The “Cover Letter” genre jumps out as a simple yet practical genre to study closer. I have not yet had to write a cover letter for a job application so far, but will almost certainly need to later this Fall, or a latest, before I graduate. In situations where I find myself applying for a job, as positions get more competitive, a cover letter would be necessary to serve as the bridge between a resume and a potential interview. In such a situation, the audience would be the hiring manager of a company or organization I am interested in working at, and the desired uptake would be to demonstrate both a level of interest and competency in the position available, enough to warrant the scheduling of an interview and therefore improve my chances of being accepted at the position.
The examples and genre template provide a structured, thorough demonstration of a standard cover letter expected in the industry. They outline the order of required/recommended components, and provide a stable structure to ensure no important components are missed, thereby increasing the credibility of the document. In the template itself, there appear to be some elements that are embedded in others, and it is unclear if they can only go in those elements, or if that is just a suggestion, and they can go anywhere in the overarching structural element. What might have been useful, at least from my group’s perspective, might have been to make those sub-elements “global” elements and specify them as such in the template (they might be specified this way in documentation that I can’t as of yet see/find). This way, it would be clear that they can be used in any place where they appropriately fit, based on the requirements and discretion of the author.
Overall, the tone is somewhat rigid/distant, but hopeful. This makes sense, as the author is writing to someone they presumably have never met before, and are attempting to prove their value enough to be brought in for an interview. In such a short document, it feels difficult to express individual personality while not coming across too strong, and maintaining the structure and brevity of the genre itself. The content appears to highlight the key/most relevant items of the resume, and describe them in slightly more detail than the resume can. Before I undertake this genre on my own, I would need to do some preliminary research on other examples of the genre, perhaps found through Northeastern’s resource links, and find a realistic job posting that I can see myself legitimately applying to in the near future to make this exercise the most effective and relevant to my own experience.
