience

related

overstress

consult together

meetings

□ 6. pertinent (line 34) …

□ 7. seminars (line 43) …

□ 8. undergo (line 47) …

□ 9. confer (line 50) …

□ 10. belabor (line 54) …

Self-Tests

1 In each group, circle the word that does not have a connection to the other three words.

1. apparent obvious  unclear  evident

2. class  seminar  meeting  party

3. extra  main   additional  supplementary

4. resume summary  novel   work history

5. wise  stupid  judicious  thoughtful

6. belabor overstress  beat   ignore

7. pertinent related  unimportant significant

8. bestow  confer  decide  consult

9. avoid  experience suffer   undergo

10. strengthen consolidate divide   unite

2 Use the vocabulary words to complete the resumes below. Use each word once.

Vocabulary list

conferred

pertinent

consolidated

supplementary

seminars

Resume One

June 2002-March 2012 Office Manager, Technolife San Jose, California Main Duties: I oversaw 30 employees, gathered (1)... information to write annual personnel reviews, and (2)... reports from five departments into a monthly sum­mary. I also regularly (3)... with upper management as well as engineers and devel­opers to keep the office running smoothly. (4)... Duties: I periodically organized company (5)... on efficiency methods and successful ways to work with others.

Resume Two

Vocabulary list

belabor

undergone

judicious

apparent

resumes

2011 Bachelor’s Degree in History, Minor in Business Superior College, McAllen, Texas Pertinent courses: Business History examined changes American companies have (6)... in the last three hundred years; Money and Power explored trends that are readily (7)... in today’s market place and practices that are not as evident. My senior seminar paper "A Point to (8)... A Historical Look at Solving Business Conflicts" was awarded Best History Composition of the year.

Accomplishments: Through (9)... use of my time, I earned a 3.8 grade point average, worked 25 hours a week in the Career Center tutoring students on how to write (10)..., and played in the marching band.

Identify the two vocabulary words represented in the drawings.

3 Complete the sentences using the vocabulary words. Use each word once.

Vocabulary list

confer

undergo

apparent

resume

consolidate

pertinent

seminar

belabor

judicious

supplementary

1. The ... on financial planning helped me decide what to do with the money

I inherited from my aunt.

2. The lecture last week proved to be quite ... to today’s test. Half of the questions on the test were from the information in that lecture.

3. Reading the ... materials will help you to better understand the ideas in this course.

4. It is ... that Akira didn’t finish the book; otherwise, he would certainly have men­tioned the death of the hero in his report.

5. After all of your hard work, the college is proud to ... upon you the degree of Bachelor of Science.

6. On Saturday, I will ... surgery to fix my knee problem from an old football injury.

7. I tried not to ... the point, but I wanted to stress that 10:00 p.m. was the latest my son could stay out.

8. The hiring committee was impressed with his ... . He had every skill needed for the job.

9. To make the company run better, we are going to ... three departments.

10. Thanks to the ... use of club funds throughout the year, we have enough money left for a New Year’s party.

Internet Activity: Find an Image

You have been working with visuals throughout this text. Now it is your turn to find visuals for some of the vocabulary words. Start by looking up these words at Google Images:

longevity (Chapter 20) transformation (Chapter 22)

revitalize (Chapter 21) seminar (Chapter 23)

Did seeing images of the words help you to better remember their meanings? Were any of the images surprising?

Next pick three vocabulary words from the text which excite your curiosity as to how they might be represented by a photograph or illustration. You can again use Google Images or another site you find on the Web. For one of the words, select an image that you think exemplifies the meaning of the word, and print it out. Be prepared to share the image in class. Write the three words you have selected below.

1. ...

2. ...

3. ...

Interactive Exercise

Finish the sentence starters. The first five include one of the vocabulary words in the starter. For the sec­ond five use each of the following vocabulary words once in your completed sentences: apparent, confer, consolidate, pertinent, and undergo.

1. Supplementary activities or experiences I could list on a resume include ...

2. During a job interview, I would want to belabor the point that I am ...

3. Two schools I would list on my resume are ...

4. I would be interested in attending a seminar on ...

5. I make judicious use of my time by ...

6. As a child I thought, ...

7. I would like a job where ...

8. If I were applying for a job overseas, I would ...

9. If I had a problem at work, I could ...

10. To make my life easier, I should ...

Conversation starters

An excellent way to review the vocabulary words and help to make them your own is to use them when you are speaking. Gather three to five friends or classmates, and use one or more of the con­versation starters below. Before you begin talking, have each person write down six of the vocabulary words he or she will use during the conversation. Share your lists with each other to check that you did not all pick the same six words. Try tri cover all of the words you want to study, whether you are reviewing one, two, or more chapters.

1. Would you say your diet is a healthy one? What type of food do you need to eat more of?

2. Would you rather live in an urban, suburban, or rural environment? Why?

3. What do you consider the hardest aspect of raising children? Do you think therapists can help parents with troubled children?

4. Do you have a resume already prepared? What careers are you interested in pursuing?

Word List

Words to Watch

Which words would you like to practice with a bit more? Pick 3-5 words to study, and list them below. Write the word and its definition, and compose your own sentence using the word correctly. This extra practice could be the final touch to learning a word.