To: Corinne Shearer

From: Wen Qi Zhang

Date: February 15th, 2024

Subject: POP Assignment Reflection

Purpose: The purpose of this memo is to offer an overview of my progress regarding the assignment of writing a cover letter and a resume tailored to the opportunity that I chose.

Discussion:

When I started this assignment, I began by searching for opportunities online, like internships or an available job that I could do or found engaging. Although you (the teacher, Corinne Shearer) mentioned that it doesn’t matter if we meet the requirements, I still ruffly go for the opportunities that I meet/fulfill the conditions. So far, I don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to my field of major, so preferably, I go for an internship or volunteer-related opportunities that are fit for a freshman like me to build up my experience. Through Cuny Career Connection, I began to screen through a list of internships and jobs that I could do while still fitting my current major.

After a few hours of looking through the list of opportunities, I found 3 that I like; all of them are internships but from different companies. One is about New Jersey Transit helping out with Equipment Design & Engineering. Another is about architectural planning, and the last one is on Software Engineering interning at Nintendo. Among the three that I picked, I chose New Jersey Transit. There were many reasons for that, but mostly because it was the only internship amongst the three that I met the most requirements and didn’t reject a freshman like me. The criteria for this internship were as follows:

• Mechanical or Electrical Engineering major or related discipline
• Understanding of the New Jersey TRANSIT system and the services it provides.
• Must possess excellent verbal and written communication skills and be proficient in Microsoft program-based applications.
• Must be able to work in a self-directed manner, effectively interact in project teams, and complete assignments and deliverables in a timely and accurate fashion.
• Must possess good math, writing, and presentation skills and have a good knowledge of Microsoft Office such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
• Must have a good understanding of mechanical and electrical concepts.

Right now, I’m majoring in Mechanical Engineering, and I have a very good knowledge of Microsoft Office and the ability to work as a group and/or individually. Although I don’t have a clear understanding of the New Jersey Transit system, it is something that I could learn before entering this internship so that it wouldn’t be a problem. Thus New Jersey Transit became my chosen opportunity. 

To write my resume for this position, I start by writing out basic information like my contact info, followed by my education degree, and lastly listing out my experience so far as well as the skills I learned or have. I learned that the resume must not be lengthy, approximately 1 page, so I summarized essential experiences and skills that will be important to my positions. Given that my position will be highly based on cooperation, communication skills and the use of Microsoft Office will be highly important, and thus I adapt my resume to showcase that I have those skills and can be a team player for their cause. After all of that, I started checking for error mistakes and finished it by formatting my resume as the final step.

After the resume comes a cover letter; it wasn’t the first time that I had written a cover letter before, so I have some experience. The person to whom I’m writing is Thomas N. Walker, the Project Manager of the internship I chose. I start my cover letter by expressing my interest in participating in his internship and why. Then, I follow up with a brief intro of myself, which concludes my introduction paragraph. My body paragraphs consist of major highlights of what I learned from both my education and job experience. I specifically chose highlights that will showcase why I’m fit for the position and how I will meet their expectations, for example, what I learned so far in college, like creating websites and use of SOLIDWORKS, and my experience working outside as a team in an unfamiliar environment. After that, I finished off by re-emphasizing my intention to be a part of this opportunity and left behind my contact info. Throughout this cover letter, I tried to be as formal as possible and not to be rude in any way, for I want to show my sincerity to my audience. 

Conclusion: 

Overall, the assignment taught me the importance of a cover letter and having a good resume when looking for an opportunity. Some of the struggles that I encountered when writing this assignment were how to start my cover letter and what should be included in my resume. Like most writers, the most frightful thing is a blank paper. In the beginning, it’s hard to get ideas out on paper when you don’t know whether those ideas will meet the requirements and the word limit. Over time, I learned that I shouldn’t be bothered by my concerns and just start writing what’s on my mind and worrying about what happens subsequent later. This time, the writing assignment wasn’t so bad, for it was mostly about me, and I had fun doing it. In addition, something else that I learned is how to format my resume. In the beginning, I thought the resume to be just a list of experience that I accumulated over the years, I never tried to tailor my resume specifically to a specific opportunity before. Luckily, most of my personal experiences match the requirements of my chosen opportunity, so there wasn’t much conflict.